|
Abortion Quotes |
| Quotes | Pictures | Videos | Women's Stories |
| Women's Health | Anti-Choice Abortions | Truth Aborted | Articles |
| The Pro-Choice Movement | Had an Abortion? | Guestbook | Links |
Abortion's Dangers
|
One common assertion of the pro-choice
movement is that legal abortion is safe abortion. Most of them will
point to statistics that seem to prove that abortion is safe and
complications are rare.
However, there are several factors that complicate matters. For one thing, many states do not have strict laws requiring abortion providers to report complications. Since it is generally within abortion practitioners best interests not to report such complications, they usually do not get reported. Furthermore, many abortion clinics do not see the complications resulting from abortions. Women hurt by an abortion will often show up in emergency rooms or go to their regular doctors with abortion-related infections. Also, many complications from abortions do not show up until later. Abortion, particularly repeated abortion, can increase the likelihood of premature birth and miscarriage as the cervix, unnaturally opened in an abortion procedure, is stretched and weakened. Here are some quotes on abortion's safety. "I had complications, just like everybody else. I have perforated uteruses. I have had all kinds of problems --bleeding, infections-- Lord knows how many of those women are sterile now. I remember getting called down to my chairman's office because a young lady that I had done an abortion on showed up...and the abortion had been incomplete. I had not done my job right, and she passed an arm or a leg and she freaked out because she didn't realize what happened." Dr. Anthony Levantino, Meet the Abortion Providers Conference There was an unfamiliar type stench in the room. Frankly, I was reluctant to sit down," detective William Howard Jr wrote in a notarized affidavit after entering a Kansas abortion clinic, owned by abortionist Krishna Rajanna. "I became so disturbed by the condition of this medical (abortion) clinic that I contacted District Attorney Nick Tomasic and requested a meeting to discuss these issues. Bare in mind, I am an experienced police officer who has worked in every aspect in law enforcement and had spent my last five years in the homicide unit where I worked countless community deaths. I thought I had heard and seen every vile, disgusting crime scene but was in for a new shock when I started this investigation."
Detective William Howard , Kansas City Kansas Police Department From Citizen Magazine article “Bringing Good Things to Life” by Karla Dial, June 2003: “I thought the one reason the government made abortion legal was so women could be in a clean environment with medical doctors,” said Oliver, a licensed practical nurse [who went to a clinic considering abortion] “But there was an inch of dust on everything. The health department would have shut down my hospital in five minutes for any one of the violations I saw in that place.” "Oh no, I've done 13 year olds before. When they're ten, maybe I'll notice." Abortionist Alen J. Kline, on whether he noticed Dawn Ravenell's age while performing the abortion that killed her (Reported in local paper) "We try to use the physician for
his technical skill and reduce the one-to-one relationship with the
patient. We usually see the patient for the first time on the operation
table and then not again. More contact is just not efficient." “Rarely a week went by when he didn't treat a woman arriving at the hospital after an abortion. Pain, excessive bleeding, infections, perforated cervixes and bladders, ruptured uteruses, severed fallopian tubes. Some needed blood transfusions. Others - surgery. He couldn't count how many times he'd removed retained fetal parts from women. He can't forget the 16-year-old who arrived with almost 1m of bowel sitting between her legs. She required surgery; her bladder and bowel torn through, her uterus ruptured. "We found the torso, buttocks, a bit of a hand and the baby's head still inside her," the doctor said. "The baby had been literally ripped, drawn and quartered. The girl wasn't dead but she was close." His account is from the bad old days of illegal abortion, surely. Well, no. This is but one story not from the backyard but the front yard of so-called safe, legal abortion. But no one wants to know about the women maimed by abortion today.” From the article “So What if the Aborted Baby Cried?” by Melinda Tankard Reist, November 9, 2004 "The few doctors willing to replace those who are retiring are] mostly physicians who have had difficulty establishing regular ob-gyn practices. Mentioning . . . Out of [one abortion doctor's] first six months of work, there are nine malpractice suits ... After it was apparent the guy was a klutz, they kept using him, and trying to cover for him, because they couldn't find another provider." --Dr, Robert Crist, abortion doctor, St. Petersburg Times June 3, 1990 “[Abortion is] the dirty work of our field. The sad truth is that the people who moonlight at the clinics are grade-B doctors. They’re not the cream of the crop. And it’s not because they’re committed. It’s because they can’t find steady work….” Unidentified Pro-Choice OB/GYN The New York Times Magazine January 18, 1998 "The abortion clinics never accept any responsibility for complications. They just say it was not their fault. The concern is not the patient at this time. The concern is with taking care of the doctor and keeping his reputation and the clinic's [reputation] clean." Carol Everett, Former Clinic Director and Owner "Meet the Abortion Providers" "Most physicians regard abortion as a stigmatized operation done by people who are otherwise incompetent and can't do anything else." Warren Hern, Abortionist American Medical News, September 5, 1994 "... abortion is still a very fringe practice. There aren't a lot of people who want to get into abortion provision ... And the ones that we do have applying to us for training often have very dodgy histories and backgrounds. And if you dig deep enough, you'll find a death or two or a malpractice suit somewhere along the line ..." David Grundmann, Australian Abortion Provider. National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar, Seattle, WA, September 1993 "It's true that abortion providers are perceived as not very good doctors -- that they have no alternative so they do abortions, that they cannot earn a living any other way." Richard Hausknecht, Abortionist. The New York Times Magazine, January 18, 1998 "If we see a doctor out there who's really hurting women, it's incumbent upon us to blow the whistle -- no matter what the outcome. But it's a real choice, because you could end up with someone worse -- or no doctor at all ..." Ron
Fitzsimmons, Director of National Coalition of Abortion Providers "It is extremely difficult to watch doctors lie, clinic workers cover up, and hear terrifying storles of women dragged out of clinics to die in cars on the way to the hospital without beginning to question the party line. I began to wonder if we were really caring for these women, or if we were just working for another corporation whose only interest was the bottom line." Judith Fetrow, Former Planned Parenthood worker "There has been almost a conspiracy of silence in declaring [abortion's] risks. Unfortunately, because of emotional reactions to legal abortion, well documented evidence from countries with a vast experience of it, receives little or no attention in either the medical or lay press. This is medically indefensible when patients suffer as a result...It is significant that some of the more serious complications occurred with the most senior and experienced operators..." Stallworthy, J.A., et al., "Legal Abortion: A Critical Assessment of Risk," The Lancet, December 4, 1971 This is an old reference, but it is significant because it documents the fact that legalization of abortion (it was legal in several states in 1971) did not end abortion's dangers. Many illegal abortion practitioners simply became legal ones. "[Abortion] is the only elective surgical procedure that I know of in which the doctor performing the procedure is not responsible for follow-up care nor does he or she take an active role in dealing with the complications... it is bad because it pushes sloppy medical care upon women who have been led to believe that their only choice is to abort their babies." Dr. Lenora Berning, an emergency room physician who has treated women for abortion-related problems Quoted in "Doctors Call Abortion Bad Medicine" Lancaster New Era Oct 28, 1999. For first-hand accounts of abortion complications, read testimonies in the Former Abortion Providers Section (particularly Joy Davis and Carol Everett) Here are some quotes related to abortion's safety from DeathRoe. (Life Dynamics) From the blog "Abortion Clinic Days" "How do you spot a bad apple?" an abortion worker says: “In the case of abortion services, the stigma and silencing that women endure makes the field wide open to non-quality providers.” United Press International: Officials probe cause of teen's death at abortion clinic, 9-7-1992 “ The girl experienced ''sudden and profound cardiac collapse in the recovery room'' after an ''uneventful procedure.'' (This statement was sent to reporters by the abortion clinic where a 13-year old patient died).
In an article
regarding early medical abortions, British journalists spoke with a
number of providers.
A Tough Choice To Swallow : Part two: 6-8-2006 http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=2198 "I am ashamed that I have tirelessly defended a man (George Tiller) who subjected me to so much pain. I told my friend that story and she said that it was the most inhumane, horrific story of abortion she's ever heard.”
Abortion
patient "Would we like to do it (Inspect abortion clinics) more frequently? Absolutely," said Williamson, the Alabama state health officer said. "But the nursing homes get more inspection because those are federally funded surveys. We have to figure out how to do the clinic inspections with state dollars."
Alabama state health department
Amy Coen ''Abortions for teenagers that young are a tragedy. But abortion is a very safe medical procedure...safer than a delivery.” (Comments made after a 13-year-old girl died from her abortion in Chicago).
Barbara Radford "We had hoped that it (abortion patient's death) wouldn’t get national publicity because of the political nature of all this. We want to make sure that women have choices when it comes to abortion services, and if you regulate it too strictly, you then deny women the access to service." (Comments made regarding a Maryland abortion clinic where at least two women had died).
Beacon Womens Center Consent to outpatient surgery form states, " I understand that the purpose of an abortion is to end a pregnancy. I understand that my first trimester abortion consists of stretching open the mouth of the uterus (cervix) and removing the contents of my uterus-with surgical instruments and gentle suction. As a result of surgical procedures there may be material risks of: infection, allergic reaction, disfiguring scars, severe loss of blood, loss of function of a limb or organ, paralysis, paraplegia or quadriplegia, brain damage, cardiac arrest or death. In addition to these material risks, there may be other possible risks involved in the procedure including but not limited to: perforation, cervical tear, formation of blood clots in the uterus, hemorrhage, blood transfusions, DIC: the inability to clot blood which may be fatal, Fistula formation: An opening between bowel, bladder, ureter, vagina, and/or skin, emboli: clots that might travel to other parts of my body and be fatal, incomplete abortion, missed abortion, cervical incompetency, emotional distress, infection, possible need for immediate surgery or other additional surgery which might include a hysterectomy, laparascopy, and laparotomy, and ectopic pregnancy" This document also details the extreme risks of anesthesia and states that "No guarantees of assurance have been made to me concerning the results of this procedure." The patient is told to sign her name, but the name of the doctor performing the abortion is not included or revealed on this form.
David Toub Abortion, particularly early suction curettage, gives the impression of not being a very difficult procedure. It’s fast, very safe and highly effective. However, impressions can be misleading. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, everything goes very smoothly. But it’s that one time that can be associated with complications, some of which are very serious, even deadly." and "...all of us who are well-trained to provide abortions and who have considerable clinical experience still have complications. About once a year, the average experienced abortion provider may perforate a uterus. Indeed, a pregnant uterus is much more easily perforated than a nonpregnant one."
James T. MacMahon "There's a great deal of craft to this procedure. Frankly I don't think I was any good at all until I had done 3,000 or 4,000."
Kenneth Edelin "One of the interesting things that happened after New York State liberalized it's abortion laws is that abortion clinics opened up all over the state. They were not always run by the most professional or skilled or experienced physicians."
Krystal Quote: "my sister had once worked in an abortion clinic & her stories of what went on at work horrified me." Le wis Koplikabortionist Boston Globe: 'Home abortion' safety issues a pro-choice dilemma; 8-26-1991
"I
have used 4-, 5-, 6-millimeter cannulas and still occasionally I have
perforated a woman's uterus. I am a specialist, board certified. I have
all the credentials and still I screwed up. They are saying the
procedure is so benign you can't harm anybody or cause any trouble. I
don't believe it. Those who propose Menstrual Extraction say they can
tell when the uterus is empty.”
Margarette Wooten Quote: Margarette Wooten told a court in a case involving the death of an abortion clinic that she quit because, "It was just a slaughterhouse and I couldn't take it any more." "Abortion is a simple procedure except for the uterus' total intolerance to poor technique... In the medical practice, there are few surgical procedures given so little attention and so underrated in its potential hazard as abortion." Abortionist Warren Hern "Had this quality of care been provided by any other medical provider -- family physician, obstetrician, or emergency physician -- it would be considered grossly negligent. By an abortion provider, it does not even cause a stir. In fact, it goes un-noted and un-reported. There is no other practice of medicine where people can suffer and die from complications of your intervention without your being in some way professionally accountable, involved in their care, and at the very least, made aware of it -- except abortion. Abortion is bad medicine." Lenora Berning, MD ER Doctor More quotes on abortion's dangers from Deathroe and other sources. "T his will make three clinics on probation and one that has lost its license. When four out of ten of the industry gets licensing action, that's a high number. That's a real high number. We're doing a lot more enforcement of other facilities, too. You don't hear about it very much, but it's going on."
Rick Harris, Alabama Bureau of Health Provider Standards director Abortion clinic employee, Liza Berdiel's, "behavior is outrageous and without excuse. The motive was to make money. The victims suffered from the lack of medical professionalism." ( Berdiel was prosecuted for performing abortions without a license) .
Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Martin J. Anton
An order from the State Board of Health called the violations by Summit Medical (abortion) Center in Birmingham " egregious." saying, "We feel we need to move toward revoking their license."
Dr. Donald Williamson, Alabama
State health officer "There were multiple violations of rules over multiple days ( at the abortion clinic) ." Dr. Don Williamson,
Alabama state health officer Rep. Robert G. Marshall, described one abortionist's inadequacies. "She did not know how to do advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation. No one in the abortion clinic knew how to use a crash cart for such emergencies. She was not trained to do any of this."
Robert G. Marshall, Virginia Rep. "So, I question how the Department of Health, which has never visited any one of these places (abortion clinics) and probably doesn't even know how many there are in the state, could conclude that, in fact, the procedures are safe."
Virginia State Legislator
"Why should someone like that continue to
practice?" referring to abortionist Laurence Reich, who was charged with
sexually assaulting his patients.
"Our primary concern is the safety of patients. Given the serious allegations against (abortionist) Flavius Thompson, we demanded that he immediately stop practicing medicine pending further action of the Board of Medical Examiners." "The allegations in our complaint against (abortion) Dr. Thompson directly touch on patient safety."
Peter C. Harvey, New Jersey Attorney General
"According to CNN and other media and your Board’s records, Dr.Laurence Reich has a long history of sexual misconduct against patients, which led to a license suspension in 1982 and a 10- year probationary period that ended in 1994. Further, he was arrested in 2002 on sexual battery charges and pleaded no contest to sexual exploitation by a physician. In short, this individual has a clear pattern of violating the public trust that has been placed in him, yet he continues to see patients."
Barbara Boxer, Pro- choice U.S. Senator "The Board of Healing Arts has taken not months but years to take care of the problems at one (abortion) clinic. Abortion in Kansas has come down to the level of care in a Third World country."
Peggy Mast, Kansas Rep. ''There's a wall of silence. It's just like with the police. There's a brotherhood that doesn't feel comfortable most of the time reporting misconduct.'' (Commenting in a story on bad doctors including abortion doctors)
Arthur
Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers "Had this quality of care been provided by any other medical provider -- family physician, obstetrician, or emergency physician -- it would be considered grossly negligent. By an abortion provider, it does not even cause a stir. In fact, it goes un-noted and un-reported. There is no other practice of medicine where people can suffer and die from complications of your intervention without your being in some way professionally accountable, involved in their care, and at the very least, made aware of it -- except abortion. Abortion is bad medicine."
Commentary by Lenora Berning, MD, ER Doctor "Patient care was left entirely up to the personnel in the office. If he had someone really good, then patient care was really good. The next person might come in and (that person) was really horrible. Then that's what happened to patient care - it was horrible."
A doctor who used to work with abortionist Hachamovitch "It was really a case of an assembly line, conducting abortions, one after another, three to five minutes apart."
Attorney for the family of a girl who died from a legal abortion "There isn't anybody watching them, and too many times their qualifications are subpar."
Julie
D'Angelo, Attorney with the Center for Public Interest Law in San Diego "Very frequently we will find out about a patient with an (abortion) complication only because they are ultimately transferred to an emergency room."
Ron Joseph, California State medical board's executive director "We call them ( abortion clinics) chop shops, they are legal, but they are practicing medicine that is below the standard of care."
Dr. Jorge Carreon, Longtime OBGYN Dr. Albert R. Brown, an abortion provider made this allegation to the LA Times regarding how the abortion industry treats Hispanic abortion patients." Sometimes they are given abortions when they're not even pregnant . . . . It's an unregulated industry." Albert
R. Brown, abortion provider "There have always been problems identifying deaths secondary to abortions. Death certificates are not the best source of death information, and we've always had concerns we're not getting all the deaths through the death certificate system."
A
federal health official, who asked not to be named "We must have a mechanism by which these very critically important so-called (abortion) clinics are checked into. Isn't there a mechanism in the city of Santa Ana?"
Amin David, President of Los Amigos of Orange County |