News flash: women who can't get abortions legally are likely to seek illegal abortions, which kill hundreds of thousands of women globally every year. In Ethiopia, for example, deaths from botched illegal abortions are the 2nd-leading cause of death among women. Thinking that making abortion illegal will stop abortions from happenning is just nonsense. Women will take amazing risks to not have a baby sometimes.

And if a woman didn't have abortion they sought, having that kid is more likely to keep that woman from being able to support herself and her family financially. (Also? Most women who have abortions ALREADY HAVE CHILDREN. True fact.)

More access to abortion = better standards of living. Improving QUALITY of life IS good judgement.

Your research is extremely faulty and basically false. Women in 3rd world countries who are pregnant and are dying is because of poor nutrition and lack of basic medical medical care. Your comments are extremely misleading and support a pro-abortion kill the unborn agenda. If people like you would get behind more funding for health services for these women and children during their childbirth years many more pregnant women and their unborn children would lead productive lives. Better quality of life for baby and mother. And both baby and mother both live. Their is no needless killing of the unborn child. Your euthanasia planned parenthood Margaret Sanger mentality is disgusting.

Soooo if a doctor finds it 'morally wrong' to kill cancer or a virus in a patient, then thats okay?

Or maybe another doctor doesn't like Asians or fat people, so (s)he chooses to NOT help them. Is that okay?

Since when do doctors get to use their own personal beliefs on whether to help a patient with something that they require?

A baby is not an illness.

A baby is not an illness.

you got it eae. not an illness and no cure is needed. Good judgement would lean toward taking no action.

I'm with you bunkerman

CJ I'm not buying it.

Apparently you have never been pregnant. Btw, I say this while wearing a wry smile.

They swore to care for their patients. OB/Gyns' patients are pregnant women, not clumps of tissue.

Yes they are, and some pregnant women choose not to be pregnant any longer.

Doctors swear to "first, do no harm". Violence against another person is the very definition of "harm".

I find it abhorrent that the law requires OB-GYN's to be trained in performing abortions. I understand that the procedure is currently legal (though I pray that will change in the future), but it should be an elective part of training, not a mandatory one.

@Crimson Wife~why do you PRAY that abortion becomes illegal. How does a woman who chooses not to parent or give birth affect you? Just because it is legal doesn't mean women are forced to have one. Only women who NEED one will seek those services. Mind your own life and leave others alone so they can mind theirs.

@Crimson Wife

I find it abhorrent that the law requires OB-GYN's to be trained in performing abortions. I understand that the procedure is currently legal (though I pray that will change in the future), but it should be an elective part of training, not a mandatory one.

Since you had to bring prayer into the conversation, I leave you with this bit of wisdom:

¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 7 1-5, NIV

Why Christians are so concerned about judging others is beyond me, when the Founder and Author of their Faith makes it clear what happens to those that engage in such activities.

Killing of the unborn is not the answer. Better medical care and better nutrition is the answer so both the mother and baby is the real can live productive lives. Euthanasia is not the answer.

Okay I'll wait for you to step up and support all those women with 5, 6, 7 kids they cannot afford. We can take EXTRA out of your paycheck so they can get more foodstamps and state aid.

But oh yeah people like you are the first ones to whine that there's food stamps and WIC and section 8 to begin with.

There is nothing "evil" about abortion. It's one of two treatments for the medical condition known as "pregnancy." Neither treatment is the default.

OB/Gyns' patients are pregnant women, not clumps of tissue.

In fact all living animals amount to nothing more than clumps of tissue. Fully developed animals are only a collection of a good deal more of it. A breathing mass of tissue (woman or woman) has no more or less value than a lesser collection of tissue.

There is nothing "evil" about abortion. It's one of two treatments for the medical condition known as "pregnancy." Neither treatment is the default.

There is no medical condition involved. With out a medical condition there is no treatment required. Being pregnant is no more a medical condition than having a tattoo is a medical condition. Both are acts of free will and forethought is required in having become "infected".

With the one the default result is production of offspring, with the other having a big green spot on the location in old age is the default result. Both are conditions of choice not of medically treatable unavoidable infection.

Also an act in itself cannot be evil, since an act cannot happen without thought and does not exist in a physical sense, they occur by willful performance.An act cannot occur on its own without it being thought of and preformed by a physical being capable of thought, the person preforming the act willfully can only be evil since it is intent that defines what is or is not evil. So by default any act willfully preformed that would unjustly result in taking the life from another being (any way it may be rationalized) is by default a reflection of the evil nature of the person preforming it.

One question this article doesn't answer: how many OB/GYNs wish they could form abortion services but can't (because they lack training, are prohibited by their practice, or are afraid to, etc.)?

They are Ob-Gyn doctors in the USA. All are allowed to perform 1st trimester abortions .

Abortion is a digusting practice. Most ob-gyn find it disgusting and immoral.

It really would be interesting to find out how many of them are afraid of the Tvangelicals out there trying to terrorize and/or kill them.

Certainly they're afraid of being gunned down by nutjobs who kill for "life."

Personally, I'd rather have sex than play tennis, but that's just me.

Lisa, I agree with you wholeheartedly. The cruelty and inhmanity of abortion especially in the 2nd semester is stunning and extremely lamentable.

OOOOh satan! Maybe the boogie man too??

The purpose of sex is NOT PRECREATION. We are no farm animals, or living in the dark ages.

We are sentient and sexual beings. Sex is not dirty or wrong. Its natural.

Go ask your GOD why he aborts more fetuses than any medical profession could. Women have miscarriages every day...for many reasons.

A woman is not a baby factory. Get over yourself.

Late-term abortions occurring 20-24 weeks (depending on which state it is performed in) are only performed in circumstances where the life of the mother is in danger should the pregnancy continue, or there are sever fetal anomalies or congenital defects incompatible with life upon delivery. Late term procedures are highly regulated and not the routine abortion.

All this aside, while I am pro-choice, I can not support late-term procedures. I wonder why there couldn't just be an emergency c-section performed? The mother would be out of danger, and if the baby could be saved- great. If the baby was in the unfortunate circumstance of severe defects/anomalies, or simply wasn't viable- could we not start a morphine drip and let nature take its course painlessly? It seems a lot more humane, considering by week 20 (approximately) a fetus has developed a central nervous system and could possibly experience pain.

And yes, people do have sex for reasons other than procreation... not that those reasons are anyone's business.

Oh, oh. The "Church Lady" is back. Is Santa really Satin??

Say hi to Tinkerbell and the easter bunny for me.

Did Satan invade and occupy Iraq?

Tera Powers Yeah, his name is Dick Cheney.

*snort* !!

@achick~you must be very fortunate to have health insurance. Most women NEED an abortion because they cannot financially support a(nother) child. If women find out @ 18-20 wks the fetus is severely deformed, it may take 2-4 wks to get an appt w/a Dr that performs late-term abortions. She most likely will NOT have health insurance to be admitted to a hospital for "a c-section." You are not dealing with reality in this case. Most hospitals are religion run, so a c-section for fetal anomalies would not be performed there. Several times on this thread, it has been said that abortion care is not accessible outside of a major city. Healthcare in general is inaccessible to a large percentage of the poor. Get off your high horse and face the reality: in this country fewer and fewer people have money, insurance, and food. Don't judge.

YAWN

Keep your religious fairy tales out of the medical profession.

Lisa, mind your own flippin' business.

@Lisa~people like you are the 1st to judge harshly a woman or couple who have too many children to clothe and feed them, because YOUR tax money goes toward food stamps and medicaid to them.

To all you religious zealots who say sex is only for procreation:

Go read YOUR bible...Song of Songs talks about the joy and pleasure of sexual contact between humans.

Someone please put an end to these baby killing sperm toliets!

Someone please put an end to these religious terrorist freaks that care about a fetus more than anyone BREATHING AIR ALREADY. Do you want to pay for all of these unwanted children born to women against their will?

We'll have a thousand Casey Anthonys in this country. But as long as no one can have abortions, these idiots will be happy.

....Or no, they won't because then they will label welfare addicts with 9 kids living off of state aid 'scum' and have someone to feel superior over. Trying to keep your flock dumb and poor, with too many kids to feed right you holier-than-thou, stupid arrogant fools!

Thank you for proving how popular and sought-after abortion is.

My interpretation of what Alan is doing is allowing a variance to use a holy scripture to support his own cause. My own view of the statement of choosing life involves each of us is faced with the decision to choose- Goodness or Evil, God or Satan, eternal light and life or eternal darkness and death. Not bending scripture to support a cause that leads so many to violence in the ironic name of "pro-life".

The figures I saw for 2009, 80,000 abortions were performed in the US...NOT 1.2 million. So there.

You have no personal compassion for unborn human life. Basic morality profoundly tells you not to kill the growing human life in the womb. Abortion is extremely wrong and cruel and very, very selfish.

Doctors are entitled to freedom of religion just like any other American citizen. The word abortion is not even mentioned in the constitution. Yes, I know the Supreme Court said it is based on the "right of privacy," but that is an "implied right," in other words, it isn't actually in the Constitution either.

I cannot imagine very many doctors who devote their lives to bringing children into the world, who are constantly doing check-ups on pregnant mothers to make sure both mother and baby are healthy, who have delivered preemies and seen many of them thrive, I really cannot imagine that very many of those men and women are going to be able to bring themselves to abort a healthy unborn baby, no matter what their religion.

As to abortions being unavailable in rural areas? So what! I live in a rural area. Two of my kids were born in a nearby city, over an hour away. When my son had to see an allergist, I had to not only go to the city, but find one who would send the allergy shot serum to my pediatrician's office so we wouldn't have a weekly hour trip. When one of my other kids had to get her wisdom teeth out, we had to go to the city for an oral surgeon. If you live in a rural area, and you need medical care not available in your little town, you go to the city. That is life! Don't want to deal with it, move to the city!

Who the hell is talking about FORCING doctors to do anything?

Bunkerman, fetal tissue does not deserve "compassion." Why do you pro-liars obsess over fetuses but abandon them once they're here?

Or, as someone fabulously wrote today, "Why do people who want to make medical decisions for others, refuse to pay for them?"

Two centuries ago, Christians who spoke out against the evils of slavery were criticized by defenders of the status quo. I pray that in two centuries from now, people will look back with as much horror at the dehumanization of unborn babies as we now look back at the dehumanization of African-Americans.

@ Crimson Wife~

once again you are not looking at the BIG PICTURE! 2 centuries ago, Africans were responsible for SELLING their own to others, knowing they would be slaves for the money. Foreigners didn't sail onto their shores stealing Africans. They were offered for sale. STFU! You don't know what you're talking about. You're just blabbing your opinions with NOTHING to back them up. Go to bed and pro-create.

Oooops Blind Pussycat.... don't let the cat out of the bag!

This is too much fact for idiots like this. The fact that American Slaves were SOLD to the white man for guns and ammo to fight their own tribal fights seems to elude some.

And CrimsonIdiot, a thousand years from now, people will laugh at the fact that turds like you exist that believed in fairy tales and actually tried to force your own demented thoughts and rules on others!

Give more support for young mothers and their unborn children and more will keep their babies. Women not being married while pregnant is causing the nation's abortion tragedy.

News flash:

Married women need abortions too sometimes. Its not just young dumb teeny boppers getting them. Women of all races, ages and social back rounds can easily find themselves requiring the procedure.

So a solution is marry because a baby is on the way, stay together unhappily for a few years while creating an unstable family life for the baby, then divorce and further damage the kids stability in his/her already uncertain life? Sounds like a great plan.

98% of abortions occur within two to four weeks after conception (or four to six weeks of pregnancy, according to doctors). This is well before there is a living human being in existence.

No, Bunkerman, women will abort because they don't want to be pregnant and have children. Sometimes even planned pregnancies end in termination when life circumstances take a drastic turn. Maybe a toddler is diagnosed with potentially terminal cancer and his mother can't fathom dealing with a pregnancy and childbirth while her 2-year-old is going through chemo and radiation. Maybe her spouse dies and she sinks into depression.

The bottom line is that it's none of your business why women abort.

@Tera Powers~

Women who choose abortion NEED an abortion. They do not come to the decision easily. I do agree with you, though about your example. They are in a bind~it could be more than one reason...REASON. Women do not WANT an abortion.

For the rest of you anti-abortion people~you obviously do not understand the women who need to have access to safe abortion. Peace out!

They say 69% of people who try to win an argument with percentages, is making them up.

See what I did right there?

You idiot. No one is MAKING anyone have an abortion. It is a womans CHOICE.

YOU are the people trying to MAKE PEOPLE do something against their will! If a woman does not believe in abortion, she doesn't HAVE to have one!

Tada!

If Bunker's numbers are indeed accurate, I have to wonder how on earth would we be able to accommodate that many people if they all would have been born?! We have limited supply of resources as it is! Even right down to limited supply of teachers, and yet they are asking teachers to retire or are laying them off because we simply do not have the means to pay or afford them their benefits. Classrooms are overflowing and the quality of education is severely lacking (by my ascertainment) because the teachers are spread too thin. So the answer would be to add a larger number of kids, with less supplies and resources?

28% of all women seeking abortions are Catholic.

'nuff said.

@skrekk

They don't care about the social harm - or anyone else, for that matter. If they did, the ones who want to ban abortion wouldn't also be the very same people wanting to eliminate all social services for children and families in need.

Honestly? I think they're trying to create a new slave class.

They want dumb, poor lost souls. Thats what feeds the church.

How do you keep people poor? Keep them burdened with too many children to support and feed.

That is true, a doctor is not required to perform a service simply because of their chosen profession, even if the service is within the realm of their chosen specialty. However, I would be more than willing to wager a large sum of money that the biggest reason doctors shy away from abortion services would have to do with the murdering pro-lifers that stand outside of clinics threatening health care workers/patients, stalking and harrassing doctors and their families, bombing clinics and killing people... all in the name of life? People like this make me ashamed to be Christian, if this is what they call themselves.

I know a guy whose practice is split between abortion and fertility. Seriously. Obviously he is interested in the welfare and wishes of his patients.

I know a guy whose practice is split between abortion and fertility.

As was George Tiller's practice. What most anti-choice folks don't realize is that many abortions - especially late term abortions - are performed in order to preserve subsequent fertility.

Thank you TJ, very well said. Congratulations on finally having the thrill of a baby! Best wishes to you and yours.

So much for the wingnuts' claim that there is a wildly profitable "abortion industry," huh? Obviously since there is such a high demand for the procedure, and so many providers are bowing out (but would like to take part), it's not something they're willing to risk their lives for - or the lives and safety of their spouses and children. Raging wingnut anti-choicers love to intimidate and even kill for "life," and they have no hesitation in threatening the children of abortion providers. Freakin' hypocrites.