Category: Truth Aborted

In a textbook for future abortion providers, it states that some women may decide on abortion and yet still want to protect their babies from harmful substances. These women would make an abortion appointment, but still avoid drinking or doing drugs that could damage the baby:

“Women who know they want to end a pregnancy can nevertheless be reluctant to take anything that could be harmful to a foetus.”

Joanna Brien, Ida Fairbairn Pregnancy and Abortion Counseling (London: Routledge, 1996) 27

this seems to indicate a certain amount of ambivalence.

An abortion clinic inspected in England was cited for paying employees bonuses based on how many women went through with their abortions. The clinic had “Key Performance Indicators” that they had to meet. The KPI mandated the number of abortions workers were expected to sell. This encouraged workers to pressure women to have abortions and also led to women being rushed through the facility so that more abortions could be done.

From the report:

“Staff expressed concern that they were assessed and bonuses were paid based on performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) … Staff felt that this corporate focus on achieving KPIs worked against the concept of patient choice.

The team meeting minutes dated 14 April showed that staff had raised concerns with the manager about the KPIs and the pressure this put staff under to rush consultations…..

Staff we spoke with talked about a lack of time and need to keep the appointment on track. One member of staff said about the information provided, “They can’t take it all in, it’s so fast”. This presented a risk that consent was not fully informed.

We observed a member of staff passing the consent form to the patient to read and sign whilst they cleaned the room. There was no opportunity given for discussion or questions and when questioned the member of staff felt this was because of a lack of time….

Staff were concerned that ‘Did Not Proceed’, the term used when women decided not to proceed with treatment… was linked to their performance bonus. They felt that this encouraged staff to ensure that patients underwent procedures.

Staff were also concerned that the pressurised environment and linking of KPIs to performance bonuses meant that there was a culture that worked against patient choice….One staff member describe it as “feeling like a hamster in a wheel” and said the word, “Cattle market” came up quite a lot.”

Care Quality Commission on Marie Stopes International, Date of inspection visit: 17 May 2016 Date of publication: 02/10/2017

Abortion doula Whitney, who comforts women while their babies are killed in abortions, had an abortion herself. She remembers a woman walking out:

“She remembers that on the day of her own abortion, a patient walked out  – just decided she wasn’t going to do it. It struck Whitney, who was waiting patiently by the window in her medical gown and her hospital socks. She wondered what was going to happen with her.”

Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People (New York: Feminist Press, 2016) 99

Sometimes women do change their minds at abortion clinics.