If in tonight’s debate, or any future debate or really at any point in this campaign, Hillary Clinton is asked about abortion on demand this is how I think she should answer:
Moderator: Mrs. Clinton do you support abortion on demand?
Mrs. Clinton: I need to ask for clarification because OB/GYNs who are members of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the doctors who study gynecologic health care and are the experts, tell me this isn’t a medical term. So that we are both speaking about the same thing I’d like you to tell me exactly what you mean.
Moderator: I mean should a woman be able to get an abortion after viability, say at 28 weeks or even up to their due date?
Mrs. Clinton: Experts in OB/GYN, the doctors who actually perform abortions, tell me that abortions after 24 weeks only happen when a pregnant person has been given the diagnosis that the fetus has an anomaly incompatible with life. I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone in that situation, can you? Carrying a pregnancy to term has risks and abortion has risks, although even in the mid second trimester the risks are lower with an abortion than carrying the pregnancy to term. I trust a woman to make the best decision she can in that situation in consultation with her health care providers. I want doctors helping women with health care decisions, not lawyers. These same experts who study abortions also tell me that 1.3% of abortions happen at or after 21 weeks and 80% of these are for birth defects, so about 0.3% of abortions happen at or after 21 weeks for reasons not related to birth defects. These 0.3% of all abortions still happen before 24 weeks. I do support the right to terminate a pregnany after 24 weeks for severe birth defects. Legal abortions after 24 weeks do not happen for reasons other than birth defects so I see no point in debating any other situation as that would be a fictional occurrence.
Awesome! Have you sent this to Hillary? She should see it!
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Great post. As an RN who worked in L&D, pediatrics and child abuse prevention, it always infuriates me when terms like “late term abortions” are used to incite and inflame the public. So much propaganda and so few facts. Thank you for writing an intelligent response to an ignorant question.