Dr. Rebecca Talks Abortion

My helpmate spoke out today, feeling as I did that it's time. I'm sharing her Facebook post with permission, as I promised an update on my post from last night and realized her thoughts were more cogent than mine. Edits for readability have been made but no change to content. For more on this topic, see my friend Christina's take, also.

"This is a very difficult debate for a number of reasons, one of which is the way media on both sides of the debate cherrypick very unusual cases. The type of abortion described in the video commonly shared [Rebecca and I decided it was unproductive to link you] is horrific but also 100% illegal at this time. 

I am a family physician and from the perspective have perhaps a slightly different view than some of my OBGYN colleagues. Whereas they care exclusively for mothers and unborn babies, I am a provider for children as well. I can't claim to be pro choice or pro life as defined by our politicians, as the situation is more nuanced than that, for all the reasons widely publicized but also for our current birth statistics. 50% of all pregnancies are unplanned - either mistimed or unwanted. 25% of all recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage or intentional abortion. And far more pregnancies now than ever before are complicated by preexisting disease. 

Combine that with amazing capabilities of modern NICU wards. I practice at a very large urban hospital and have seen 25 week old babies be born and survive. I have also seen 23 week preterm labor patients forced to make a decision between inducing delivery - with odds below 5% of survival, and high risk of chronic disability if the infant did survive, or to continue the pregnancy and risk life threatening infection. The situation is more complex than most people realize. Often there is no right answer, and therefore a clear cut law for or against is in my view inappropriate. Instead I believe our culture needs to move towards prevention and encourage planning to reduce the number of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. 

I am neither pro life or pro choice. I am pro comprehensive sex ed, pro birth control, pro marriage, and pro responsible adulthood. I stand with planned parenthood."