|
I worked for a while with a doctor who did abortions as part of their clinical practice. I would estimate I helped with 100 abortions. We did first trimester abortions, referring later ones out to another clinic set up for them. I helped with pre-abortion counseling, and with the actual procedure itself.
There were a couple people in that year that had more than 1 abortion, 1 person had 3 (out of about 100 abortions). We did contraceptive counseling as part of the whole kit and caboodle and the woman that had 3 in 1 yr made we providers talk amongst ourselves about choices, responsibility, and if abortion should be used as contraception. We each decided there were no easy answers.
1 couple came in because she was pregnant with twins and had miscarried 1. Rather than agonizingly wait for the second to miscarry, she wanted to clear out her uterus and start over. She ended up not getting an abortion that day, waited a week to see if she would miscarry the second, and came in for a D&C when it happened a week later.
1 woman went through the pre-abortion screening and counseling, then didn't show up. The anti-choice people had gotten to her. She ended up getting a second trimester abortion a few months later and was very very very traumatized by the whole thing, is still working with pro-choice matters years later.
1 woman was at the end of her reproductive yrs and was not able to raise a baby, and did not want to give birth to a probably downs syndrome baby. She sat up, waved and said "bye bye baby" after her abortion.
I held the hands of many women, encouraged them to breath during the abortion, listened to their stories.
I heard many different stories from many different women. Some were teens, some were 40's. Some in a committed relationship, some not. Some poor, some rich. Some highly educated, some not. For some the choice was easy, for some it was much more difficult but I do not know of any who needed intensive counseling after her abortion. Some came in with friends or family, some alone. A couple women got pregnant on purpose soon after their abortion (1 told me that she realized that she did want to have a baby, that having been pregnant and having an abortion helped her face and figure out issues in her life, and she did want to have a baby), most did not.
Realize this was a smallish town where everyone knows everyone else, and those of us who worked in this clinic were incredibly tight lipped about who and what and why we saw at the clinic.
The doctor I worked with quit doing abortions due to fear of getting the clinic firebombed or getting shot. I moved out of this state and got another job, still worked in family planning/contraception, etc, matters.
There are no simple answers beyond I strongly feel that the choice must remain a choice. Thank you all who have shared their stories. Thank you to all who have listened to others and let them make their own choices. Thank you to all who continue to work to keep this a choice.
To my 2 teenaged women friends who became pregnant before abortions were legal anywhere except NY and CA, I am sorry that 1 had to travel to NY with your parent for and abortions, and the other had your child in an "unwed mother's" home and gave up your baby for adoption. Thoughts of what you went through have influenced my life and my work.
To anyone who wants to take issue with me or use bits and pieces of what I have written for anti-choice use, I am sorry for you.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
