Originally posted by drvechman
if women were smart enough to make appropriate decisions for themselves, they probably wouldn't be seeking the help of an abortion clinic in the first place. [/B]
This is the central point to the abortion issue. Pro-abortion ideas are often spun as pro-choice by saying that a woman should have the right to make decisions regarding her own body. I agree that a woman should have a right to choose but she (as with all people) must accept responsibility for her choices. In the vast majority of cases her choices led to pregnancy.
Helping those we serve as physicians make good choices is key in really treating and healing people rather than just treating pathologies. Are we doctors or technicians? Be the illness diabetes, obesity, alcoholism, heart disease or whatever, each of the patients choices carries a consequence. Each choice has real effects and in the end procedures and prescriptions will not overcome poor choices. Patients need to undersand that and we fail as physicians if they don't.
As for abortion the choice was made when the woman engaged in inappropriate intercourse. Except in extreme cases such as rape or incest, abortion is an attempt to escape the consequence of ones actions. It is a blantant refusal to take responsibility akin to a spoiled teenager calling on daddy's money, clout or lawyer to avoid punishment for bad behavior. One must take responsibility for one's choices.
So, does abortion have a place in medical practice? Yes, it fits in extreme situations involving rape, incest, and where severe complications during pregnancy would seem gaurantee the death of the mother. It should not be a common procedure preformed simply for the convenience of the irresponsible. It should not be an easy out for those who trumpet thier freedom of choice but refuse understand the choices have consequences.
It is self deception to believe that by "alleviating" the physical consequences of inappropriate sex we are truly helping those who, as physicians, we have committed to serve. No amount of skill on the part of the physician can remove the emotional repercussions of abortion. Nor can terminating unwanted pregnancies alleviate the societal problems associated with so called "casual sex" and the manipulative attitudes toward all relationships it fosters.
Simply put, with out true responsibility there can be no real freedom of choice. There is much more we can do here and simply announcing "I'm free to choose" is not it.
