Twenty-four-year-old Tonya Reaves was married with a child. She had an abortion on Friday and never returned home, her death ruled an "accident." Her family is looking for answers and has hired an attorney. Planned Parenthood is working on damage control by assuring people that abortions are safe and pro-life politicians are asking hard questions.
The tragedy has quickly turned into a blame game, as the pro-abortion activists are pointing at the "right-wing" for "exploiting" the young women's death; while pro-life advocates are questioning the safety of the procedure for the mother.
One article accuses the abortion provider of "downplaying the tragedy" by Planned Parenthood spokespersons and the mainstream media, as every statement or article about Tonya Reaves seems to mention the "safety" of abortion, while simultaneously offering condolences. Additionally, the integrity of the data for abortion statistics is horrendous, making it difficult to gain worthwhile data.
Another article claims that the "right-wing" is using the opportunity to attack women's "reproductive rights." The Salon piece reveals that Cliff Stearns (R-FL) said, "...I would like to find out how they spend our half a billion dollars, and I would also like to explore some of the safety aspects, particularly in light of this death, of this tragedy." It is interesting that this statement is considered as "exploiting" a tragedy, but repeatedly touting abortion's safety record is just fine. Ironically, the inevitable calls for gun-control after every high-profile shooting never seems to warrant that same criticism.
Ms. Reaves's death has a strange timeline, as she received her abortion at 11:00 a.m., but was not taken to the hospital until 4:30 p.m., after she began to hemorrhage. She was given an additional abortion (perhaps they did not fully remove the baby the first time?) at the hospital and then a perforation was discovered and was taken back to surgery at 10:12 p.m...she was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m., 12 hours after the first abortion.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that in 2007, (the most recent year for which data were available), six women died as a result of abortions. One repeated criticism about abortion related deaths of the mother is that the death certificates often do not indicate that the death was the result of the abortion.
"It happened so fast," said Tonya's sister, Toni Reaves. "She was just fine one day -- and then the next day she was gone. We're just trying to figure out what happened." If any lessons are to be learned from this tragedy, it is that abortion providers should be accountable for proper documentation of abortions.
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Comments: 15
I was accused of being a right wing nut job who would deny women "the right to choose" although I have never been against abortion per se. My point was that the vast majority of these abortions terminated a female foetus and were performed for members of a certain culture and religion. As usual I was arguing that there can only be one law and it must apply to everybody equally.
You get into different territory here, showing that abortion is the preferred form of birth control for some politically motivated people and their enthusiasm for terminating pregnancies by medical intervention is leading them to ignore their responsibility to point out the risks.
I don't know the circumstances which led this woman to seek a termination and would probably not comment anyway. I must however deplore what looks suspiciously like a cover up by the practicioners.
In the UK recently during a controversy about abortion on demand a whistle blower revealed that some women are using the service as a form of contraception. The unnamed senior nurse said in the most extreme case she was aware of a woman still in her teens had demanded and been given nine abortions so far, the first when she was fourteen.
It's time for a bit of common sense on this issue.
There was a lot of talk about the limit being reduced in the UK from 28 weeks to 24 weeks some time ago. Apparently this was a "human rights abuse" too. Actually the driving force behind that move was more pragmatic. The National Health Service and private clinics could not get nurses to work in clinics offering terminations up to 28 weeks, most nurses said it was too traumatic.
I despise politicians of all shades, I'm ambivalent about doctors but I trust nurses so their view is good enough for me.
A living being must die for an abortion to occur. Sometimes two living beings die as did here.
Just because the domicile of the target living being is the womb, supposedly the SAFEST place, does not detract from the fact that a living being must die.
Meaning:. "I can't find any data to support my narrow minded ideological stance on the issue."
Make abortion illegal again and there will be a lot, lot more cases like this. That is not opinion but fact based on the historical record..
Meaning:. "Additionally, the integrity of the data for abortion statistics is horrendous, making it difficult to gain worthwhile data."
There is NO requirement that states report abortion statistics. Hmmmm, I wonder why that is, Rory?
Historically in jurisdictions where abortion is unavailable the rate of parental infanticide was as high as 15%. No matter what you think of abortion it is way better than infanticide.
Source: http://stevenpinker.com/publications/better-angels-our-nature