Woman with AIDS Forced to Undergo an Abortion

Pro-choice author Janet Hadley tells the following story:

A 38-year-old Haitian woman in New York City learned that she was HIV-positive during her antenatal care in a hospital with an excellent record for high risk pregnancy care. She was advised not to tell anyone her HIV status, that her chances of having a baby with AIDS were extremely high and that she should abort the fetus. She was also told to go home and write her will, because she was going to die. She was asymptomatic.

She chose to continue her pregnancy. When she went for her next routine checkup, she was taken to another building for a meeting with several high-ranking medical personnel. They told her that having a child with AIDS was worse than having a child with spina bifida, which her older daughter has. They said such a child would be a burden to society, and that she would be wrong not to abort. She insisted that she wanted to have the baby and pleaded that they continue her care. They refused, stating that the hospital was not equipped to treat her.

She was referred to another hospital for a second trimester abortion. This was performed without counseling or obtaining her signed consent. She was placed in a room marked “isolation” during her induced labor and left alone screaming for help for 15 minutes after the fetus was expelled. When she hemorrhaged because the abortion was incomplete, she was made to walk down the hall to the operating room. In both hospitals as soon as they knew that she was HIV-positive, she felt they wanted to get rid of her.

The Center for Constitutional rights in New York filed a case against both hospitals for discrimination, inflicting emotional distress, negligence and failure to obtain consent for abortion in the second hospital.”

 

Story was from M. Berer, with S. Ray “Women and HIV/AIDS an International Resource Book” (London: Pandora) page 94, 1993

Quoted in Janet Hadley “Abortion: between Freedom and Necessity” (Great Britain: Virago Press) 1996

Hadley reveals that according to studies, 6 to 8 out of 10 babies born to AIDS infected mothers do not develop AIDS.

One third of abortion clinics in the US do not operate an HIV-positive patients or they raise their fees (page 130)

Share on Facebook

HIV-positive woman coerced into second trimester abortion

Pro-choice author Janet Hadley tells the following story:

A 38-year-old Haitian woman in New York City learned that she was HIV-positive during her antenatal care in a hospital with an excellent record for high risk pregnancy care. She was advised not to tell anyone her HIV status, that her chances of having a baby with AIDS were extremely high and that she should abort the fetus. She was also told to go home and write her will, because she was going to die. She was asymptomatic.

She chose to continue her pregnancy. When she went for her next routine checkup, she was taken to another building for a meeting with several high-ranking medical personnel. They told her that having a child with AIDS was worse than having a child with spina bifida, which her older daughter has. They said such a child would be a burden to society, and that she would be wrong not to abort. She insisted that she wanted to have the baby and pleaded that they continue her care. They refused, stating that the hospital was not equipped to treat her.

She was referred to another hospital for a second trimester abortion. This was performed without counseling or obtaining her signed consent. She was placed in a room marked “isolation” during her induced labor and left alone screaming for help for 15 minutes after the fetus was expelled. When she hemorrhaged because the abortion was incomplete, she was made to walk down the hall to the operating room. In both hospitals as soon as they knew that she was HIV-positive, she felt they wanted to get rid of her.

The Center for Constitutional rights in New York filed a case against both hospitals for discrimination, inflicting emotional distress, negligence and failure to obtain consent for abortion in the second hospital.”

Story was from M. Berer, with S. Ray Women and HIV/AIDS an International Resource Book (London: Pandora) page 94, 1993

Quoted in Janet Hadley Abortion: Between Freedom and Necessity (Great Britain: Virago Press) 1996

Hadley reveals that according to studies, 6 to 8 out of 10 babies born to AIDS infected mothers do not develop AIDS. If the mother’s HIV-positive status is known, precautions in the delivery room can greatly reduce the chances of the baby contracting AIDS.

Share on Facebook

Dr. Warren Hern On “Abortionist”

Dr. Warren Hern, who is a well known late term abortion provider, and who has written a book on abortion practice and trained other physicians, has encouraged the press to stop calling him an “abortionist.”

When the Rocky Mountain News ran a story about him under the title of “Abortionist Threatened in Letters” he said the following (as quoted by The Rocky Mountain News in a subsequent article.)

“‘For me it’s like a racial epithet – your editors wouldn’t consider running a headline that said “N-gger hit by car.” It’s offensive.

(As for the word abortion) of course that’s not offensive. I’m proud of what I do. It’s a straightforward description of an operation, OK? ‘Abortionist’ is like many terms in history laden with meanings – like ‘final solution,’ which will never be separated from the hideous death camps of World War II.” Hern continued, “One of the reasons ‘abortionist’ has become offensive is that it’s used as a propaganda term . . . part of the anti-abortion people’s Orwellian approach to language…..”

 

Abortionist: A Thorn in a Thicket of Issues” Rocky Mountain News, Oct 9, 1994. Quoted by Life Dynamics

Is being called a doctor whose practice consists of doing abortions an abortionist equal to calling an African American a N-gger? Doesn’t the term “abortionist” simply state what the doctor does? How is such a simple, descriptive term so offensive when it directly applies to a person’s actions?

Incidentally, 90% of abortions in America are done not in hospitals or doctor’s offices but in outpatient clinics. Many of the doctors employed by these clinics do nothing but abortions. In fact, in America, only 2% of ob/gyns do half of all abortions.(*) Many of these doctors do thousands of abortions a year, moonlighting at several different abortion clinics. According to one owner of an abortion clinic chain:

* Dolores P. “Ask an Abortion Provider” The Hairpin. March 3, 2011 (can be found here

Share on Facebook

Stigma Attached to the Word “Abortionist”

Dr. Don Sloan has been providing abortions for years. In one essay defending legal abortion he says the following:

“The term “abortionist” still carries with it a heavy weight. We’ve made it [abortion] legal, but we haven’t made it respectable – not quite.”

Don Sloan “Abortion Should Not Be Restricted,” Originally Published in “Basic Issues in the Abortion Debate” Political Affairs, July 1999. Reprinted in Mary E Williams. Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints (San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, 2002)

Share on Facebook

Trying to Make Abortion “Respectable”

In an interview with 20/20 abortionist Dr. Jane Hodgson said:

“I used to have to steel myself to use the word (abortionist), and it was sort of my goal, I’ve got to make abortion respectable. So I’d startle people at parties sometimes, I think.

By saying that I was an abortionist. And they’d kind of- their jaws would drop, you know, back then.”

20/20 May 24, 1991 (Cited by Life Dynamics ROEBOTS)

Share on Facebook

Stigma in the Medical Profession

In his book “Abortion Practice” Warren Hern says the following:

“Abortion has been stigmatized in the medical profession. Until recently the public and large segments of the medical profession considered abortion to be an unethical medical act regardless of its legal status…Communities do not like to be reminded that abortions are occurring within their boundaries…Candor invites both criticism and harassment; very few abortion clinics or physicians providing abortion services include the word abortion in the title identifying the activity.”

Many abortion clinics, even today, are identified by euphanisms such “Women’s Clinic” “Surgery Center” “Women’s Hospital” rather than “Abortion Clinic.”

Warren Hern, M.D. “Abortion Practice” (J.B. Lippenott Company 1984) p 317

Share on Facebook

Don’t Call Me an Abortionist

In the LA Times September 22, 1991, it was reported that Dr. Stuart Sitzman, a gynecologist who has performed abortions for his private patients before, told them he’d be happy to be quoted by name.

He told them, however:

“Just don’t call me an abortionist.”

Cited by Life Dynamics ROEBOTS

Share on Facebook

Pro-Life and Pro-Love

Reverand Phillip A. Wogamen of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C. said the following at a Planned Parenthood prayer break:

“Real love for children means having the number of children that one can care for responsibly and lovingly….Bringing every conceived child into existence is not “pro-life”: it is certainly not pro-love.”

Quoted in Gloria Feldt “Behind Every Choice is a Story” (Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 2002) p 113

10-week-old aborted baby – is this “pro-love”?
Share on Facebook

Legal Abortion Death: Leigh Ann Stephens Alford. 34 (Hemorrhagic Shock From Uterine Perforation)

Leigh Ann Stephens Alford, age 34, underwent a safe and legal abortion at the hands of Dr. Malachy DeHenre at Summit Medical Center of Alabama, a National Abortion Federation member clinic, on November 25, 2003.

Leigh Ann was discharged from the clinic 20 minutes after her abortion, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband. Within six hours, he said, he called the facility to report that Leigh Ann was suffering pain and fever. She died about 18 hours after the clinic had sent her home. Death was attributed to hemorrhagic shock from an unrecognized uterine perforation.

DeHenre’s medical license was suspended in Mississippi and Alabama after the death. DeHenre, age 53, also performed abortions at New Woman Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as his own Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization.

Alabama suspended DeHenre’s license as of July 28. The Mississippi suspension was expedited, rather than addressed in a board meeting scheduled for September 16.

An Associated Press article quotes Dr. W. Joseph Burnett, executive director of the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure: “We couldn’t wait another day to take action. He won’t be practicing in Mississippi.”

The Alabama medical board concluded that DeHenre’s practice was conducted in such a way as to “endanger the health of patients,” and found that he had committed “repeated malpractice.”

DeHenre was also investigated after an abortion he performed on March 20, 2003. That patient began to hemorrhage and was transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she underwent a total hysterectomy.

DeHenre’s suspension came through in December. He reportedly told board members “My Christmas was ruined!”

Share on Facebook

Legal Abortion Death: Janyth Caldwell, 36 (Undetected Ectopic Pregnancy)

The death certificate indicates that Janyth Caldwell, age 36, died February 4, 1986, a month after George Wayne Patterson attempted to perform a safe and legal abortion on her.

The Alabama state Medical Examiner attributed her death to loss of oxygen to the brain, due to internal hemorrhaging from an ectopic pregnancy.

A proper pre-abortion examination should be able to determine if the pregnancy is ectopic, in which case standard abortion techniques will not touch the embryo. Proper post-abortion pathology reports would detect that no embryo was removed from the uterus, and would clue the abortionist in to the fact that the pregnancy was ectopic. Patterson evidently missed both of these opportunities to detect Janyth’s ectopic pregnancy and prevent her death.

Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they’re actually more likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners. Brenda Vise suffered this fate after getting abortion drugs at a clinic that was operating illegally after having been shut down by Tennessee authorities.

According to official documents, another Alabama woman, Mary Bradley, died after an abortion performed by a doctor identified as Wayne Patterson. The Alabama medical board lists no Dr. Wayne Patterson, only Dr. George Wayne Patterson, deceased, which leads me to believe that the same Dr. Patterson responsible for Janyth’s death had also caused the death of Mary Bradley the year before.

Patterson himself also suffered an early death at somebody else’s hands. He was gunned down outside a pornography theater in an apparent gangland slaying. (The Feminist Majority Foundation, and Revolutionary Worker refer to the slain doctor as “Wayne Patterson”, which is further evidence that he is the same doctor responsible for Mary Bradley’s death. The fact that this organization laments the gangland shooting of an abortionist, while ignoring the fact that he himself had evidently killed two women, underscores where the prochoice movement’s priorities are.)

Credit: Christina Dunigan

Share on Facebook