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Third Term Abortions: It’s Time to Halt the Myth

Okay, so I originally had not much to say regarding the killing of OBGYN and abortion provider Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas, one of only a handful of third-term abortion providers in the entire country.

Well, now I do have something to say.

I decided on my own to do some research on third-term abortions. I mean, let’s face it. It does not sound like a nice procedure. In fact, when you don’t know anything about the whys and wherefores, it sounds downright evil. Who gets them and why?

You know what? The more research I do, the more pissed off I am about the murder of an innocent man who performed a distasteful, though perfectly legal medical procedure that has helped—yes, I said helped—thousands of women all over the country. A medical procedure that very few doctors have the guts to perform.

I am also totally pissed off that the U.S. media—save for NPR as far as I can tell—has stayed completely quiet about the true nature of third term abortions, thereby adding fuel to the fire of zealots who seem to think that they know God’s will, intent and punishment for those who feel they have no other option than to make this heart-wrenching choice.

First off, I did some research on abortion law. Many states have on the books a certain number of weeks past which a woman may not abort her pregnancy, unless her own life is in danger. And many states don’t list a specific week but simply use the term “viable” when describing the point at which a woman may not end her pregnancy, meaning that she can’t abort once the baby could live on its own outside the uterus.

Staunch anti-abortionists get their panties in a twist because the number of third-trimester abortions that take place in the U.S. turns out to be far more than the number of women whose lives are actually in danger from the pregnancy. Because you see, in Kansas and just a few other states, a woman who seeks a third-term abortion can get around the law by getting two doctors to agree that carrying her pregnancy to term would be too mentally upsetting.

Loud-mouthed anti-abortionists would have us all believe that there are legions of pregnant women in the U.S. (likely liberal women of course) who simply wake up one morning sometime between the 28th and 40th week of their pregnancies and decide that they don’t want to be pregnant after all. They’ve changed their minds. That this whole having a baby thing is just too difficult and too annoying and they’re going to get their perfectly healthy babies cut out of them and have them thrown into the incinerator. That somehow, inexplicably, these women manage to get two, count ’em two doctors—with medical degrees, no less—to agree that it’s okay for her to end her pregnancy, willy-nilly, la dee da, and then she can go back to shoe shopping with no worries. And Dr. George Tiller, they claim, was a monster making millions of dollars in this fucked-up medical atrocity.

It’s time for reasonable Americans to stand up and loudly proclaim BULLSHIT.

The truth is just as horrifying. The truth is that most third-term abortions that are not performed to save the mother are performed because the baby is not viable. That means that once the baby is no longer attached to his or her mother’s umbilical cord, he or she will cease to live, and no amount of medical intervention will save him or her.

Think of that. You’re a happy, healthy American woman planning your pregnancy. You and your significant other buy a crib. You’ve picked out names. Maybe you’ve learned the sex of the baby and you’ve bought a few adorable teeny-tiny outfits. People can see your belly getting bigger. Your parents are dreaming of becoming grandparents. Someone is planning your shower.

Then you go in for a late term sonogram and the tech becomes quiet. Something is wrong. The list of severe genetic deformities and life-crushing physical problems that can affect a baby is long: trisomy 18, DiGeorge syndrome, anencephaly, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, Potter's Syndrome, a Ruptured Amniotic Sac and more. Sure, science and technology are amazing, but the truth of the matter is, they’re not perfect. Sometimes not even modern medicine is able to detect a severe deformity until, according to law, it’s too late to abort the pregnancy.

But in your state, you’re told that you have no choice but to carry your pregnancy to term because the law simply forbids third-term abortions. That means that your belly will continue to grow bigger and bigger day after day. Strangers will smile at you and ask if you’re having a boy or a girl. Coworkers will ask to rub your stomach. All the while you know that when the day comes to deliver, you will give birth to your dead or dying baby and go home empty handed.

Please, if you think I’m at all stretching the truth, go to A Heartbreaking Choice to read the agonizing stories of women who felt they had no other option than to terminate their third-term pregnancies. Many of these women were anti-abortion themselves.

Would you be able to face that kind of mental anguish? Who is anyone to tell a woman that she must, by law, experience something so terrible? Some women feel that it's cruel to the baby to carry him or her to term and then watch his or her short life snuff out, possibly in horrible discomfort, outside the uterus.

Take these facts into consideration, and it becomes totally understandable how thousands and thousands of third-term abortions ended up being funneled to Dr. George Tiller’s clinic. Most U.S. women are forced to travel several states away to their third-term pregnancies aborted, even when their babies have zero chance at life.

Dr. Tiller was sometimes referred to as the “doctor of last resort”. The doctor who would perform a procedure that most doctors either couldn’t stomach, or more likely didn’t have the nerve to perform under threat of violent anti-abortionists. He continued his work even after being shot IN BOTH ARMS by an anti-abortion zealot in 1993. His clinic even offered funeral services to patients who wanted them.

I’m calling the American media out right here and now. It’s time for the CNNs and the MSNBCs and the New York Times and the Washington Posts and the USA Todays and the Newsweeks and Time Magazines of this country to report on this issue and report on it accurately. Otherwise, doctors like Dr. Tiller will continue to be at risk and American women may end up with very few choices when it comes to high-risk pregnancies.

A Picture's Worth ... Yeah, You Know

I was really touched by this photo that I did not see in my local media. Caught it in a British publication.

This is a vigil for murdered abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in downtown Wichita Kansas. Which, by the way, is looks far more festive than it did when I was living there.

Photo by the European Pressphoto Agency.

Flat Tax

So Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing a 15% flat income tax for Californians. How awesome would that be? If California manages to pass one, then maybe it would be on the table for the nation. Of course, that might put millions of tax preparers out of business....

Murder of an Abortion Doctor

Oddly enough, my big fat mouth had nothing to say about abortion provider and OBGYN Dr. George Tiller being murdered in Wichita, Kan., yesterday. Sad? Yes. Senseless? Of course. Surprising? Not really.

What did surprise me was the outpouring of outrage of friends and acquaintances of mine on their Facebook pages. Granted, I expected this from my hippie, activist Lawrence, Kan., friends—we’re a big ol’ happy blue pool of liberal freakshows in this town. What really surprised me is the outrage from my old Wichita friends. These are people I went to high school with. People I haven’t seen in 20 years. I didn’t know their political leanings then, and am slowly discovering their leanings now. Many of those beliefs, like mine, have probably evolved over the years.

When you read these statements regarding the murder of Dr. Tiller, please keep in mind that these are all thoughts of Kansans, or Kansans now residing in other states. (Once a Kansan, always a Kansan.) There are single statements as well as comment threads.

I think it’s important that the rest of the world understands that Kansans don’t condone this kind of behavior. Because once again, we’re making national news for our backwardness, as opposed to our straight-forward Midwest thinking.

• When will we ever figure out that violence does not change anything?

• Vigil in memory of Dr. George Tiller Sunday, May 31st, 8:00pm at South Park Gazebo, Lawrence KS.

• I hope I am misunderstanding, but it seems there are people who actually consider the murder of Dr. Tiller "answered prayer". If you are of this mindset, please remove me from your friends list. I am cool with those who oppose abortion, I am not cool with those who rejoice at Dr. Tiller's murder.
• Amen sister
• I hope you are misunderstanding, also. Heartbreaking if you aren't... My thoughts are with you and all who mourn this outrage.
• Wow dr. tiller was murdered? that's f'ed up!
• I cannot agree more. This was an act of a deranged person, not anything higher. Certainly not anything noble, just, or to be praised.

• Another murder in the "name of God".....he has got to be looking down going....I said do what??....no i didnt....

• Are we ready for the ridiculous media onslaught and protesters and all that fun stuff that is about to take hold of our community for a bit.
• Ridiculous indeed....it will end up full on embarrassing.

• To my friends whom I have grown up with through the Summer of Mercy and the Randall Terrys, for those of us who supported Dr. Tiller through our years: I will light a candle tonight and be at the vigil in spirit. This is a very sad day...

• DAMN!!....Dr. Tiller should've just caught Joyce Myers on the tube at home Yo.
• MS13-Christians! World Wide Stalk On, Walk On!
• I should re-enlist in the Infantry where's it safe. lol

• Kansas: Fred Phelps, the ban of evolution and now the murder of a physician. Way to go. This makes Arkansas and Mississippi look pretty good.
• I hear what you're saying. But, it's people like us who won't let this change our minds that will be the true mark of our character as Kansans.
• Today I am ashamed to be associated with Kansas in any way. It's sickening.

• Wonder: how will the religious reich defend the shooting of an unarmed man in church?
• By spinning some tale of how he murdered millions of innocents and therefore deserved it? That's where I'm putting my money anyway. Ugh.
• The co-founder of Operation Rescue is convinced that the media will use this as an excuse to paint the anti-choice movement as a murderous fringe cult... because, y'know, they aren't doing a good enough job of that by themselves.
• Well, murder does tend to reinforce the murderous part of "murderous fringe cult."


• Join me in lighting a candle and having a moment of silence at 8pm central for Dr. Tiller, his family and /or for this being a very sad day for those who have stood beside George Tiller and rights for many years. Wichita's vigil begins at 8pm in Old Town. Peace.

• Heartbroken to learn of the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

• Vigil in memory of Dr. George Tiller Sunday, May 31st, 8:00pm at South Park Gazebo, Lawrence KS.

• I was on retreat and had no idea. This is terrible. Point blank in church. Really terrible.

• Unbelievable, infuriating and tragic.. And yet in a world full of lunatics, not surprising.

• I knew Mr. Tiller personally. He was a good man. My thoughts are with the family he loved so much.
• I didn't know him but my mom worked for him a while back and was there when he got shot in 1993.

• Your thoughts should not reflect your actions ! live and let live ! everyone has a choice !! live with the one you choose !! this is America !

• Join me in lighting a candle and having a moment of silence at 8pm central for Dr. Tiller, his family and /or for this being a very sad day for those who have stood beside George Tiller and rights for many years. Wichita's vigil begins at 8pm in Old Town. Peace.
• Been talking about this all day to anyone who will listen... such an outrage.

Finally, you should really check out this excellent diary entry on Daily Kos from a Wichitan who knew Dr. Tiller personally. It’s short and heartfelt.