But telling them the truth about their baby’s development, of course, would be seen by many as a terrible imposition on their sacred rights . . .
The Supreme Court of New Jersey has ruled that it’s OK to lie to women about the state of their pregnancy while they are deciding to have an abortion.
New Jersey’s supreme court has just decided that, as far as state law is concerned, an abortionist can give false information to a woman trying to decide whether to have an abortion.
Is there a “baby in there”? That’s what Rose Acuna wanted to know from her obstetrician-gynecologist. She was six to eight weeks along at the time. “Don’t be stupid. It’s only blood,” the physician, Sheldon Turkish, allegedly replied. (Turkish argues that he probably said, “It’s just tissue.”) So, three days later, Acuna went ahead with the abortion.
Turns out it wasn’t “just tissue.”
This ties in nicely with a piece I recently saw in the Daily Mail, which quotes women who have had abortions. Guess what? Of the six women whose abortions are recounted in the piece, four regret their decision.
Here’s Sarah Giles:
Today, I still have a huge sense of loss and feel that we did the wrong thing. Mike and I are still together, although the abortion nearly split us up.
I hope that one day we’ll get married and have children together – but I will never forget. Even today, I see pregnant women or happy young mothers with their babies and think: “That could have been me. It makes me cry.”
And Sarah Fry:
I was 18 when I went to my doctor and asked for an abortion. I’d only been with my boyfriend for a month. No obstacles were put in my way, and the whole process was so incredibly quick and smooth that I never really had the chance to think if it was something I really wanted to go through with.
. . . .
My abortion haunted me for years afterwards. I split up with the boyfriend I’d been with then, but when I met Martin and we started trying for children it took almost a year for me to conceive.
Then, at seven weeks, I had a miscarriage. I tried not to think about the abortion, but in January 2006, when we lost another baby at seven weeks, I was inconsolable.
In fact, I suffered two more miscarriages before getting pregnant with Tayla in December 2006.
When she was born in August of this year, I was thrilled – but when I look at her I sometimes think of the pregnancy I terminated.
Doctors haven’t confirmed a link between my abortion nine years ago and the subsequent miscarriages, but I can’t help but wonder if they’re connected – and inside I do sometimes blame myself.
Varria Russellwhite:
I was given a pill and then a pessary the following day, which induced a miscarriage. I was not prepared for what followed. After eight hours I gave birth to a small but fully formed baby.
As I watched the nurse carry it away in a pool of blood, I felt so hollow at the waste of a life. I could clean the mess off me, but couldn’t wash the guilt from my mind.
Sue Hulbert:
When I came to, I felt devastated about what I had done and immediately regretted it. I went home with this aching, empty feeling.
Alan didn’t wait long before cutting his ties with me and I fell into a deep depression. It took me so long to get out of bed each morning because I had to imagine I was dressing and feeding my lost baby. I gave him a name, Patrick.
One night, I wrote letters to my family and friends and took an overdose of antidepressants. But it wasn’t enough – and the next day I was woken by the phone. It was Alan, who realised I could barely speak and called an ambulance.
Multiply these women’s experiences by several hundred thousand and you’ll get a sense of what we’re looking at.
But if you told women the truth about what is going on inside them — and how they might feel afterwards — that, of course, would be unconstitutional.
I believe it was Yakov Smirnov who said: “What a country.”
UPDATE: Dawn Eden has some disturbing quotes from a woman whose quotes were edited out of the Daily Mail piece. This woman says she would do the same thing again — but it’s clear that the experience has scarred her life:
By the time I had the abortion, I was 15 weeks and two days pregnant. I went into hospital with my best friend for moral support, and the nurse gave me tablets to bring on labour. Because I was so far into the pregnancy, I had to give birth rather than have a straightforward abortion.
It was horrendous. After two hours the contractions started, and I clung onto the hand of the midwife. Once I felt the baby starting to come, I had to go into the toilet and let it drop onto a stainless steel tray.
“Don’t look,” said the midwife. “Keep your eyes straight in front of you and walk away immediately.” There was no way I could have looked down and seen my baby. I was numb.
By then I was bleeding heavily, but I was allowed to go home. I went straight to bed and told my mum I had a very heavy period. For two days I lay in bed, shocked and exhausted, but I still I knew I had done the right thing.
Three months later, I started university. I coped by just blanking the abortion out. I would make the same decision again, but it has affected my life. I am paranoid about getting pregnant, and haven’t had a successful relationship since.
Another abortion success story.