Death by a thousand small cuts

Folks, we could soon be back in the dark ages (pre-Roe v. Wade, 1973) of coat hangers, back alleys, and high death rates from botched abortions.  Plus a rash of unwanted babies that will not be adequately cared for.

Conservatives and religious zealots want to define for the rest of us something that scientists cannot do, that is when life begins.   Catholics and many fundamentalist Protestants say it occurs with fertilization of ovum by sperm.   Therefore, abortion is murder.  To them, even drugs and IUDs that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg are murder.

This is a theological or a philosophical question.   There is no scientific definition of the exact point at when in the process of development a human embryo becomes a person -- because it is a process with no clear-cut demarcation, from conception through extra-uterine development.  

Being pro-choice is not the same as being  pro-abortion.   As Bill Clinton famously put it:  Abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare."

Several states are now one step away from abolishing all abortion clinics, Mississippi being the latest.   A new law there goes into effect July 1st, which requires that anyone doing abortions in the state of Mississippi must be an Ob-Gyn specialist and have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

As in any surgery, anyone may have a severe allergic reaction to medication or anesthesia or a bleeding or infectious complication of a routine abortion.  Emergency care needs to be available.

But requiring the doctor performing the abortion to have admitting privileges at a local hospital is not the only adequate solution.    My primary care doctor does not admit patients to the hospital;  you become the patient of a "hospitalist," a doctor employed full time by the hospital to take care of inpatients.   In emergencies, patients are taking to emergency rooms and treated by the ER docs who work there for the hospital.

This requirement is another patent attempt to close down all abortion clinics.  They're already down to one in Mississippi, and it may have to close due to this new, unnecessary law.  Just another in the thousand small cuts chipping away at the protections given by Roe vs. Wade.

If some accommodation is not found, this summer could well be the end of any abortion service for poor women in the state of Mississippi.

Ralph