| Abortion Whether You Want it or Not | |
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You don't have to want an abortion to get one. All you have to do is trust your pregnancy care to an abortionist -- or, as the prochoice like to say, "a doctor who performs the full range of obstetric and gynecological care." A patient I'll call "Meghan" was an obstetric patient of Dr. Robert Walker in 1978. On March 9, according to a suit she later filed, Meghan was 23-24 weeks pregnant and experienced a gush of fluids. She consulted Walker, who hospitalized her and tested her for infection. On March 13, Meghan was still suffering leaking fluid, and visited Walker for an examination in his office. She told her that she had an infection "and that for her safety the pregnancy would have to be terminated." Meghan entered the hospital as instructed, and submitted to what she thought was a procedure to induce early labor and deliver her baby prematurely. When the baby emerged, Meghan asked the nurse to do everything possible to save the baby's life, and could not understand why nobody was caring for her child. The infant survived only six minutes due to extreme prematurity and lack of care. Meghan sued for lack of informed consent and failure to discuss alternatives. Walker testified that since Meghan had undergone a previous abortion, he assumed that she knew that "termination of pregnancy" meant an abortion and that she therefore consented to the death of her baby. Patient Patricia T. went to Dr. Ulrich Klopfer for routine obstetric care on January 29, 1981. According to the suit she later filed, Klopfer told Patricia that her 10-week fetus was dead. She consented to a suction procedure to remove what she believed was a dead fetus. Her uterus was punctured in two places during the procedure. Patricia hemorrhaged and went into shock. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Doctors there had to remove her uterus, fallopian tube, and ovary. Patricia was hospitalized for a week. Only after her ordeal did she learn that the fetus had not been dead until Klopfer's interference killed it. An article in the April 19, 1984 Washington Post reports that prochoice icon Milan Vuitch was ordered to pay a $125,000 settlement to a 19-year-old patient who had gone to his Laurel Clinic for treatment and got an unwanted abortion performed on her instead. I've covered other cases her in previous Features, telling the stories of women who were told their unborn babies were dead or dying, and tricked into unwanted abortions. This is scary stuff. But even more scary is the fact that you don't even have to know that you're pregnant to be treated to an unsolicited abortion. Previous page > Abortions for all! Visit the RealChoice blog
Cite: 483 A.2d 718 (Me 1984)
Source: Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 83L 1941
Next page > We'll just assume we know what's best for you.
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