Abortion clinic worker tells of drug addict patient

Abortion clinic worker Sallie Tisdale:

“We do abortions here; that is all we do. There are weary, grim moments when I think I cannot bear another basin of bloody remains, utter another kind phrase of reassurance. So I leave the procedure room in the back and reach for a new chart. Soon I am talking to an eighteen-year-old woman pregnant for the fourth time. I push up her sleeve to check her blood pressure and find row upon row of needle marks, neat and parallel and discolored. She has been so hungry for her drug for so long that she has taken to using the loose skin of her upper arms; her elbows are already a permanent ruin of bruises. She is surprised to find herself nearly four months pregnant. I suspect she is often surprised, in a mild way, by the blows she is dealt. I prepare myself for another basin, another brief and chafing loss.

Sallie Tisdale “We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse’s Tale” Harper’s Magazine, October, 1987, 66-70.

4 months The age of this woman's child
4 months The age of this woman’s child
Share on Facebook

Author: Sarah

Sarah Terzo is a pro-life writer and blogger. She is on the board of The Consistent Life Network and PLAGAL +

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

thirty seven + = forty one