Summary: Illegal abortions are on the rise.
“Never Again” exclaimed the motto of the 300,000 protesters who, wearing coat hangers around their necks, marched into Washington D.C. in 1969. Yet even though the case of Roe v. Wade of 1973 legalized abortions for professionals to perform, backdoor abortions are now on the rise.
Consider Anna Yocca, 31, who allegedly performed an abortion on herself using a twisted wire coat hanger. When a lot of blood came out with the amniotic flood, she panicked and went the hospital, fearing she would bleed to death.
“Even though the baby survived the trauma, physicians said the boy’s quality of life ‘will be forever harmed,’” as the Murfreesboro Post reported. “He will need a medically-experienced foster parent, remain on oxygen and take medication daily because of problems with his eyes, lungs, and heart stemming from damage caused by the coat hanger. Medical staff also said other physical problems will arise when the child grows older.”
The police likewise condemn Yocca’s behavior. As Sergeant Kyle Evens said, “The whole time she was concerned for her health, her safety and never gave any attention to the health and safety of the unborn child. Those injuries will affect this child for the rest of his life, all caused at the hands of his own mother.”
This is certainly condemning language, but in fact the medical issues of the preemie child characterize all children born early, and may have nothing to do with the coat hanger. The child was a micro preemie, born in the second trimester.
“Of premature babies born at 24 weeks, only about half survive at all,” said Cheryl Chastine, a family doctor and abortion provider in the Midwest. “Of the survivors, around half are disabled.” In particular, the heart, lung, eye, and other defects are usual for premature births.
“A major tragedy here is that we had eliminated coat-hanger abortions in the United States – by making safe, legal, affordable abortion services widely available,” said Chastine. “Now, Tennessee is just one of many states in a race to reverse that, making legal abortion harder and harder to access and afford. So instead, we have a dangerous self-induced abortion attempt, an injured woman, a broken family, and a damaged baby.”
This doctor puts the blame, apparently, on compromise laws. We’ve seen hundreds of state and federal restriction laws modify abortion laws, leaving, its been argued, some women with the only option of having an illegal abortion.
Purve Patel, an Indiana woman, was convicted of feticide for allegedly inducing her own miscarriage, and she is just one of many who have revived this practice. The difference is that before, those who helped perform an abortion were charged, but now mothers attempting to induce their own abortion are also being charged.
Source: Cosmopolitan