The demeaning treatment of pregnant women in the state of Oklahoma would be laughable if it wasn’t so scary. Radical pro-lifers do not just want abortion to end, they want birth control to end. I wonder how some of the 20-30 something ambivalents about abortion feel about that. I have stated before that I don’t believe in abortion, but I also do not think there should be legislation to prevent it, other than to assure safety. To place the rights of a fetus above those of the mother is ludicrous and sad. See http://open.salon.com/blog/libmomrn/2010/03/09/the_abortion_debate

According to CDC statistics, about 6100 abortions are done each year in Oklahoma. Of that number, I wonder how many are therapeutic abortions. That is, an abortion done because of a miscarriage. The Dilation and Evacuation(D &E) procedure is used for women who have an incomplete abortion, the medical term for miscarriage. Sometimes not all of the products of conception are expelled, and need to be removed surgically to prevent sepsis( a systemic infection).

I grew up Catholic. I am the youngest of 8 children. I always joked I wanted a dozen kids of my own, because I absolutely love children. My first pregnancy was scary, as I developed pre-eclempsia. The day they induced me, my blood pressure was 240/130. Lucky I was young, or I would have had a stroke. My second pregnancy was hampered by pre-eclempsia, pre-term labor, and kidney failure. My third I suffered a miscarriage. My fourth pregnancy was also significant for pre-eclempsia and kidney failure( I actually got written up in a perinatology textbook, as my case was so unusual). I spent 4 weeks on my left side at the hospital. My weary husband brought my then 4 and 5 year olds to visit when he could. During the day, the kids went to various family members’ homes. My OB/GYN told me that as I was in a Catholic Hospital, he couldn’t tell me not to have any more children, but then told me not to have any more, as I would be leaving the children I already had without a mother. Thankfully, I delivered a healthy baby. If I had happened to become pregnant again, I cannot honestly say what I would have done. Obviously, if my life was at risk, I would have a difficult decision to make.

As I had mentioned, I had the misfortune of suffering a miscarriage 18 years ago. As I was bleeding and my hemoglobin(red blood cell count) kept dropping, it became apparent that I needed a D & E, as I was at risk for sepsis. My born-again Christian sister had the nerve to say “Are you sure, you know these doctors love doing abortions?” and “You know there is so much they can do today, can’t they put the baby back?”. To say that to someone in a fragile emotional and physical state is crazy and not very Christ-like.  This is the current mind-set with many legislators today.  Women cannot be trusted if they are pregnant, and if they do miscarry, it is their fault!

Because of my complicated pregnancies and the amount of time I spent in the hospital, I decided to become a nurse. In nursing school, we had maternity rounds at a local hospital. We would shadow and assist RNS. At the end of the day, we would meet with our instructor to go over the days events. I remember her telling us to never jump to conclusions about patients. Whether you are taking care of a single or a married mom, or even a patient recovering from abortion. Some of my fellow nursing students said that they could not take place in the care of someone who had an abortion. The nursing instructor proceeded to tell us about how years before, when she was a maternity nurse, there was a 16 year old girl on the ward. The other nurses treated this girl rudely, they were angry she was 16 and recovering from her second abortion. Lo and behold, child welfare showed up later that day to get a court order to prevent the girl’s father from taking her home. It turned out that she was a victim of incest. When she got pregnant, her father forced her to have the abortions, then beat her for getting pregnant, even though he was the one who impregnated her. How used and powerless must that poor girl have felt. She was abused not only by her father, but by her caregivers.

So here we are in the 21^st century, and women’s bodies are still up for grabs because of Bible-thumping, judgmental, and insane pro-lifers, of which the men are guilty of ‘uterine envy’. Always wanting to get into our pants, with this law- BIG TIME. Talk about a nanny state. These legislators think they know what is best for you, then play God. In Oklahoma, women have historically been treated like chattel, now even more so. Please see MaryAnn Sorrentino’s blog from yesterday-http://open.salon.com/blog/mary_ann_sorrentino/2010/04/29/scorecard_unborn_-_1_already-born_-_0

If we, as a society, truly want to honor and respect life, we would make life easier for women to seek care for reproductive issues, instead of constantly throwing road blocks in the way.  How about we truly respect life by caring for the already born, as well as the unborn? That would truly be a novel idea to the pro-life crowd. In the mean time, STAY OUT OF OUR BODIES.