A book about abortion doulas tells of two women who had to have hysterectomies after their abortions. Is it responsible for a doctor to perform a procedure that will end with a hysterectomy for a woman? Is an abortion recommended in the circumstances? These women do not seem to be getting good care.
“During [Talia, the abortionist’s] first month of the fellowship; there is a slew of especially harrowing scenarios: two people have a condition called “placenta accrete” where the blood vessels of the placenta grow into and embed in the tissue of the uterus…Talia sees patient after patient who might be at risk for an accrete. But the two patients she sees within the first few weeks of her fellowship have accretas that are especially severe, and she knows their procedures are going to result in hysterectomies. It’s bad enough to have to break the bad news to one patient, let alone two. Never mind how nerve-wracking it can be to do such a complicated procedure. She doesn’t think she will ever really get used to it.”
Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People (New York: Feminist Press, 2016) 233
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