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Healthcare Prof:
The New York Times and Washington Post recently published letters towards the editor on topics related to abortion. Summaries appear below.
Dena Davis, New York Times: Some “pro-life strategists” have “highjacked and misused” the “important concept” of informed consent, Davis, a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, writes in a letter to the editor in response to a current Times post. The purpose of informed consent is to offer ladies the “best medical facts” about their conditions so they can use those facts to “make the best choice for her,” Davis writes. If there is “good evidence that a significant number of women suffer emotional distress after abortion, that is important information females really should know,” Davis writes, adding that they also really should be informed of the “physical risks of carrying a pregnancy to term, the proportion of ladies who suffer postpartum depression and the emotional consequences of giving a baby up for adoption” (Davis, New York Times, 5/28).
Nada Stotland, New York Times: The recent Times article reveals some antiabortion advocates’ “claim that by pushing for mandatory counseling about abortion’s alleged psychological and physical risks, they’re working in the interest of females,” Stotland, president-elect with the American Psychiatric Association, writes in a Times letter towards the editor. Based on Stotland, “meticulous” research shows that there is “no causal relationship” between abortion and mental illness. Women’s mental wellness is “jeopardized” when laws mandate doctors to “mislead” females, Stotland writes. She adds, “Doctors take an oath to work in the best interest of patients,” concluding that antiabortion-rights groups “merely claim that mantle as their tactic du jour” (Stotland, New York Times, 5/28).
Vicki Saporta, Washington Post: A woman’s decision to obtain an abortion and the health care professionals who provide the procedure had been “unnecessarily stigmatized” in a recent Post article about selective reduction, Saporta, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, writes in a Post letter to the editor. Ladies choose to undergo abortion for “many reasons, and selective reduction is one of them,” Saporta writes. According to the Guttmacher Institute, six out of every 10 ladies who have abortions already have children, and more than 50% say they want a child or another child at a later time, Saporta writes. She adds, “Just like the females … who choose selective reduction, many ladies who obtain an abortion feel they’re choosing the most responsible course of action by waiting until they’re able to adequately care for a child” (Saporta, Washington Post, 5/29).
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