A couple of weeks ago William wrote a story about how the Pope had praised Nicaragua for passing a law effectively outlawing all abortions. Now the Nicaraguan doctors are fighting back after witnessing the deaths of over 80 women directly related to this quasi-ban.
WIBW.com ran this Reuters story today detailing the tragic death of Olga Reyes 2 weeks after her wedding. Olga was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy and, out of fear of prosecution, there were no doctors willing to perform the medical procedure needed to save her life in time. She suffered for 4 days before sucumbing. International medical professionals agree that with an ectopic pregnancy the fetus is not viable and immediate surgery is the only route to insure the welfare of the mother.
Women’s rights groups, including physicians, have protested Congress and demanded an immediate repeal of the ban which does not make any allowances fof the life of the mother. Evangelicals and the Catholic church support the ban saying that medical advancements make it so that a mother’s life is never at risk. Not only is this an ignorant argument, it is dangerous. Like Reyes’ situation, there are times that no amount of medical assistance can save the mother and the child, a fact that is not disputed by the medical community.
The Catholic church is so much in favor of this deadly ban that they have organized over 300,000 protesters to refute the women’s rights groups. This story scares me on a number of levels, namely that that the Catholic church can deny facts and support something that is causing the loss of innocent women. Anti-choice activists are so set on assuring that women can’t control their own health, that they ignore and even manipulate the facts in order to support their stance.
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2007-11-06 15:33:39
There is one example of a legitimate abortion - ectopic pregnancy. But, I don’t follow your logic on using the alledged 80 abortion-banned deaths, to kill more babies through abortions? Where are the babies rights groups. Why are the babies always treated as worthless? Anyway, you know both sides of the arguement, so I won’t go on. It just seems that no one thinks of the baby when we are talking policy.
2007-11-08 16:08:08
Sean, I applaud your passion on this issue, I just feel that instead of restricting women’s reproductive rights you should concentrate on reducing the need for abortions. It has been proven that making abortions illegal does not reduce the number of abortions. Therefore if the goal is truly to reduce abortions, the dialog needs to be on what can be done to actually achieve this. I’m actually in the middle of writing a post on exactly this issue now.