abortions: A Christian obstetrician explains his choice

[thir]

I think this article is both touching and informative regarding this difficult question:


Why I perform abortions: A Christian obstetrician explains his choice

Willie J. Parker, an obstetrician based in Washington, D.C., didn’t always perform abortions. He’s a Christian from Birmingham, Ala., who initially refused to even consider the procedure.

But about halfway into his 20-year career, he changed his mind. Now, he’s one of those rare doctors who is willing to push the limits and provide abortions at 24 weeks of pregnancy. That places him among only about 11 percent of all abortion providers who will do the procedure that late in the second trimester.

But it troubles Parker that abortion supporters and opponents are increasingly willing to bargain about second-trimester abortions in the interest of finding common ground. While this may create a more civil discourse, he says, in the end, it’s dangerous to the health interests of women.

It’s the individual stories of the women who came to him that made him see things that way, he says. He now views the abortion debate through the prism of their particular realities.

Ironically, it’s the lack of access to abortion care that often pushes women to have abortions later in pregnancy, Parker says.

Some of the interviewers questions:

Q. You say women in their second trimester often have the most compelling need for an abortion. Why?

Q. Explain why limitations on abortion trouble you.

Q. The vast majority of states restrict later-term abortions. Six of them do so after 20 weeks, as lawmakers are considering for D.C., on the grounds that a fetus can feel pain at some point. Is that true?

Q. So where’s the cutoff line for you?

Q. You have a controversial job. Do you worry about your own safety?

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_pag..._chri.html?utm

In view of the domestic terrorism regarding abortion, I admire this guy.

[Thorne]

In view of the domestic terrorism regarding abortion, I admire this guy.

I have to admire him, and those like him, as well. And let's not forget that those domestic terrorists are, almost exclusively, religiously motivated. And until recently were seldom brought to justice.

[Bellasub]

That man is hardly a Christian.