I do not understand why abortion opponents place their alleged concern for the fetus above their concern (assuming they have any) for the mother. They use charged rhetoric such as "it's a life" and "care for the unborn," but why not also care about the life of the mother who will have to actually endure the pregnancy and raise the child? Not to mention the other aspect of the argument, which is if you really care about the life of the child, then why force it into a tragic life where it is unwanted? I am currently six months pregnant and this pregnancy has only solidified my pro-choice convictions. Pregnancy is the most challenging physical and mental condition I have ever experienced - and mine is a relatively easy pregnancy. Mine is a much-wanted pregnancy, but it is still a struggle. I cannot imagine how excruciating pregnancy would be if I did not want this child and my heart breaks for the women who have to bear that burden. It's time abortion opponents stopped putting their "moral convictions" above the welfare of the mother and fetus and it's well past time the government stopped using abortion as a political football. The mother's life matters too.
68
Thank you, Dr. Parker!
I'm particularly struck by your reporting that over half the pregnancies in the South are unintended. Maybe that's what happens when kids are only taught about abstinence and not about birth control. What a backward, misery-inducing approach to sex education. And with what unhappy results...
I wish more doctors were available to perform the necessary services you provide.
I'm particularly struck by your reporting that over half the pregnancies in the South are unintended. Maybe that's what happens when kids are only taught about abstinence and not about birth control. What a backward, misery-inducing approach to sex education. And with what unhappy results...
I wish more doctors were available to perform the necessary services you provide.
47
As a counterpoint, it would be worthwhile to publish along side this piece the Grand Jury report on Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Women's Medical Society clinic in Philadelphia. Please read the indictments against him, his staff and the officials at the State of Pennsylvania before concluding that allowing a clinic to operate with no standards is in the best interests of patients.
For those unable to stomach the full report, I'll summarize: he maimed and killed his patients, spread infections with unsanitary instruments and entrusted an unsupervised 15 year old to administer sedation. Despite this being known to officials at the State of Pennsylvania and the National Abortion Federation, neither took steps to shut down his facility or insist that it adhere to standards as minimum as what a local nail salon must follow. Lest they be perceived as restricting "access" they looked the other way for decades, and in doing so they failed all the women who were his patients.
Any state has an interest in requiring that a surgical facility meet minimum standards. Dr. Gosnell had no functioning monitoring or resuscitation equipment, a padlocked emergency exit, fetal remains stored in cat food containers, unlicensed staff and separate waiting rooms for black and white patients among other atrocities.
If Dr. Parker and anyone else who is pro-choice is actually concerned for patients, they would welcome restrictions that ensure no places like Dr. Gosnell's could exist.
For those unable to stomach the full report, I'll summarize: he maimed and killed his patients, spread infections with unsanitary instruments and entrusted an unsupervised 15 year old to administer sedation. Despite this being known to officials at the State of Pennsylvania and the National Abortion Federation, neither took steps to shut down his facility or insist that it adhere to standards as minimum as what a local nail salon must follow. Lest they be perceived as restricting "access" they looked the other way for decades, and in doing so they failed all the women who were his patients.
Any state has an interest in requiring that a surgical facility meet minimum standards. Dr. Gosnell had no functioning monitoring or resuscitation equipment, a padlocked emergency exit, fetal remains stored in cat food containers, unlicensed staff and separate waiting rooms for black and white patients among other atrocities.
If Dr. Parker and anyone else who is pro-choice is actually concerned for patients, they would welcome restrictions that ensure no places like Dr. Gosnell's could exist.
11
You are a true healer, Dr. Parker.
22
In the mid-sixties - well before Roe vs. Wade - my first love and I were left with no choice but to have a back-alley abortion that unfortunately went bad with near-fatal results.
Our families were members of the middle class so it didn’t.
I hope you will want to read the entire sordid account here:
http://www.cunningstuntsbook.info/AbortionGoneWrong.html
In the meantime I find it despicable that, more than fifty years later, the incessant efforts of the right to lifers are forcing more and more desperate, predominately underprivileged women into the hands of the butchers.
It's
Our families were members of the middle class so it didn’t.
I hope you will want to read the entire sordid account here:
http://www.cunningstuntsbook.info/AbortionGoneWrong.html
In the meantime I find it despicable that, more than fifty years later, the incessant efforts of the right to lifers are forcing more and more desperate, predominately underprivileged women into the hands of the butchers.
It's
34
Thank you, Dr Parker. To those who disapprove of abortion, I say don't have one.
30
Someone needs to speak for the unborn child who has no voice in the abortion debate. Since the unborn child can not speak for itself, there is only one person qualified to speak for that yet unborn child. That person is the potential mother who will have to provide financially and emotionally after the child is born. For a child to be born into a situation where there is no loving support and no money to properly raise the child, the outlook for that child is deeply handicapped. Years down the road most of those children might very well end up saying they wish they had never been born if they end up in extreme poverty, or in prison, or uneducated, or emotionally damaged from the absence of love.
Yes, it is a tragic situation to abort a life. Yet, the greater tragedy is to condemn that child to the serious implications and damage of being born into long term tragic consequences. Since the unborn child can not speak for itself to prevent that occurrence, the potential mother's voice must be allowed to speak for that child, who runs a very high risk years later of saying they wish that their birth had not been permitted. Please allow these unborn children to have their voices heard through the voice of the one who knows best, the potential mother. There is no law, or shallow ideological posturing that should be allowed to override the voice and the feeling of the mother speaking for the child still in her womb, and still part of her body, and not yet an independent life.
Yes, it is a tragic situation to abort a life. Yet, the greater tragedy is to condemn that child to the serious implications and damage of being born into long term tragic consequences. Since the unborn child can not speak for itself to prevent that occurrence, the potential mother's voice must be allowed to speak for that child, who runs a very high risk years later of saying they wish that their birth had not been permitted. Please allow these unborn children to have their voices heard through the voice of the one who knows best, the potential mother. There is no law, or shallow ideological posturing that should be allowed to override the voice and the feeling of the mother speaking for the child still in her womb, and still part of her body, and not yet an independent life.
26
Thank you.
19
Bless you, Dr. Parker, for your rational and compassionate stand on this issue. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
28
Abortion ends a developing human life. At a time when we rightly focus on protecting the environment and its delicate balance it is distressing that as a nation we support ending human life in its most innocent stage. Even the ancient Greeks, specifically Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine cautioned physicians not to induce abortion. All of us pro-life and pro-choice must commit ourselves to reduce the need for abortion.
4
IT IS NOT YOUR LIFE, YOUR BODY OR YOUR CHILD.
As such, you have NO opinion in the matter.
As such, you have NO opinion in the matter.
36
Thank you for being there for your patients, and for supporting women who otherwise might end their pregnancies (and their lives) by seeking help from unqualified providers, in unsanitary conditions. It was only a generation ago that girls and women in this country routinely died, or were maimed, by back alley abortions.
31
The politicians who try to avoid following Federal Law are merely invoking their own personal preference on others. Do they properly understand the women's individual situations? Probably not. But, they still force their views and tired morality on them.
What about rational thought. Prior to Roe v. Wade, many women died from back-alley abortions, coat hangers, and the like. That's what the option would be. Going back to insanity. The old movie: "Love With the Proper Stranger provides some excellent insight as to what that world was like..
Do we really want to go backward?
What about rational thought. Prior to Roe v. Wade, many women died from back-alley abortions, coat hangers, and the like. That's what the option would be. Going back to insanity. The old movie: "Love With the Proper Stranger provides some excellent insight as to what that world was like..
Do we really want to go backward?
19
Right to lifers have succeeded in incessantly bullying the public to get their way. This will only stop when pro-choices understand that even liberals sometimes have to choose between capitulation or fighting fire with hotter and stronger fire. Until now threatening, bullying, coercing and even assaulting abortion providers has not carried any consequence for for the perpetrators. That must change, and pro- choicers must adopt a robust, proactive self defense policy.
24
This is shameful.
Life begins at conception.
You can argue whatever you want and even compare pro-life folks to ISIS (as a commenter did below), but in the end, this is what you are arguing against.
I get that we want to have sex with whomever we want with no consequences, but that simply isn't the case.
You can point out how pro-life folks are wrong on all the other issues and give reasons why (who knows, you may even be right on some of those), but those really don't pertain to the main issue....that life begins with conception.
When you stop and think about it, is that such a bad thing to advocate...life?
Life begins at conception.
You can argue whatever you want and even compare pro-life folks to ISIS (as a commenter did below), but in the end, this is what you are arguing against.
I get that we want to have sex with whomever we want with no consequences, but that simply isn't the case.
You can point out how pro-life folks are wrong on all the other issues and give reasons why (who knows, you may even be right on some of those), but those really don't pertain to the main issue....that life begins with conception.
When you stop and think about it, is that such a bad thing to advocate...life?
7
Biologically speaking, life begins with sperm and ovum, as both are alive.
19
Nope. In the end, what is being argued is whether those who believe the egg that is fertilized at conception is sacred and must be borne at any cost can impose their position on women who want an abortion. The Supreme Court said no to this in 1973. A majority of Americans still prefer legal abortion in this country.
"Is that such a bad thing to advocate...life?" Under certain circumstances, it is the exact wrong thing to advocate. Like when it will derail the life of the mother- medically, emotionally, professionally, financially.
We have freedom from religion in this country as well as freedom of religion. When you seek to impose your religious views about the sacredness of a fertilized egg, and the soul that is not allowed to develop if the pregnancy is terminated, you are legislating that I must live by your values or religious beliefs. You have no right to do so.
You can argue whatever you want and even compare pro choice people to murderers, but in the end, imposing your religious beliefs on others is what you are advocating.
When you stop and think about it, is that such a bad thing to advocate...freedom to make choices?
"Is that such a bad thing to advocate...life?" Under certain circumstances, it is the exact wrong thing to advocate. Like when it will derail the life of the mother- medically, emotionally, professionally, financially.
We have freedom from religion in this country as well as freedom of religion. When you seek to impose your religious views about the sacredness of a fertilized egg, and the soul that is not allowed to develop if the pregnancy is terminated, you are legislating that I must live by your values or religious beliefs. You have no right to do so.
You can argue whatever you want and even compare pro choice people to murderers, but in the end, imposing your religious beliefs on others is what you are advocating.
When you stop and think about it, is that such a bad thing to advocate...freedom to make choices?
45
"Life begins at conception."
This is an opinion and NOT fact. As such it has no weight or meaning.
"I get that we want to have sex with whomever we want with no consequences, but that simply isn't the case."
Thank you for once again confirming what we already know: you anti choice "people" are just really really mad at women who have sex.
Here is a simple solution: if you hate a LEGAL medical procedure? DO NOT HAVE ONE.
This is an opinion and NOT fact. As such it has no weight or meaning.
"I get that we want to have sex with whomever we want with no consequences, but that simply isn't the case."
Thank you for once again confirming what we already know: you anti choice "people" are just really really mad at women who have sex.
Here is a simple solution: if you hate a LEGAL medical procedure? DO NOT HAVE ONE.
40
This doctor is truly a saint in my eyes. I'm appalled at how few people are appalled by these blatant attempts to take away women's choice in this matter. Whether to continue a pregnancy or not absolutely should be between a woman and her doctor, not a state legislature!
27
THE DEEP HUMANITY of Dr. Parker comes through clearly in his writing about his decision to provide abortions to women who, otherwise, would have no access to them. There is no political rhetoric, no ideology, no judgment. Just the kindness to help women with one of the most challenging decisions they will ever face.
Yet those who oppose abortion demonize everyone and everything to do with the entire process. Their violent opposition that, according to their words, are based on deep religious conviction? What does it all mean? Certainly not, Judge not lest you be judged. Certainly not, Love your neighbor as yourself. Or will we be humbled as Moses waiting for the still small voice?
To do that we would have to beat our weapons into plowshares and not make war against each other. We would have to dwell in peace together.
Is there any hope for such changes?
Yet those who oppose abortion demonize everyone and everything to do with the entire process. Their violent opposition that, according to their words, are based on deep religious conviction? What does it all mean? Certainly not, Judge not lest you be judged. Certainly not, Love your neighbor as yourself. Or will we be humbled as Moses waiting for the still small voice?
To do that we would have to beat our weapons into plowshares and not make war against each other. We would have to dwell in peace together.
Is there any hope for such changes?
20
What a courageous man! May he be safe!
31
Thank you.
21
When I was about 10 yrs old. Older men were habitually making suggestive comments. Comments like "my you are really filling out," or some other inappropriate comment. Two years later a friends father molested me. I was able to shame him into stopping, but I learned then what I still believe. As long as some adult males rape, molest, and otherwise force themselves on young girls and women, through attack, and or coercion, abortion must be safe and legal. I would NEVER bare my rapists child. Ever. And no right to lifer could EVER shame me or force me otherwise. The Doctor is helping women in ways these angry "pro-life"female controlling wannabes could never understand.
57
Dear Dr. Parker,
I am not an advocate for abortion, but I am a strong advocate for Women's choice. As a Male i have no right to prevent women for making choices whatever they may be.Before Abortion was made legal, young girls especially from religious homes were given no choice but to run quakes or coat hangers to abort their unwanted babies which usually led to death , or disfigurement. The greater majority were not sluts but at the age of 15 or younger fell madly in love with a young man who had just left puberty & his hormones were raging, sound familiar.
We live in a secular nation with the separation of Church & State, which keeps us from becoming a Theocracy. By the way, if the likes of Cruz win the Presidency in 2016, the Supreme Court will have a majority of Scalia's, & Woman's Choice ,& Gay Rights,will be a thing of the past, & the Separation of Church & State will be eradicated.This will be the most important election in my Life time, Progress in Medical Science & Education will be curtailed. We can win if we all get out to vote, in much better numbers than we showed in the Mid Term election, where we lost the Senate. We must win ! .
I am not an advocate for abortion, but I am a strong advocate for Women's choice. As a Male i have no right to prevent women for making choices whatever they may be.Before Abortion was made legal, young girls especially from religious homes were given no choice but to run quakes or coat hangers to abort their unwanted babies which usually led to death , or disfigurement. The greater majority were not sluts but at the age of 15 or younger fell madly in love with a young man who had just left puberty & his hormones were raging, sound familiar.
We live in a secular nation with the separation of Church & State, which keeps us from becoming a Theocracy. By the way, if the likes of Cruz win the Presidency in 2016, the Supreme Court will have a majority of Scalia's, & Woman's Choice ,& Gay Rights,will be a thing of the past, & the Separation of Church & State will be eradicated.This will be the most important election in my Life time, Progress in Medical Science & Education will be curtailed. We can win if we all get out to vote, in much better numbers than we showed in the Mid Term election, where we lost the Senate. We must win ! .
30
I want to commend you for doing what is really needed. My mother, who grew up in New York City in the 1920s had told me of a friend who died from a botched abortion. Nowadays we tend to not realize the risks that women face, both in botched procedures done without medical care, and in having to raise a child that they cannot afford to care for. I wonder how many of those who oppose abortion have opened their homes to adopt children.
26
A woman is entitled to the right to determine what is best for her life. If she gets pregnant and chooses to terminate the pregnancy, it is her right - and only hers - to reach that conclusion.
Beyond that, if she can find medical professionals willing to perform an abortion for her, it is her right - and only hers - to choose to undergo the procedure.
But that's where her "reproductive rights" end.
While she has the right to choose an abortion, she has no right to force anyone to perform one, nor does she have any right to force anyone else - except perhaps the father - to pay for her choice.
If I didn't get her pregnant, she is not entitled to have me pay to get her "un-pregnant". Forcing me to pay for her abortions - through the funding of any government policy that achieves this - is a violation of my rights. She is not entitled to a "get out of pregnancy free" card that declares someone else must be forced to pay for her entitlement.
If you want to support Planned Parenthood with your after-tax earnings, I will defend your right to do so. And if I do not want to support them at all, you are required to defend my right to do so. Otherwise, what you believe in is not freedom, and is evil.
Beyond that, if she can find medical professionals willing to perform an abortion for her, it is her right - and only hers - to choose to undergo the procedure.
But that's where her "reproductive rights" end.
While she has the right to choose an abortion, she has no right to force anyone to perform one, nor does she have any right to force anyone else - except perhaps the father - to pay for her choice.
If I didn't get her pregnant, she is not entitled to have me pay to get her "un-pregnant". Forcing me to pay for her abortions - through the funding of any government policy that achieves this - is a violation of my rights. She is not entitled to a "get out of pregnancy free" card that declares someone else must be forced to pay for her entitlement.
If you want to support Planned Parenthood with your after-tax earnings, I will defend your right to do so. And if I do not want to support them at all, you are required to defend my right to do so. Otherwise, what you believe in is not freedom, and is evil.
3
You do know that your tax dollars already don't pay for abortions, right? It's called the Hyde Amendment and it's been attached to pretty much every appropriations bill since 1976.
A little refresher:
SEC. 506. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion. (b) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion....
A little refresher:
SEC. 506. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion. (b) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion....
40
Who is forcing anyone else to pay for an abortion? The Hyde Act prevents taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions. 97% of the activities of Planned Parenthood are for basic healthcare, STD screening and treatment, reproductive health of various types, contraception, cancer screenings, etc. These are essential women's health services. Republican lawmakers are trying to eliminate any opportunity for a woman to have an abortion, including for the victims of rape, incest, and for women whose lives or health would be destroyed by having a child.
Tax dollars are used every day for war, and all kinds of other activities that many people regard as evil, by the way.
Tax dollars are used every day for war, and all kinds of other activities that many people regard as evil, by the way.
38
A woman is entitled to the right to determine what is best for her life. If she gets pregnant and chooses to terminate the pregnancy, it is her right - and only hers - to reach that conclusion.
And yet you and those like you do EVERYTHING in your power (like your nasty rant) to make sure that she does NOT have access to it. Because of your pouty "mine is mine and you get none of it" anti-American perspective. You are part of the problem
And yet you and those like you do EVERYTHING in your power (like your nasty rant) to make sure that she does NOT have access to it. Because of your pouty "mine is mine and you get none of it" anti-American perspective. You are part of the problem
24
Of course, Dr. Parker is tragically misguided. The Good Samaritan cared for the injured man and then provided for him even beyond the time he could be with him. In this case, The Good Samaritan would care for the woman because he loves all people. He would nurture her until she gives birth to her child. He would then help to provide for her and her beautiful child. The Good Samaritan would most certainly not murder her child.
5
I think you missed the part about doing what was best for the one in need, not passing judgement and deciding what you (the Samaritan) believes is best for the one in need.
41
When anti-abortion people in the US demonstrate even one-one hundredth the concern for what happens to children after they are born as they claim to show for fetuses, I might be able to at least take their moral claims seriously even if I didn't ultimately agree with them.
However, the same people who want to ban abortions are the ones to start unnecessary and pointless wars, which lead to large numbers of unnecessary deaths and injuries. They are the same ones to undermine environmental protections, which leads to increases in illness and death and which disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities. They are the same ones who refuse to accept the reality of climate change and steadfastly block any actions that might help to mitigate its impact. They are the same ones who want to deny health care to the poorest and most vulnerable among us, which leads to higher rates of infant mortality than we would have otherwise.
So you will pardon me, I hope, if I am just a wee bit cynical about the real motives of anti-abortion crusaders. I don't think it has anything to do with concern for fetuses or children. It's really just about imposing their medieval religious views on the rest of us and controlling women's sexuality.
However, the same people who want to ban abortions are the ones to start unnecessary and pointless wars, which lead to large numbers of unnecessary deaths and injuries. They are the same ones to undermine environmental protections, which leads to increases in illness and death and which disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities. They are the same ones who refuse to accept the reality of climate change and steadfastly block any actions that might help to mitigate its impact. They are the same ones who want to deny health care to the poorest and most vulnerable among us, which leads to higher rates of infant mortality than we would have otherwise.
So you will pardon me, I hope, if I am just a wee bit cynical about the real motives of anti-abortion crusaders. I don't think it has anything to do with concern for fetuses or children. It's really just about imposing their medieval religious views on the rest of us and controlling women's sexuality.
45
I agree with your assessment, Ken A. And I would add that , illogically, those who oppose all abortions usually also oppose access to birth control! That shows the lack of reality these people live with.
29
Pro-life folks advocate regularly for those children that are born. Billions of our tax dollars are spent to care for others. There are thousands of orphanages and adoption centers that are supported by many.
The woman you are likely to vote for for president also voted for the "unnecessary and pointless wars."
Environmental concerns are important, but are also separate issues from abortion.
It's not about controlling anyone's sexuality, it's about life.
The woman you are likely to vote for for president also voted for the "unnecessary and pointless wars."
Environmental concerns are important, but are also separate issues from abortion.
It's not about controlling anyone's sexuality, it's about life.
7
It saddens me that someone could listen to the words of Dr. King and instead of valuing life, chose to destroy it.
10
Perhaps you should pay attention to Martin Luther King Jr.'s strong support for Planned Parenthood? He once served on a committee for a Planned Parenthood study on contraception, explaining, “I have always been deeply interested in and sympathetic with the total work of the Planned Parenthood Federation.” He repeatedly wrote about why family planning programs are important, and why they need to be funded by the government. He also accepted an award from Planned Parenthood in 1966, when he called family planning a "special and urgent concern". Rosa Parks also strongly supported Planned Parenthood.
28
Bless you, Dr. Parker, for what you are doing.
And bless you again for having the courage to talk about it in these pages. I hope you stay well and safe down in Birmingham.
And bless you again for having the courage to talk about it in these pages. I hope you stay well and safe down in Birmingham.
30
Thank God we have a Christian medical professional who is not forcing his religious beliefs on a patient.
I grew up up Catholic and remember that the church at one point taught that male masturbation destroyed life-- sacred sperm-- and therefore was wrong. And the church taught that any sex not for procreation was also wrong, because creating a new life was the only point of sex.
The concepts of when life begins and motivations for sex are religious beliefs, not medical facts. If Christians believe now that life begins at conception, not at the level of sperm, they should live their lives by that belief--but not force it on others who believe differently.
I grew up up Catholic and remember that the church at one point taught that male masturbation destroyed life-- sacred sperm-- and therefore was wrong. And the church taught that any sex not for procreation was also wrong, because creating a new life was the only point of sex.
The concepts of when life begins and motivations for sex are religious beliefs, not medical facts. If Christians believe now that life begins at conception, not at the level of sperm, they should live their lives by that belief--but not force it on others who believe differently.
31
There is a mystery at the center of this story. Dr. Parker writes, "I ... had never performed abortions because I felt they were morally wrong. But I grew increasingly uncomfortable turning away women who needed help." The rest of the essay is about helping disadvantaged women, which is admirable. But what happened to the "morally wrong" part? Why did he feel it was morally wrong, and why did he change his mind? Maybe there was just no space here to deal with such a complicated issue. But this is a pattern on the pro-choice side, to concentrate on the woman's interests and to leave unmentioned those of the other party, if there is one. Conversely, pro-lifers' only interest is what they call the "baby" (by which they mean the embryo or the fetus; they cannot acknowledge that there might be a difference). Thus there is no meeting of the minds, no argument met by argument, and no resolution. Or am I missing something? Did Dr. Parker decide that the depth of women's needs make the very concept of abortion's being morally right and wrong irrelevant or meaningless? Well, we can't know, because he didn't tell us.
4
Well, aren't you special Dr. Parker. You do abortions "Because I can." How nice, and what a righteous use of your medical education. Instead of healing women with your medical knowledge, you choose to provide only abortions. Of course, you have to inject race into your rationalization as well. You talk of the death rate of southern black women due to the poor health status of poor minorities. Perhaps if medical personnel, both doctors and hospitals, would provide affordable health care services to these poor women, be they insured or not, their health may actually improve. But instead, you choose to limit your practice to abortion...nice and easy. No late night calls to deliver babies. Weekends off. No need to think about diseases or medical conditions that require careful consideration, treatment and ongoing care. No emergency calls. All services provided in the comfort of your office during your regular business hours and, most importantly, paid in full by insurance, NPO's or the government.
Don't pat yourself on the back and present yourself to the world to be a moral crusader for women's rights. You chose this path because it is easier and, I would suggest, quite lucrative. I would wager that you live a very comfortable lifestyle and ease your conscious by telling all who will listen that you are a champion of women's rights and health. You are not the inspiration that you think you are. You want to do good? Practice real medicine and heal women.
Don't pat yourself on the back and present yourself to the world to be a moral crusader for women's rights. You chose this path because it is easier and, I would suggest, quite lucrative. I would wager that you live a very comfortable lifestyle and ease your conscious by telling all who will listen that you are a champion of women's rights and health. You are not the inspiration that you think you are. You want to do good? Practice real medicine and heal women.
3
Jay, He is practicing real medicine and healing women. That is exactly what he is doing. Abortion is healthcare. Even you don't like it, it is. And very necessary, at that. To think otherwise is ignorant, and does little to help those who need our compassion.
18
What sort of work do you do? Do you, or would you, provide your services for free to low-income people? If you want to do good, stop voting for politicians that want to take health care away from poor people so you can pay less in taxes.
14
Jay F (of New York!) is Exhibit A in reaffirming the intractable nature of the anti-abortion movement. They will never accept the depth of a woman's needs in this situation, where a woman truly NEEDS to reverse the error of a one-night stand or the broken condom or the tequila night, when mistakes get made that need correcting. To make the consequence of that mistake a bringing to term of a living human being is an outrageous outcome when the decision is made by others. Leave the women alone. Jay F, you should volunteer at a single women's shelter.
17
I will tell you the doctor I admire. It is Dr. Bernard Nathanson who was the first doctor to perform abortions (many in fact) and upon examining his conscience realized that he was taking away the innocent lives of the unborn. He realized the pain and anguish he had brought upon thousands of babies in the womb and then became adamantly pro life. He is the one who should be receiving praise for putting an end to the inhumane practice of abortion.
5
"We know that when women have access to abortion, contraception and medically accurate sex education, they thrive."
That is the crux of the matter: there are many, many men who feel threatened by women thriving to the point they are equal. Many in the bible belt apparently believe god made men superior to women, women subject to men. Why so many women believe such a misogynist text as the bible has always puzzled me.
That is the crux of the matter: there are many, many men who feel threatened by women thriving to the point they are equal. Many in the bible belt apparently believe god made men superior to women, women subject to men. Why so many women believe such a misogynist text as the bible has always puzzled me.
36
Sorry, but that isn't it.
2
As a woman and a physician who has had an abortion, I can tell you many stories about relieving suffering for many groups of people. However, few are as poignant as those who have made the difficult decision to not have a baby.
The decision is often made based on economic reality, and deciding not to have the additional child to give a better chance to those already born. Or to reason that having another baby could leave a child with no mother. Birth control is not 100% effective nor free in the US. Moreover, as demonstrated in Romania decades ago, many children who were products of unwanted pregnancies whose mothers were refused termination, had miserable lives of abuse, neglect and crime. Why do we pay for birth and post-partum care of an unwanted child but refuse to pay to prevent such a birth, or to abort the fetus? All our sisters, children, neighbors and those women in the US we have never met should be able to access a legal procedure.
The decision is often made based on economic reality, and deciding not to have the additional child to give a better chance to those already born. Or to reason that having another baby could leave a child with no mother. Birth control is not 100% effective nor free in the US. Moreover, as demonstrated in Romania decades ago, many children who were products of unwanted pregnancies whose mothers were refused termination, had miserable lives of abuse, neglect and crime. Why do we pay for birth and post-partum care of an unwanted child but refuse to pay to prevent such a birth, or to abort the fetus? All our sisters, children, neighbors and those women in the US we have never met should be able to access a legal procedure.
32
All I can do is applaud Dr. Parker for what he is doing. I will start by noting that virtually all of the world's major problems, like food and water sufficiency, global warming and environmental issues, overused and dwindling resources, war and conflict, income inequality and poverty, etc. are caused or increased by overpopulation, and promoting unintended and/or unwanted pregnancies is a terrible idea for that reason alone. Beyond that, it is the height of hypocricy for conservative politicians, courts and states to deny contraceptive and abortion services to women who have unintended and unwanted pregnancies, and who are unable to travel to the liberal states, particularly when it is common knowledge that wealthy and middle class families have full access to family planning and abortion services.
25
It really isn't hypocrisy if you are following through on a conviction...it's actually called standing up for what you believe.
We know what causes pregnancies. The vast, vast, vast majority of unintented or unwanted pregnancies can be avoided beforehand.
We know what causes pregnancies. The vast, vast, vast majority of unintented or unwanted pregnancies can be avoided beforehand.
1
Dr. Parker states he, "had never performed abortions because I felt they were morally wrong." But then goes on to describe how he changed his mind based on factors concerning his patients and himself. But what could he have thought was "morally wrong" about caring for his patient's medical needs? Or how could it be "moral" to not care for his patient's simply because it might have negative impacts on him? The only valid reason to believe abortion is morally wrong is based on the moral status of what is being aborted. No physician refuses to perform appendectomies, liver transplants, tumor excisions or hip replacements because they are morally wrong, and there is no social debate over the morality of these procedures even though each involve removing a part of the body? And notice Dr. Parker doesn't mention any change in his view of the moral status of the fetus, he simply avoids that part of the debate, as do most pro-choice advocates. It simplifies your morality in a debate when you completely ignore the basis of your opponents moral argument. But ignorance doesn't negate the argument. It is the contention of pro-life supporters that the developing fetus is an individual, innocent, living human being. I defy Dr. Parker or anyone else to legally, medically or scientifically refute any of those 4 contentions. And if you can't, it brings us back to the debate of whether it is "morally wrong" to end the life of an individual, innocent, living human being.
5
A fetus is not legally or morally a human being since it lacks the baseline distinguishing characteristics of humanity: sentience, self-awareness, and agency (the capacity to act on its own). These depend on the degree of neurological development, which the fetus does not attain until 28 weeks of gestation at the very least. A newborn has at least some of these characteristics, an adult - all of them. As for innocence and individuality - lettuce is innocent too, and every farm animal slaughtered for food is as genetically individual as you are.
22
Yet during this first 28 weeks, things happen such as: organs and body parts developing, the nervous system develops, the heart begins to form and facial features take shape. In other words, the fetus is alive.
Yes, the fetus may not be viable, but neither is the new born baby - without immediate attention and care.
Yes, the fetus may not be viable, but neither is the new born baby - without immediate attention and care.
5
Thanks to doctors like you who get out there and do what needs to be done to protect women. Thank you.
22
Thank you, Willie Parker, for putting yourself out there and doing the work you do. Women do not take their responsibilities to raise children lightly, nor do they take a decision to terminate a pregnancy lightly.
Throughout time, women have done what they needed to do, one way or another. It is to our shame that we try to deny women the right to their bodies, their health and their family planning.
Throughout time, women have done what they needed to do, one way or another. It is to our shame that we try to deny women the right to their bodies, their health and their family planning.
24
I cannot believe the hero worship showered upon Dr. Parker. What have we become when we thank a doctor who has performed a cruel procedure on the most innocent among us? The readers comments praising this man are so disheartening and depressing. I thought we were better than this. I guess not.
4
KMW, in a previous comment, bemoaned "the pain and anguish ... brought upon thousands of babies in the womb" by abortion. In this one KMW speaks of abortion as "a cruel procedure [performed] on the most innocent among us." Pain and anguish are experiences which only belong to conscious beings. Likewise, one cannot be cruel to something that cannot feel, and it is deceptive to call anything innocent which is not capable of self-awareness. None of these descriptions fits a human embryo or fetus until its brain achieves consciousness, which occurs late in pregnancy, long after the vast majority of abortions are performed.
18
I am touched by your Christian compassion. I have a long tale to tell, but I do not have a desire to make it public. Suffice it to say that those who fight to outlaw abortion will never win. It will continue as a hazardous procedure done illegally without medical care as has been true for centuries. I value myself and other women more than I value a group of forming cells. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing for poor desperate women.
38
The social conservatives want to outlaw abortion, yet they look down upon women who have children out of wed-lock.
They also do not want to support the necessary government programs that would help these young, single women raise the child that they’re forced to have.
If social conservatives want to outlaw abortion, then put the financial and community resources in place that these women need and be accepting of their situation instead of greeting them with disdain. If you want to talk the talk, then walk the walk.
They also do not want to support the necessary government programs that would help these young, single women raise the child that they’re forced to have.
If social conservatives want to outlaw abortion, then put the financial and community resources in place that these women need and be accepting of their situation instead of greeting them with disdain. If you want to talk the talk, then walk the walk.
16
I think the social taboo of children being born to a single parent are all but gone.
3
Thank you for providing these necessary services and for writing this piece.
17
As I read Dr Parker's reflections, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the thousands of young women here in Brazil, who die needlessly for having illegal abortion procedures. Abortion is illegal here, except in cases of rape but even that is being taking away. Teenage pregnancies are out of control and poverty ramps unchecked amidst corruption at every level. If a republican, any republican, takes the White House (which one of these days they will), the US will turn into an islamic state-like situation, with women being denied any reproductive control of their own lives. I cannot understand how any woman might vote for somebody who will turn against herself the minute he or she takes office! That I don't understand.
34
Thank you for your dedication. Women deserve to have their choices honored and to be treated with dignity, as adults capable of making their own decisions about their lives and health. It is an atrocity when strangers want to impose their idea of religion on women whose health and life circumstances they have no understanding of.
The South is an outpost sometimes of the 19th century. Without the Medicaid expansion and with dwindling resources and available choices, women here are being stranded on islands of ignorance and treated as though they were either children or property.
The compassion and help that doctors and nurses provide in these difficult circumstances are more needed than ever.
The South is an outpost sometimes of the 19th century. Without the Medicaid expansion and with dwindling resources and available choices, women here are being stranded on islands of ignorance and treated as though they were either children or property.
The compassion and help that doctors and nurses provide in these difficult circumstances are more needed than ever.
15
According to our law, abortion is a legal medical procedure. And all persons should have access to all legal medical procedures.
It's that simple. If your moral position does not include abortion, then you can decide not to have one. If you want to change the law, then act to change the law. But denying your fellow citizens their right to a legal medical procedure, is not true to the values of America.
Thanks to this doctor for his work on behalf of all of us who believe in the legal rights of Americans. Thanks too for the good information.
It's that simple. If your moral position does not include abortion, then you can decide not to have one. If you want to change the law, then act to change the law. But denying your fellow citizens their right to a legal medical procedure, is not true to the values of America.
Thanks to this doctor for his work on behalf of all of us who believe in the legal rights of Americans. Thanks too for the good information.
29
The quote, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament", has been attributed to Florynce Kennedy, Gloria Steinem, and an anonymous cab driver. Regardless of who said it, it's true. I can imagine the justifications.
25
My people are shanty Irish from New Haven, CT. My grandmother -- a nice Irish Catholic lady, extremely beautiful -- told me about working in a photo studio (this would have been around 1930) with another very innocent, very pretty young woman. The boss seduced the young woman and she got pregnant. She had a back alley abortion and died.
I want the angry white men who run the states turning abortion into a perversion of the abolitionist/civil rights movement to get everything they want. Why? Because you can gerrymander black folks and you can gerrymander Democrats, but good luck gerrymandering women.
I want the angry white men who run the states turning abortion into a perversion of the abolitionist/civil rights movement to get everything they want. Why? Because you can gerrymander black folks and you can gerrymander Democrats, but good luck gerrymandering women.
24
That's a warped interpretation of the good Samaritan in the Bible. That was a person who despised Jews yet was the only one who was willing to help to save the life of a dying Jew after being assaulted by marauding thieves. How that convicted this doctor to help women terminate a life is simply foolish. If that is spiritual awakening I'm not interested. A reasonably intelligent individual, let alone a trained doctor, would be either totally confused or ignorant of that passage used by Dr. King to say such a thing. My guess is ignorance in this case or an agenda on the part of the good doctor.
I fail to see the logic in his use of the words public health crisis or relief of suffering. Those noble causes relate to those who suffer from disease through no fault of their own. It is clear who is to blame for unwanted pregnancy in the absence of a crime.
I fail to see the logic in his use of the words public health crisis or relief of suffering. Those noble causes relate to those who suffer from disease through no fault of their own. It is clear who is to blame for unwanted pregnancy in the absence of a crime.
4
"It is clear who is to blame for unwanted pregnancy in the absence of a crime..."
Seems clear there was a man involved somewhere. But no "blame" or "fault" attach to him, do they? He is free to walk away. And you are free to shame and condemn women. But neither of you are free to control her decision.
I'm so sorry you live in a society that recognizes women's autonomy over their bodies and their lives. It must be very difficult for you.
Seems clear there was a man involved somewhere. But no "blame" or "fault" attach to him, do they? He is free to walk away. And you are free to shame and condemn women. But neither of you are free to control her decision.
I'm so sorry you live in a society that recognizes women's autonomy over their bodies and their lives. It must be very difficult for you.
12
I don't think anyone is advocating for "no fault" men.
But on the other hand, you are advocating for "women's autonomy over their bodies?" In that case it sounds like you are assuming all of the blame.
But on the other hand, you are advocating for "women's autonomy over their bodies?" In that case it sounds like you are assuming all of the blame.
1
Notwithstanding that babies might be better-off dead than born to mothers who would abort them, killing a healthy fetus is a sin, and if you do that you should be ashamed. Are you sure you are not just in this for the money? I think I could respect that more than pathetically feigning altruism. How much time do you put into contraception? What is your rate of recidivism?
No. To you, it is a sin, and you should certainly not have an abortion. In this country, forcing other people to adhere to your religious beliefs is not legal, and it is not American.
Dr. Parker has encountered far more women in far more crises that I suspect you can even imagine. Contraception is not perfect, and women cannot always control the circumstances. Nor can they predict their health issues and other challenges.
Would you really force a woman to die in order to deliver a child? Would you force her to sacrifice her health (perhaps she has a heart condition, cancer, or some other complication)?
Thank God for caring physicians such as Dr. Parker.
Dr. Parker has encountered far more women in far more crises that I suspect you can even imagine. Contraception is not perfect, and women cannot always control the circumstances. Nor can they predict their health issues and other challenges.
Would you really force a woman to die in order to deliver a child? Would you force her to sacrifice her health (perhaps she has a heart condition, cancer, or some other complication)?
Thank God for caring physicians such as Dr. Parker.
31
Daver Dad,
Do you realize that the same crowd trying to make abortions so difficult to obtain also do the same for contraception? And do you realize contraception is not always effective? And, do you realize some women are raped?
Such smugness is easy when you are a man and can never ever become pregnant.
Do you realize that the same crowd trying to make abortions so difficult to obtain also do the same for contraception? And do you realize contraception is not always effective? And, do you realize some women are raped?
Such smugness is easy when you are a man and can never ever become pregnant.
17
You do realize that if you aren't "for" something then you probably shouldn't issue the tools to aid it, right?
Thank you, Dr. Parker, for dedicating your practice in this way, and to the NYT for publishing this important piece.
21
--------- bravo, sister . . .
1
Sanctity and sanctimonious share the same Latin root. The former has a positive connotation; the latter is freighted with negativity. Why is it those who live the latter are the quickest to wield the former as if it were a bludgeon.
Once they have forced a woman to carry a pregnancy to birth, the Christian right washes its hands of both mother and child. The sanctimony is indeed something to behold.
Once they have forced a woman to carry a pregnancy to birth, the Christian right washes its hands of both mother and child. The sanctimony is indeed something to behold.
29
They really don't.
But even if they did, that particular wrong doesn't make abortion right.
But even if they did, that particular wrong doesn't make abortion right.
2
You, Dr. Parker, are a hero: A man of courage, compassion and action, who sees the opportunity to make a difference and takes it. Thank you for the good work you do and for speaking out.
21
The conventional reason for opposing the right to an abortion is based on the religious belief that one's God creates a new life and that life has nothing and no one to defend it except for the rules of a religious institution.
Our greater society has decided that rules which exist entirely within religions shall not mingle or interfere with the rules of government.
Look around the world and you'll see that the countries that have the greatest religious influence in their governments are also the poorest, most overcrowded, and primitive societies on earth.
Our greater society has decided that rules which exist entirely within religions shall not mingle or interfere with the rules of government.
Look around the world and you'll see that the countries that have the greatest religious influence in their governments are also the poorest, most overcrowded, and primitive societies on earth.
23
The policies of the Republican party ONLY affect those women who lack the financial means or the employment freedom to travel to another state to obtain what is legal.
If you have money, and by no means must you have a LOT of it, these Republican laws serve as inconveniences. Be they small, large (or insurmountable), they are only aimed at the poor.
If you have money, and by no means must you have a LOT of it, these Republican laws serve as inconveniences. Be they small, large (or insurmountable), they are only aimed at the poor.
16
Hurray for this brave doctor. A hero.
16
You are looking courageous and speaking an important truth. Many women lack knowledge of and access to family planning. Let's do something about that. A woman should be able to make choices with the help of a doctor. As you note, the children already born have the most to win or lose, depending on whether the mother can choose to do what she needs to do to care for and raise them.
9
I was talking to a friend recently and said I was pro life. She said she was pro-choice but I told her I could not see the taking of innocent human life in the womb. This same friend is an animal-rights fanatic and even uses a baby carriage to take her dog around Manhattan. (I think that is a bit much but it is just my opinion). How can an animal (and I love dogs) be placed above the life of a child. That is mind boggling to me. At one time I would never say I was pro life but I am not afraid and usually only admit this when someone says they are for abortion. I have learned to be calm in proclaiming this but also firm. The unborn are just too precious to have them die in this fashion.
5
A fetus is not a child. The "unborn" is a term created by the pro-forced-birth movement for propaganda purposes. Medical science tell us that a fertilized egg can't develop until it attaches to a uterus, and that half or more will die within days or weeks. It tells us that the process is medically hazardous for both the woman and the fetus, and that a fetus isn't sentient and has no ability to live on its own before 24 weeks, until which time it lives in the body of a sentient human with the same rights as you have.
9
KMW, the fetus is not a child. What makes the unborn precious? If one is precious to you, don't have an abortion. No one is "pro abortion," being pro choice means being pro woman.
15
Once again I accidentally pushed "recommend" instead of "reply." Sorry!
I am pro-choice and an animal lover. I am on the board of a no-kill animal sanctuary as well as of a food bank (for humans, but also their pets). There is absolutely no contradiction here.
Every month our group spays or neuters about 1-200 cats at a cost to low-income owners of $8-14. If a cat is gravid (pregnant) abortion is performed. And if the kittens are viable, the vets and volunteers do everything in their power to save them, including bottle feeding them 24/7 for months. Cats and dogs are not people, but the same respect for viable life is there.
Human abortions are performed on non-viable life. It's not a pleasant procedure, and I personally would not choose to have one (easy for a post-menopausal woman to say, no?). That's my choice. I also choose to feed and care for both human and animal life that is already here.
You have a choice too, and it seems yours would be to deny others theirs. Sad. Let's care for the people (and cats and dogs) who are here with us.
I am pro-choice and an animal lover. I am on the board of a no-kill animal sanctuary as well as of a food bank (for humans, but also their pets). There is absolutely no contradiction here.
Every month our group spays or neuters about 1-200 cats at a cost to low-income owners of $8-14. If a cat is gravid (pregnant) abortion is performed. And if the kittens are viable, the vets and volunteers do everything in their power to save them, including bottle feeding them 24/7 for months. Cats and dogs are not people, but the same respect for viable life is there.
Human abortions are performed on non-viable life. It's not a pleasant procedure, and I personally would not choose to have one (easy for a post-menopausal woman to say, no?). That's my choice. I also choose to feed and care for both human and animal life that is already here.
You have a choice too, and it seems yours would be to deny others theirs. Sad. Let's care for the people (and cats and dogs) who are here with us.
16
You are flying from Chicago to Alabama for the money; you don't mention how much more you are paid to provide abortions than you were making in Chicago providing ob/gyn care.
Why don't you move to Alabama and provide ob/gyn services to the women who will otherwise have low birth weight babies. That is the required health care. You have no basis for your assertion that the children you abort would otherwise be disadvantaged.
It is a liberal conceit that women who get abortions have no better alternatives, or that they did not have the resources to prevent the pregnancy.
Why don't you move to Alabama and provide ob/gyn services to the women who will otherwise have low birth weight babies. That is the required health care. You have no basis for your assertion that the children you abort would otherwise be disadvantaged.
It is a liberal conceit that women who get abortions have no better alternatives, or that they did not have the resources to prevent the pregnancy.
2
Reread the first paragraph. He has returned to his hometown.
Your second paragraph makes no sense. Why would his hypothetical patients have low weight babies and yet not be disadvantaged?
Your second paragraph makes no sense. Why would his hypothetical patients have low weight babies and yet not be disadvantaged?
10
If it were that easy, obmem, there wouldn't be so many unplanned pregnancies, and no one would need abortions. I won't generalize about conservative men's limited knowledge of the realities of birth control, pregnancy and lady parts. I'll just speak as someone who once owned a fully functional uterus: obmem, you have a lot to learn.
14
Since I live in the deep South, despite being a northerner and a man, I can observe a strong taboo against speaking out in support of abortion rights. In Louisiana, it has become unthinkable for a politician to voice support for abortion rights. So in the State government, even women Democrats are either anti-abortion or are very circumspect even when talking to a friendly pro-choice audience.
These silences hang heavily, and I imagine the silence heightens stigma.
The only way to break the silence is for women to speak about their own abortions. But here in the deep South, this would carry huge costs.
These silences hang heavily, and I imagine the silence heightens stigma.
The only way to break the silence is for women to speak about their own abortions. But here in the deep South, this would carry huge costs.
19
I agree with you, however as I know women who speak in various public forums about abortion they are also reluctant to speak of their own. There are a lot of reasons for this and it's very personal and the circumstances maybe even more so. I respect that deeply and as a man add my voice to say it's none of our business what happens within a medical decision made between a person and their doctor. After saying all this I have noticed a change , more women are talking about it publicly to support others who feel they have been shamed having a medical procedure they had every right to do.
12
It would help if men would speak about it too. No one is PRO abortion.
5
Thank you Dr. Parker. I am a pragmatic person. No one should have a baby that they cannot afford or are unprepared to raise for any reason. We don't do the fetus any favors by forcing their birth on an uneducated, unemployed, and unprepared parent.
All of these phony crisis centers masquerading as clinics should post a sign explaining that they are not a clinic and no doctor is on staff, They should also not be labeled as charities as their entire model is not charitable in any way. They are extremists equal to Isis
All of these phony crisis centers masquerading as clinics should post a sign explaining that they are not a clinic and no doctor is on staff, They should also not be labeled as charities as their entire model is not charitable in any way. They are extremists equal to Isis
23
What I can't understand about these crisis centers is why they haven't been sued by someone for fraud and misrepresentation of services.
A I the only one who has considered this aspect?
A I the only one who has considered this aspect?
8
Are you really comfortable with comparing a pro-lifer to ISIS? Really?
3
kmcneil - from Mother Jones Magazine: California on Friday became the only state to target anti-abortion pregnancy centers with a law cracking down on deceptive practices some have used to prevent or dissuade women from having an abortion.
The new law, which forces some crisis pregnancy centers to offer information about public assistance for reproductive services and others to notify patients that there are no medical professionals on staff, passed the California state assembly with a large majority in late May. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the bill on Friday night.
The new law, which forces some crisis pregnancy centers to offer information about public assistance for reproductive services and others to notify patients that there are no medical professionals on staff, passed the California state assembly with a large majority in late May. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the bill on Friday night.
9
How Dr. Parker twisted the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), which refers to a person who rendered aid to a man left "half dead" by violent robbers to a decision to perform abortions (which leave victims fully dead) completely escapes me.
5
So when was the last time you were pregnant?
21
Respect for the sanctity of all human life is not gender-exclusive. But for the sake of your argument, let's assume that it is and, as a man, my feelings are completely without merit. How would you reconcile the same opinion from a woman who has been pregnant?
2
I'd say it is her choice.
8
Thank you for providing important health care for women.
15
Thank you for this. You are a hero in my eyes.
I have always been sickened by the myopia of those who view the realized ability to reproduce as being somehow 'sacred'. It isn't.
We are animals. I could have, if I so chose, had twenty or more children by now. I chose not to because I see nothing 'good' about that, and all of the women I have met who have gotten abortions were clear-mindedly resolute in their decisions. That brainwashed religious individuals somehow think should be able to project their views on mankind at large is repugnant to me.
Working in a 3rd world country I've seen the persistent cultural devastating that results from too many women having too many babies to no good end. Perpetual poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity.
Thank god Mr. Parker is helping women who have made mistakes to keep their lives somewhat under control.
I have always been sickened by the myopia of those who view the realized ability to reproduce as being somehow 'sacred'. It isn't.
We are animals. I could have, if I so chose, had twenty or more children by now. I chose not to because I see nothing 'good' about that, and all of the women I have met who have gotten abortions were clear-mindedly resolute in their decisions. That brainwashed religious individuals somehow think should be able to project their views on mankind at large is repugnant to me.
Working in a 3rd world country I've seen the persistent cultural devastating that results from too many women having too many babies to no good end. Perpetual poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity.
Thank god Mr. Parker is helping women who have made mistakes to keep their lives somewhat under control.
26
"We are animals." I think that pretty well captures it.
1
Sir, with all due respect, why is it not, or is it?, permissible to deprive of life a grown-up person if thus the life of another person could be made easier ??
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Like many NY Times readers, I financially support Planned Parenthood. At the same time, I wonder if this helps women (and men, and children) in areas of the US like those you serve.
Are there organizations that I'm not aware of that need donations? I would appreciate and value your advice.
Thank you for your courage and compassion. Thank you.
Are there organizations that I'm not aware of that need donations? I would appreciate and value your advice.
Thank you for your courage and compassion. Thank you.
15
The writer claims that he "had never performed abortions because [he] felt they were morally wrong," but then he claims that he changed his mind because "[his] concern about women who lacked access to abortion became more important to [him] than worrying about what might happen to [him] for providing the services." This is a glaring inconsistency. It seems the shift was from one of avoiding public shame to accepting public shame, and had nothing to do with the moral question of terminating the life of an unborn child. So much for "a deeper spiritual understanding."
5
We seem to forget the life of the woman who will bring up the child and if they are ready for a baby? Even in church's today, there are divorces and there are couples who separate for a multitude of reasons leaving the children or a pregnant spouse with no thought of what is to become of the child(ren)?
Women bear the brunt of pregnancy, not men. While most partners do their best for the women involved, there are quite a few that don't. And even in cases where you have loving and caring couples, the advent of another child poses difficult decisions to many especially if family planning is also taboo or out of their reach.
I am a liberal and proud of that label but am also a conservative and proud of that label too. Conservative because I believe in family (doesn't matter what type) and liberal, because I am pro-life and pro-choice.
Pro-life because I believe all should have access to quality health care and a good education. Pro-choice because I believe each one should deal with their own decisions in their own way no matter how painful. Who am I to judge?
Anti-abortionists are ok killing a mother who may have other children, and a spouse, all to save a fetus who may be diseased or deformed or a woman who may have been horrifically raped (all rapes are horrible) and beaten.
But have no compassion for the family that has too many children and can't afford them.
That is a spiritual misunderstanding to me.
Women bear the brunt of pregnancy, not men. While most partners do their best for the women involved, there are quite a few that don't. And even in cases where you have loving and caring couples, the advent of another child poses difficult decisions to many especially if family planning is also taboo or out of their reach.
I am a liberal and proud of that label but am also a conservative and proud of that label too. Conservative because I believe in family (doesn't matter what type) and liberal, because I am pro-life and pro-choice.
Pro-life because I believe all should have access to quality health care and a good education. Pro-choice because I believe each one should deal with their own decisions in their own way no matter how painful. Who am I to judge?
Anti-abortionists are ok killing a mother who may have other children, and a spouse, all to save a fetus who may be diseased or deformed or a woman who may have been horrifically raped (all rapes are horrible) and beaten.
But have no compassion for the family that has too many children and can't afford them.
That is a spiritual misunderstanding to me.
13
You have an interesting way with words.
You write, " I believe each one should deal with their own decisions in their own way no matter how painful. Who am I to judge?"
Then you give the example of "anti-abortionists" who have no compassion on the family with "too many children and can't afford them."
By your logic, shouldn't the family with too many children deal with their own consequences?
You write, " I believe each one should deal with their own decisions in their own way no matter how painful. Who am I to judge?"
Then you give the example of "anti-abortionists" who have no compassion on the family with "too many children and can't afford them."
By your logic, shouldn't the family with too many children deal with their own consequences?
Just yesterday, my 64-year old sister said -- wouldn't it have been great to be wanted? Children need to be born into families prepared for them.
22
Thank you Dr. Parker.
12
Thank you Dr. Parker. Please write to the Supreme Court and tell them that if they rule to deny women abortion rights, states like Mississippi won't have access to even one clinic, effectively outlawing abortion and overturning Roe v. Wade. If they do this, American women will revolt.
What is it really about? Why do Republicans want to force women to be pregnant, raise children they cannot support, and increase the number of coat-hanger back-alley abortions? We know it's not about Jesus, because these same people will shoot you dead with their guns, start pre-emptive wars, ban two people in love from marrying, and exclude desperate refugees in need of neighborly support.
It's about the desperation of white men who realize that when women control their bodies and reproductive lives, they can fully compete with men. With more women in college, in the office and in the boardroom, men who can't compete are terribly threatened. What's the best way to remove the competition? Force her back into the home to care for a brood of rugrats.
What is it really about? Why do Republicans want to force women to be pregnant, raise children they cannot support, and increase the number of coat-hanger back-alley abortions? We know it's not about Jesus, because these same people will shoot you dead with their guns, start pre-emptive wars, ban two people in love from marrying, and exclude desperate refugees in need of neighborly support.
It's about the desperation of white men who realize that when women control their bodies and reproductive lives, they can fully compete with men. With more women in college, in the office and in the boardroom, men who can't compete are terribly threatened. What's the best way to remove the competition? Force her back into the home to care for a brood of rugrats.
19
Here's a question:
If you only had access to a back-alley, illegal, very dangerous abortion, would you get one anyway?
Would this type of abortion change your sexual practices?
If you only had access to a back-alley, illegal, very dangerous abortion, would you get one anyway?
Would this type of abortion change your sexual practices?
2
So what's your point, Handiwork11? We should subject women to "back-alley, illegal, very dangerous abortions", in the hopes it will change their sexual practices, and thus decrease the number of abortions? Perhaps you have missed this point - even when abortion was illegal, and women were reduced to having dangerous back-alley abortions, they nevertheless knowingly accepted the risk and had abortions. Is that what you are advocating we return to? Please answer the question, yes or no. I think all of the commenters here would like to see your answer.
10
Being a college student in our modern day who was raised Roman Catholic, the issue of abortion is hard to grapple. There's something about being in that environment where the threat is so real that makes you realize the reality of the situation.
No 20 year old wants babies. I'm absolutely not backing up those who are careless, but in all aspects of life, mistakes DO HAPPEN. For those who have made that mistake, may there be compassion, care and help.
No 20 year old wants babies. I'm absolutely not backing up those who are careless, but in all aspects of life, mistakes DO HAPPEN. For those who have made that mistake, may there be compassion, care and help.
9
Dear Dr. Parker,
Thank you for your courage. Your deep compassion for women and your understanding of the complexity of their decision to choose an abortion make you a "man among men" and a physician who is living out their calling.
You get it. Thank you.
Thank you for your courage. Your deep compassion for women and your understanding of the complexity of their decision to choose an abortion make you a "man among men" and a physician who is living out their calling.
You get it. Thank you.
13
Does doctor Parker choose to provide abortions to all women in a robotic fashion or does he choose to apply his own standards around the decision. A bit like a plastic surgeon who makes decisions, should a doctor be able to choose the circumstances that they will provide this service?
Blessings to you, Dr. Parker. May you have a long, healthy, fulfilling life as you continue to practice your chosen profession in the most loving manner: caring about and for women's lives together with any living children they might have who are equally impacted by the health and welfare of their mother!
20
For people who can access a couple of thousand dollars and can clear a few days in their calendar, safe and private abortions are available, just not in their state or country of residence. So we are constructing a two-tier morality, in which lack of money forces women to adhere to an imposed morality or risk their health and legal complications, and the availability of money gives freedom. Those in positions of power can force the powerless to go through with pregnancy while they and their wives, daughters, and mistresses have a choice. So they adopt a solution where they get to force others to adhere to their professed morality while they themselves are free not to. For some this situation is ideal, allowing them to have their cake and eat it too, while for others the situation is morally monstrous.
The only way to prevent abortions by women who can pay for them is to talk the women out of the deed. This is best done by spreading a culture that values life and the quality of life from fetus to deathbed, and refuses to abandon children to abusive parents or economic hardship in the midst of a wealthy country. The present anti-abortion culture values obeying God, using economic constraints to force others to obey God. This culture values making sure that yielding to the temptation of illicit pleasure will be followed by the painful necessity (punishment) of having to care for a perhaps unaffordable or unwanted child.
The only way to prevent abortions by women who can pay for them is to talk the women out of the deed. This is best done by spreading a culture that values life and the quality of life from fetus to deathbed, and refuses to abandon children to abusive parents or economic hardship in the midst of a wealthy country. The present anti-abortion culture values obeying God, using economic constraints to force others to obey God. This culture values making sure that yielding to the temptation of illicit pleasure will be followed by the painful necessity (punishment) of having to care for a perhaps unaffordable or unwanted child.
6
So, sdavidc9, what makes you think that God disapproves of abortion? The Bible certainly does not say so. Further along that line, as nearly half of all pregnancies abort spontaneously, does that clue us as to what God thinks?
14
Killing babies because you can? Though you find abortion to be morally wrong, you've committed to focus on doing nothing but abortions because no one else will? How ironic that you made this decision after reading a sermon which brought you "deeper spiritual understanding." You reference the parable of the good Samaritan, who stopped to help someone dying on the road, but what you're doing is stopping to kill, not save. How very sad and twisted. Perhaps a more appropriate Biblical story would be that of Judas, who gave up his friend and would-be Savior for a bag of silver. Abortion may be 99% safe for the mother if you ignore the emotional scars caused by the knowledge that she participated in the death of her own child, but it is 100% fatal for the babies involved. Who is speaking for them? No, somehow we have convinced ourselves that a fetus (Latin for baby) becomes a real baby when she first feels the air of the operating room. Until then, dismember the defenseless with impunity and good conscience. I weep for America.
7
Hey Tim,
How many children have you adopted in your lifetime? How much time and effort have you put into educating people about birth control? What are your proposals for helping new mothers after they give birth?
The arrogance of thrusting your morals onto someone you don't know and where you have no stake in the outcome is exceeded in scope only by the hypocrisy of your actions.
I weep for you.
How many children have you adopted in your lifetime? How much time and effort have you put into educating people about birth control? What are your proposals for helping new mothers after they give birth?
The arrogance of thrusting your morals onto someone you don't know and where you have no stake in the outcome is exceeded in scope only by the hypocrisy of your actions.
I weep for you.
18
Fetus means specifically fetus. Even Latin doesn't recognise it as a "baby" Infans is Latin for baby. How many other "facts" have you gotten wrong
10
I too weep for America. An America that is soulless and lacks compassion for all. An America that justifies withholding medical procedures in the guise of "safety". An America that is becoming more and more restrictive toward women, the poor, and the uneducated.
An America that under the guise of being moral, has no problem in allowing women to die because they need an abortion?
As I said to another, when was the last time you became pregnant, had no money, no job and family support?
An America that under the guise of being moral, has no problem in allowing women to die because they need an abortion?
As I said to another, when was the last time you became pregnant, had no money, no job and family support?
12
Thank you, Doctor.
13
I support a woman's right to an abortion and would leave the decision to the individual in all cases. Yet I do wonder why we have made it so impossible for women in their childbearing prime to have children. As Dr. Parker notes, many of his patients are not in an economic position to successfully handle pregnancy, birth, or raising a child. They may not be in good health. And they may have few options for economic self-determination after birth, since affordable child care options are nonexistent in this country.
But much of this is also true for most young women, whether they are poor or not. Health insurance is tied to employment, employment is not possible without child care, etc.
The pages of this newspaper are full of commentary about how raising a family should be possible on one income. But whose income would that be? Not the mother, for reasons above. So we've eliminated most options for young women to raise children on their own even if they want to, and force their utter dependence on a (usually male) partner. But it doesn't end there, since most employers no longer cover family members in health plans, so the partner would have to earn enough to support the entire family as well as pay additional premiums for each family member-a tall order for even employed young men.
Many in this country would like to deprive women of health care, of child care, of economic self-determination, and then of the option for an abortion.
How cruel.
But much of this is also true for most young women, whether they are poor or not. Health insurance is tied to employment, employment is not possible without child care, etc.
The pages of this newspaper are full of commentary about how raising a family should be possible on one income. But whose income would that be? Not the mother, for reasons above. So we've eliminated most options for young women to raise children on their own even if they want to, and force their utter dependence on a (usually male) partner. But it doesn't end there, since most employers no longer cover family members in health plans, so the partner would have to earn enough to support the entire family as well as pay additional premiums for each family member-a tall order for even employed young men.
Many in this country would like to deprive women of health care, of child care, of economic self-determination, and then of the option for an abortion.
How cruel.
15
It is cruel, and I think it is clear that most anti-abortion people don't really care about the well-being of women, or children, either before or after they are born. If they did, they wouldn't be constantly bending over backwards to keep people in poverty and to take away access to health care from them.
9
You have heard of the ACA, right? All family members are covered and tax credits are given based upon income.
How about this?
How about the culture educate and empower women and show them the world of possibilities that are out there?
How about we develop and encourage families that can provide the support and love children need?
In doing so, we can teach young men and women that waiting until they are educated and stable and married is the best time to start having sex and maybe then possibly having children.
Just a thought.
How about this?
How about the culture educate and empower women and show them the world of possibilities that are out there?
How about we develop and encourage families that can provide the support and love children need?
In doing so, we can teach young men and women that waiting until they are educated and stable and married is the best time to start having sex and maybe then possibly having children.
Just a thought.
2
Republicans, through restrictive legislation, want to force other people's children (teenagers) to have unwanted babies.
I came across a homeless person once, in Orange County, CA - from
Alabama, actually. She was one of 13 children. She was disabled, in her mid 20's and wandering the streets. A sweet person, educationally challenged. She had suffered a disabling accident and I helped her get SSI Disability.
What a shame the Republican Party has legitimized Christian Fundamentalism to the point where the great influence of Mainstream Christianity in America has been subdued.
I came across a homeless person once, in Orange County, CA - from
Alabama, actually. She was one of 13 children. She was disabled, in her mid 20's and wandering the streets. A sweet person, educationally challenged. She had suffered a disabling accident and I helped her get SSI Disability.
What a shame the Republican Party has legitimized Christian Fundamentalism to the point where the great influence of Mainstream Christianity in America has been subdued.
12
Thank you for helping this young woman.
In a country with 350 million people, it's probably not good math to extrapolate one example to the whole country.
In a country with 350 million people, it's probably not good math to extrapolate one example to the whole country.
1
Thank you for your commitment to the health and ecomomic well-being of women. Those who would block abortion are invariably narrow minded about the outcome for such folly. So many of those unwanted babies end up in poverty, in
jails, on social welfare because their both mothers cannot provide for them while their birth fathers merit a free pass in our society. Who buys the diapers, the meals, the education, the health care....??!!! Who catches the woman who fails because of her burden to be a provider?
jails, on social welfare because their both mothers cannot provide for them while their birth fathers merit a free pass in our society. Who buys the diapers, the meals, the education, the health care....??!!! Who catches the woman who fails because of her burden to be a provider?
11
That's the way I like to do your job with passion and persuasion .Not that easy ,this tale evokes a definite heroism in ordinary day by day life.
It is a signature efforts made to enlighten a burden ,a burden with a long,long extended historical record .
John Irving's The Cider House!
My personal example in my professional life :Albert Schweitzer.
It is a signature efforts made to enlighten a burden ,a burden with a long,long extended historical record .
John Irving's The Cider House!
My personal example in my professional life :Albert Schweitzer.
5
I salute you Willie J. Parker. You are a hero. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for your courage.
14
I have had the honor and humble privilege to meet the CEO's of numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates, their courage and determination to help women, men, and families is a spark of hope for us all. They do it at personal risk, but will never back down. Let's be frank, it's the law of the land so let's treat it as such and end the misogyny that seems to permeate any current dialog or policy. I applaud the good doctors wisdom to go beyond his own thoughts and shows instead true compassion for others without judgement. As the folks at Planned Parenthood have as their motto,"Care. No Matter What!"
16
Well, I can verify that it's not exactly "a spark of hope for us all." In fact, many millions are disgusted with PP for harvesting baby parts.
1
What a wonderful piece! Of course, the Texas law is not for the health of women. If that were true docs should need hospital privileges to do vasectomies. Wonder how well that would go over? I will not vote for any candidate ,i.e. Republican who does not support a women's right to make decisions over their own bodies. Bravo again Dr. Parker!!
13
There are not THANK YOUs enough for Dr. Parker.
The Christian Shariah culture that infects so many Republicans and SCOTUS, that denies poor women effective birth control only assures more of the very abortions they loathe. There is a sad analogy between rising abortions and rising see level. Conservatives deny poor American women birth control only to force more abortions. Conservatives deny climate change and fail to control greenhouse gases only to force sea level rise. Both the Republicans and SCOTUS are powerless to stop all abortions or sea level rise so long as they continue to deny reality. Sadly for millions of poor American women, the only abortions that Conservatives can deny are the safe ones.
The Christian Shariah culture that infects so many Republicans and SCOTUS, that denies poor women effective birth control only assures more of the very abortions they loathe. There is a sad analogy between rising abortions and rising see level. Conservatives deny poor American women birth control only to force more abortions. Conservatives deny climate change and fail to control greenhouse gases only to force sea level rise. Both the Republicans and SCOTUS are powerless to stop all abortions or sea level rise so long as they continue to deny reality. Sadly for millions of poor American women, the only abortions that Conservatives can deny are the safe ones.
14
You are right about one thing: we are powerless to stop the sea level rising.
2
As a fellow physician, I admire not only your courage to perform these procedures in an atmosphere toxic to your health, but also your ability to empathize with your patients needs and place them ahead of your own convictions.
This is a true demonstration of compassion. It falls in the tradition of 'The Golden Rule.'
My hat is off to you.
This is a true demonstration of compassion. It falls in the tradition of 'The Golden Rule.'
My hat is off to you.
19
Especially appalling is the story of the women with 5 children who aborted the 6th because she "knew that she could not care for another child, financially or emotionally." She might have given it a shot, put the baby up for adoption, or something. After all, she already had experience caring (or not) for 5, one having died of cancer, it is said, before the abortion was performed.
MLK, staunchly anti-abortion himself, would of course not have regarded Mr. Parker as a good Samaritan, and in fact would have seen that as a particularly grotesque comparison.
MLK, staunchly anti-abortion himself, would of course not have regarded Mr. Parker as a good Samaritan, and in fact would have seen that as a particularly grotesque comparison.
5
"She might have given it a shot, put the baby up for adoption, or something."
Clearly you don't comprehend what's involved in pregnancy, childbirth and raising a child (especially the health risks during pregnancy).
Giving it a shot...it's not like trying a new hairstyle! What does she do if it confirms her suspicion that it wasn't the correct thing for her family...return it?! Will she need a receipt?
She made her choice - it was pregnancy termination - not adoption, not birth.
Clearly you don't comprehend what's involved in pregnancy, childbirth and raising a child (especially the health risks during pregnancy).
Giving it a shot...it's not like trying a new hairstyle! What does she do if it confirms her suspicion that it wasn't the correct thing for her family...return it?! Will she need a receipt?
She made her choice - it was pregnancy termination - not adoption, not birth.
16
MLK was NOT anti-choice. To suggest otherwise is a calumny.
11
Thank you so much for caring. You are needed now more than ever. Hopefully the hate based religions and their politicians who force through these restrictions will find something in their own lives to take the place of trying to control poor women.
10
Thank you so much for your service. You are a hero.
11
I believe that this doctor is doing god's work.
10
"god's" work or God's work? Big difference.
2
". . . state law requires that [an abortion] be done in a follow-up visit, after initital counseling."
So sad that there's no way to require potentially fertile couples to have a counseling session the day before having unprotected sex, which is the same thing as deciding "We're going to try to have a child." Supposedly no thoughtfulness need be exercised in making that decision?
So sad that there's no way to require potentially fertile couples to have a counseling session the day before having unprotected sex, which is the same thing as deciding "We're going to try to have a child." Supposedly no thoughtfulness need be exercised in making that decision?
5
How does one have the " right " to end the life of another? " EJB.
4
"Because it is my job, that's why", replies the administrator of death penalty drugs.
5
A pre-28-week fetus is not a person. Boyson's comment is not grounded in either science or the Bible.
10
You give the Supreme Court deference related to abortion but not the death penalty? That is troubling indeed.
Let's make a trade. Y'all give up abortion and we'll give up the death penalty.
Deal?
Let's make a trade. Y'all give up abortion and we'll give up the death penalty.
Deal?
3
Why do many women name their fetuses in utero and talk, even sing to them whilst pregnant? Why do women mourn at a miscarriage? Why did I feel such affinity with my children when I saw them move on an ultrasound image long before 20 weeks of gestation? Could it be because they are alive? Could it be because they are human? Could it be because they deserve to be respected and nurtured and cared for?
Why should these little ones' rights be disregarded?
Why should these little ones' rights be disregarded?
5
Those are wanted pregnancies.
How different for a woman who is forced by the state to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term! Surely you're not advocating that?!
How different for a woman who is forced by the state to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term! Surely you're not advocating that?!
13
The number of times I have seen right to life people refuse to give up their seats on a bus or train to a pregnant woman is more than just a few.
Shouldn't we be respectful of the fetus's rights in that case? In all cases?
Guess not
Shouldn't we be respectful of the fetus's rights in that case? In all cases?
Guess not
6
How do you know they were right-to-lifers? Maybe they were incognito pro-choicers having to cloak themselves? It's possible.
2
"I want for women what I want for myself: a life of dignity, health, self-determination and the opportunity to excel and contribute." Thank you Dr. Parker for treating your patients with the respect they deserve. Would that all physicians do the same.
16
Dr. Parker, I see you're chairman-elect of the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health. Good luck to you and your fine organization.
14
Dr. Parker,
Thank you for insightful op-ed piece and even more for your courageous and hard work on behalf of women and families in Alabama and everywhere.
Thank you for insightful op-ed piece and even more for your courageous and hard work on behalf of women and families in Alabama and everywhere.
12
I'm ecstatic to read the reference to the sermon of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in this topic. I've always been frustrated by so many of the implicit assumptions in this controversy. It's a mistake to assume that the anti choice side "owns" the religious angle to the debate.
8
Hi Buddy. If you honestly study the Bible, I think you'll see which side owns what.
1
Another courageous doctor bravely facing threats, violence, and potential death by the hands of America's home-grown religious terrorists.
14
YES. Beautifully and thoughtfully expressed. No one gets an abortion lightly. It is a decision a woman does to because her life situation demands it. The very groups that would deny women the right to an abortion never step up to support women who need help with raising their children. Welfare and food stamps and low-cost child care are frowned on. Republicans want to take away all these rights...so that... we can have more unwanted children? Women need to be able to choose what is right for them.
11
Great for him. Does he do anything to prevent these folks from needing another abortion. Such as not having sex, or birth control? More progressives that insist on abortion should go and do this work for little to no pay. That would be very good.
Access to birth control is in many, many places difficult to obtain, beyond the financial reach of low income, impoverished people and out of the reach of most adolescents.
8
Those services are also provided at Planned Parenthood clinincs.
9
I am guessing that Vulanalex is one of those who favor eliminating funding to Planned Parenthood too.
4
It is commendable to want to help scared women but there is another person involved and that person, is you believe that an unborn baby is a person, would also liked to be helped.
If someone who is pregnant cannot afford to care for an additional person in their life, many people are able and willing to care for them. At least, in that case, the unborn do not have to be killed.
If someone who is pregnant cannot afford to care for an additional person in their life, many people are able and willing to care for them. At least, in that case, the unborn do not have to be killed.
4
Ridiculous argument. Every one of my sperm, paired with an egg, could be an 'unborn baby'. They are NOT sacred.
What is sacred is how children are brought up once they are born, not how they are conceived.
What is sacred is how children are brought up once they are born, not how they are conceived.
10
A pre-29-week fetus is not a person. Both science and the Bible agree on that. Also, giving up a child for adoption is far more traumatic for a woman than having an abortion. Mr Clark, as someone who can't get pregnant, should mind his own buniness.
10
In 2011 there were 730,000 abortions. Are there over 730,000 people who are able and willing to care for the resulting 18 years of responsibility should abortion be eliminated? Start doing the math - you will have to find over 2.8 million caregivers to handle just the last four years. And the number will just continue to grow.
What is your real life plan to deal with this?
What is your real life plan to deal with this?
8
Many thanks to Willie J. Parker and other medical practitioners who provide abortions to women despite harsh criticism. If the US really is the home of the brave, you are some of our bravest. Thank you.
14
I have never seen a republican lift a finger to make sure an upper class woman had a baby she didn't want. Only the lower classes.
It takes a little thought to think this through. When the babies are born, Conservatives will vote to make sure that the babies do not have enough food and no medical care.
Why? Think it through.
There is an answer.
It takes a little thought to think this through. When the babies are born, Conservatives will vote to make sure that the babies do not have enough food and no medical care.
Why? Think it through.
There is an answer.
11
Alabama continues its proverbial posture of standing in school house doors. Now the "standing" is clinic doors, but even after all these years the objective is unchanged -- deny Americans their legal and moral rights so as to appease a regressive subculture. States' rights anyone?
9
Somebody please send this to Ben Carson.
8
I think he would love to have a national discussion about this article.
2
I am a parent of three, now grown, children.
My wife and I had married quite young, and although we both worked, were living on a pretty tight leash. So we used contraceptive for the first three plus years before starting our family.
Supporting and raising a family was perhaps the most difficult thing I've ever done, ongoing sacrifice to provide the 'extras' kids need, volunteering time for youth activities, attending the functions our kids were involved in, doctors (happily we always had health insurance to help with the costs), medicines, clothes, as any parent knows the list is eternal.
And at times immense stress when the money got tight, and we drifted a little wrapped in our own concerns and fears. Happily the love never died, and we got through.
All this for kids we chose to have, who we loved and nurtured from birth.
Now imagine an unemployed, or marginally employed family, the mother not planning a pregnancy, perhaps not in any stable relationship, perhaps a stable family, but one at the ragged edge of subsistence. Now imagine your life as the 'child', unwanted, resented, even if not mistreated, condemned to be 'raised' not cherished. Some life!
My wife and I had married quite young, and although we both worked, were living on a pretty tight leash. So we used contraceptive for the first three plus years before starting our family.
Supporting and raising a family was perhaps the most difficult thing I've ever done, ongoing sacrifice to provide the 'extras' kids need, volunteering time for youth activities, attending the functions our kids were involved in, doctors (happily we always had health insurance to help with the costs), medicines, clothes, as any parent knows the list is eternal.
And at times immense stress when the money got tight, and we drifted a little wrapped in our own concerns and fears. Happily the love never died, and we got through.
All this for kids we chose to have, who we loved and nurtured from birth.
Now imagine an unemployed, or marginally employed family, the mother not planning a pregnancy, perhaps not in any stable relationship, perhaps a stable family, but one at the ragged edge of subsistence. Now imagine your life as the 'child', unwanted, resented, even if not mistreated, condemned to be 'raised' not cherished. Some life!
33
I wish I could click "recommend" 10,000 times. Thank you for posting.
9
As a parent of two children myself, I totally agree with your comments. Now that I have experienced the awesome responsibility that is being a parent, I have become even more pro-choice than ever. No one should become a parent because they made a single mistake. It's too important a role in our society to be forced into.
14
Exactly.
And more men, like you, need to keep saying these things, loudly and publicly.
Thank you.
And more men, like you, need to keep saying these things, loudly and publicly.
Thank you.
5
Thank you, Dr. Parker!
8
Dr. Parker, thank you for your courage and for honoring what your mission as a physician is. "Between a woman and her doctor" means it is no one else's business and no one has the right to force their view on another person. No one is forced to have a an abortion, but women must have the right to choose. It is that simple.
11
Abortion providers like Dr Parker should be interviewed on mainstream prime time TV. At least by phone, in case they're afraid of being shot to death, with easily obtained guns, by one of America's home grown anti abortion terrorists, crazed by their religious fundamentalism.
Their beliefs should get into media, besides just the NYT op ed page. Let them be publicised as a counterweight to our religion obsessed politicians manipulating the public.
Other countries don't let states opt out of laws protecting the health of their citizens. The US, land of the free, makes 2nd class citizens out of millions since laws aren't consistent across the nation. States rights was supposed to oppose tyranny of a strong central govt. But it's used by anti progressive forces to interfere with many rights, in health, voting, unions, wages, and criminal justice. Makes a mockery of Equal Protection of the Constitution.
Their beliefs should get into media, besides just the NYT op ed page. Let them be publicised as a counterweight to our religion obsessed politicians manipulating the public.
Other countries don't let states opt out of laws protecting the health of their citizens. The US, land of the free, makes 2nd class citizens out of millions since laws aren't consistent across the nation. States rights was supposed to oppose tyranny of a strong central govt. But it's used by anti progressive forces to interfere with many rights, in health, voting, unions, wages, and criminal justice. Makes a mockery of Equal Protection of the Constitution.
13
You provide abortions because their legal....which does mean it's moral. Most will be on black women. Had abortion never been introduced the black family would still be strong their numbers large and so to political and economic clout. This would have ironically reduced the "need" for this un necessary barbaric practice.
Not even the demographic of women who get abortions support the bloody thing any longer. So just whats in going to take to convince you your not the social justice hero your yesterdays news pals tell you you are
Not even the demographic of women who get abortions support the bloody thing any longer. So just whats in going to take to convince you your not the social justice hero your yesterdays news pals tell you you are
3
Abortions were "introduced" long before any social or economic discrimination existed. The war on the black family isn't about abortion, but it is about poverty, access to health care including contraception and poor education. I think you should be more irate about those social policies because once those are improved, abortion rates will decline. Young women who have been educated about sex, have been provided with long term contraception and who are living above the poverty line will be far less likely to become pregnant and to repeat a cycle of teen motherhood that traps women in minimum wage jobs that cannot begin to cover her own living expenses as well as that of a child.
18
Abortion is a complicated issue, but one important fact is not complicated: to provide an abortion is to kill a human being. It is difficult to take Dr. Parker's moral reasoning seriously because of his refusal to take this fact seriously. His argument, for all its complexity, is not complicated enough because he refuses to call a thing what it actually is.
6
Let's call it what it is: an abortion removes a fetus from a woman's body. The fetus has the great potential to be a viable human being but is not a human - otherwise it would not be inside one, unable to live on its own. Abortion aside, not all fetuses will come to term and be viable - no guarantees. Fetus is potential only.
Whether you like it or not, whether your belief system supports it or not, abortion will never go away. Never. The only thing that happens when abortion is illegal or unavailable is it becomes very dangerous for poor women to manage their lives. That's the fact. If you don't like abortion, work harder to prevent unplanned pregnancies... oh yeah, that's what Planned Parenthood does.
Whether you like it or not, whether your belief system supports it or not, abortion will never go away. Never. The only thing that happens when abortion is illegal or unavailable is it becomes very dangerous for poor women to manage their lives. That's the fact. If you don't like abortion, work harder to prevent unplanned pregnancies... oh yeah, that's what Planned Parenthood does.
15
You are entitled to your opinion and Dr. Parker and I do not agree with you. That is the crux of the problem.
5
You can call it whatever you like, but "it" is still alive.
Of course, a brand new fetus won't live on it's own outside the womb. No one is arguing that.
Of course, a brand new fetus won't live on it's own outside the womb. No one is arguing that.
2
Every generation must be educated anew about the importance of defending our reproductive rights. Do not be complacent – – talk to your daughters and sons early and often. Explain your views in depth. Use examples. If you have had an abortion, talk about it. Discuss other abortion stories as well.
I have three family stories I share: a cousin of my grandmother who died after a back alley procedure in the 1920s, leaving orphans; a great aunt who worked as a nurse at a "vacation ranch" in the southwest where rich girls could go to get procedures from actual physicians (assuming that their families had thousands of dollars to spend); and my own mother, who had an abortion in her 50s after her doctor told her, incorrectly, that she was no longer fertile.
Do not leave the next generation vulnerable to confusion about the central importance of this most basic of human rights. Educate!
I have three family stories I share: a cousin of my grandmother who died after a back alley procedure in the 1920s, leaving orphans; a great aunt who worked as a nurse at a "vacation ranch" in the southwest where rich girls could go to get procedures from actual physicians (assuming that their families had thousands of dollars to spend); and my own mother, who had an abortion in her 50s after her doctor told her, incorrectly, that she was no longer fertile.
Do not leave the next generation vulnerable to confusion about the central importance of this most basic of human rights. Educate!
11
When you're telling these stories, be sure remind them of the post-abortion issues they'll most likely be dealing with.
And while you are educating, remind folks of sowing and reaping.
And while you are educating, remind folks of sowing and reaping.
2
Thank you for respecting women.
Thank you for respecting a women's right to control her health care.
Thank you for believing women are qualified to make personal decisions.
The first person honored in Heaven will be those who support women's equal rights in all communities, organizations, and cultures around the world.
Thank you for respecting a women's right to control her health care.
Thank you for believing women are qualified to make personal decisions.
The first person honored in Heaven will be those who support women's equal rights in all communities, organizations, and cultures around the world.
16
To JoJo: The pregnant woman is the patient. So the doctor is following the "do no harm" ethic. Does a woman lose her right to her life once she becomes pregnant? Does she become a ward of the State? When you fight only to save the unborn, you are essentially saying: You are now pregnant and you as a person are subservient to that fact. To be sure, I think abortion should be a last resort. People should be responsible and use other forms of birth control. But like others have said, the extremist don't even want women to use any kind of birth control. By that insistence they are also responsible for abortions.
15
Dr. Parker: Would you please consider spending some of your time and energy educating the women of the South (and everywhere) about responsible BIRTH CONTROL, rather than using abortion for this purpose, which it seems is what the majority are doing? Condoms are pretty inexpensive last time I checked and don't require a prescription. Women need to stop playing ignorant victims of the well known consequences of sex, and take responsibility for their choices. The medical community doesn't need to be complicit and enabling, as we really should be "pro-life" as physicians. Yes, abortion is legal and should be safe, but as a medical community we should really try prevent the need for it as much as we can and however we can. If we had done that years ago, we wouldn't have needed the "lawyers" and the government to get involved. Abortion would have remained a medical procedure for "therapeutic" (remember that term?) purposes and would have been between the woman and her physician. Now it is a political issue exploited by all sides, for all agendas, and in the middle there is a little human life that gets completely ignored. Sick society we are.
2
Sorry, but is it not Republicans who overwhelmingly do NOT want children and young adults to be educated about sex and contraceptives and pretty much any other thing involving personal choice?
Your argument makes sense only in the context of a fully-educated populace.
We do not live in that world.
Your argument makes sense only in the context of a fully-educated populace.
We do not live in that world.
7
Why is it just women that should be responsible for birth control? Last time I checked, condoms only work if the man wears one, and even then they are not foolproof by a long shot.
Unless you were sleeping during sex ed - oh, wait a minute - you are from Texas so you probably had it or if you did, it consisted of reading a few Bible verses -- you know that a man and a woman are required to create a pregnancy. If men were more responsible, there would be far fewer unwanted pregnancies and thus fewer abortions.
Our society is sick, but it is thanks to people like you who cling to a medieval worldview and insist on trying to force it on everyone else.
Unless you were sleeping during sex ed - oh, wait a minute - you are from Texas so you probably had it or if you did, it consisted of reading a few Bible verses -- you know that a man and a woman are required to create a pregnancy. If men were more responsible, there would be far fewer unwanted pregnancies and thus fewer abortions.
Our society is sick, but it is thanks to people like you who cling to a medieval worldview and insist on trying to force it on everyone else.
4
And very brave!
7
It's not just about abortions, they are the inflammatory talking point for the "Christian" right wing ideologues willingness to deny ANY health care or public aid to the most vulnerable members of our society.
13
This is just false.
2
Dr. Parker, you must have decided, somehow, that at least early-term abortion is not murder, does not constitute the taking of a human life. I agree that it is not, but you don't tell us how you came to that decision.
2
Thank you. Forcing a woman to be pregnant in a society that offers no legitimate support for a woman in this condition is just insane. There can be no more personal an experience than being pregnant. What I know for sure is that abortion and women are being used as a political agenda used to dupe unsuspecting christians into voting for despicable people who really don't care so much about a woman's right to choose as much as they care for power and money. These politicians don't care about life. They just don't care. They don't care about women, their babies, or you. If only they cared, then we could have the right to choose and less abortions because women would be nurtured and supported during pregnancy. Right now, being pregnant means losing income and power and the ability to sustain ones self - no matter what your rank and station in life is.
14
Education is called for: not murder!
5
Dr. Parker, words cannot express how deeply I admire you.
14
"My concern about women who lacked access to abortion became more important to me than worrying about what might happen to me for providing the services."
Obama needs to bring this man to the WH and honor him, in secret if necessary for the doctor`s safety.
Obama needs to bring this man to the WH and honor him, in secret if necessary for the doctor`s safety.
12
You are no hero. And your warped view of yourself as a 'Good Samaritan' for ending innocent lives speaks of a need to quell your conscience. It is not Christian to end innocent lives, nor would Dr. King support you in this.
The killing of innocent life cannot be equated with "promoting health" and "compassion" and "heroism." There are many ways to help impoverished women and communities. Killing their children is not it.
The killing of innocent life cannot be equated with "promoting health" and "compassion" and "heroism." There are many ways to help impoverished women and communities. Killing their children is not it.
7
First- it's legal..get over it.
Second, once a baby is born Republicans want nothing to do with it.
Let it pull itself up by its bootstraps!~
How about we just let people make their own decisions and not the government?
Second, once a baby is born Republicans want nothing to do with it.
Let it pull itself up by its bootstraps!~
How about we just let people make their own decisions and not the government?
9
Totally agree with you. Samuel. I felt awkward about how the writer relate herself to Good Samaritan. Come on.... God never command us to kill.
3
Sam, pre-28-week fetuses are not persons. Your position is not supported by either science or the Bible.
7
Not one mention of the baby in this entire piece. I guess that's how you justify doing abortions for a living, just tell yourself and others that you are "helping women excercize their rights" forget about what you are actually doing, extinguishing a life. Human beings can rationalize almost anything. Fascinating...
8
Yet we do nothing about gun control when mass shooting of our babies occur!
9
your comment and others like your make me wish the NTYs would add a thumbs down button to their comments section.
You're not thinking about this issue holistically. What happens to the child who is unplanned - or worse - unwanted - and can't be properly cared for? Adding to the population of emotionally unstable individuals, who are un or undereducated is no virtue. How do you plan for that? Rightwingers live in "la-la" land...they want to cut social benefits, they don't want to pay for birth control and they don't support abortion...but they're pretty quick to pull the trigger on starting wars. The US is turning into a barbaric society. We look ridiculous compared to other western countries...and are starting to resemble the Middle East in many ways. Think about it...you might not like the consequences so much.
You're not thinking about this issue holistically. What happens to the child who is unplanned - or worse - unwanted - and can't be properly cared for? Adding to the population of emotionally unstable individuals, who are un or undereducated is no virtue. How do you plan for that? Rightwingers live in "la-la" land...they want to cut social benefits, they don't want to pay for birth control and they don't support abortion...but they're pretty quick to pull the trigger on starting wars. The US is turning into a barbaric society. We look ridiculous compared to other western countries...and are starting to resemble the Middle East in many ways. Think about it...you might not like the consequences so much.
10
JP's position is supported by neither science nor the Bible.
7
Thank you. But very unlikely this would move Thomas, Scalia, Alito, or Roberts (probably) because their thinking do not appear to be driven by reason -- or compassion.
5
I live in Newton Ma, a rich liberal suburb of Boston, and a city filled with well to do, educated, pro choice women.
Where on earth are these women, and why aren't they out raising money to provide services to women in places like AL ?
Where on earth are these women, and why aren't they out raising money to provide services to women in places like AL ?
8
I don't know but might guess that they think these places are hopelessly ignorant.
2
Ezra, liberals are always fomenting and planning to have government do ''good'' things but almost never volunteer their own cash to carry out their good deeds that allow them to sleep at night.
In a related curiosity of mine, would the well-meaning liberals who support everything George Soros says stick with him after hearing that he heavily invested in coal mining stocks?
In a related curiosity of mine, would the well-meaning liberals who support everything George Soros says stick with him after hearing that he heavily invested in coal mining stocks?
1
I always thought that doctors were supposed to "Do no harm." I now know that this doesn't apply to the unborn.
9
GMHK did you even read this article? You apparently need a deeper moral compass. Your words imply that a fetus is more important than the human being carrying it. This is not only unreasonable, but warped. The world is a better place when we choose the path that is the most just. e need to treat people with justice and compassion.
12
The "unborn" are not persons.
9
The problem is fundamental. Both here and in the rest of the world. Religion is nonsense. Fundamentalist religion is corrosive to decency. Terminating a pregnancy is a personal decision, nothing more.
The sooner we all admit there is no old man in the sky the better. And it's time for those of us who know this to stop being polite when someone demands we adhere to their insistence he is telling us how to live. It's as if we let someone interpret the Tooth Fairy's teachings and kill those who fail to follow them.
And Dr. Parker, thank you for your service to humanity.
The sooner we all admit there is no old man in the sky the better. And it's time for those of us who know this to stop being polite when someone demands we adhere to their insistence he is telling us how to live. It's as if we let someone interpret the Tooth Fairy's teachings and kill those who fail to follow them.
And Dr. Parker, thank you for your service to humanity.
22
A well articulated and thoughtful piece. Thank you Dr. Parker for your concern and decision to act on that concern.
9
What dire emergency is addressed by routine, convenience based abortion? Please tell us. Tell us too why in the age of Obama Care and free or inexpensive birth control is abortion necessary. Do women object to choice and responsibility before unprotected sex?
4
I hope you testify before the Supremes. Your real world viewpoint is compelling. Thank you.
6
If one assumes that the unborn, the siblings, the husband, the grandparents and society don't matter and that only a doctor with stated bias does, it all makes a little sense. For me, however, it is like trying to understand the undeniable widespread appeal of ISIS.
4
You are a hero, Dr. Parker.
You selflessly neglect to mention the degree to which your life is in danger simply by performing abortions. In the past 25 years, 8 abortion clinic workers — including 4 physicians — have been murdered for providing an essential, legal health care service to women.
You are even more heroic for letting the world know why we so desperately need people like you.
You selflessly neglect to mention the degree to which your life is in danger simply by performing abortions. In the past 25 years, 8 abortion clinic workers — including 4 physicians — have been murdered for providing an essential, legal health care service to women.
You are even more heroic for letting the world know why we so desperately need people like you.
17
Desperate women will give themselves abortions- with deadly results. These pro=lifers don't know or care about that. Let's send these restrictive states thousands of coat hangers to illustrate the point.
You are fabulous, Dr. Parker. Be safe.
You are fabulous, Dr. Parker. Be safe.
19
Willie:
I think you go too easy on yourself.
You say that the abortions are deemed legal by the Supreme Court. But you know perfectly well that the members of the Court acted in bad faith and betrayed their oaths of office to support the Constitution.
Try reading the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade without laughing hysterically at the way the Court divined the right to abortion from the "penumbras" and "emanations" of other constitutional protections. I believe that even RBG has backed away from the reasoning in that decision, even though (predictably) she has cooked up a different pretext to get the same result.
My point is that Roe v. Wade was a lawless decision and can't provide you with any moral cover for your choice. If anything, your reliance on Roe v. Wade raises questions about your good faith.
I think you go too easy on yourself.
You say that the abortions are deemed legal by the Supreme Court. But you know perfectly well that the members of the Court acted in bad faith and betrayed their oaths of office to support the Constitution.
Try reading the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade without laughing hysterically at the way the Court divined the right to abortion from the "penumbras" and "emanations" of other constitutional protections. I believe that even RBG has backed away from the reasoning in that decision, even though (predictably) she has cooked up a different pretext to get the same result.
My point is that Roe v. Wade was a lawless decision and can't provide you with any moral cover for your choice. If anything, your reliance on Roe v. Wade raises questions about your good faith.
3
Why do you hate women?
10
I get so sick of the arguments from the anti-abortion side of the spectrum. They hide behind so many excuses, rationalizations, explanations, and qualifications. The phrase "pro-life" itself is political framing, designed to convince themselves of the "rightness" of their cause. Yet so much hypocrisy underscores their crusade. The hypocrisy of opposing abortion and also opposing sex education and contraception (which could lower numbers of unplanned pregnancies). The hypocrisy of washing their hands of the parents and children who live and grow up in poverty because they lack any good choices.
I challenge those opposed to abortion to be TRULY honest - if not with the rest of us, then at least with themselves - what are your REAL REASONS for opposing abortion?
I challenge those opposed to abortion to be TRULY honest - if not with the rest of us, then at least with themselves - what are your REAL REASONS for opposing abortion?
16
I can only speak for myself, not as any kind of pro-life spokesman.
First, I believe that there is something that distinguishes people from other animals, call it a soul, a spirit, ka, or whatever. To extinguish that is murder.
Second, at some point between conception and birth the fetus obtains that spark. I do not and can not know where in the process that occurs.
Therefore, my conclusion is that we cannot know if we are committing murder when we abort; and not knowing I do not feel justified in taking the chance.
As to your other points, they may be valid for some people; I fully support sex education, contraception, and support for those who find themselves facing an unexpected pregnancy. I do support any programs which educate men that no means no, and those that support a woman's right to choose to say no whenever. Finally, yes, pro-life is political framing, just as is pro-choice.
First, I believe that there is something that distinguishes people from other animals, call it a soul, a spirit, ka, or whatever. To extinguish that is murder.
Second, at some point between conception and birth the fetus obtains that spark. I do not and can not know where in the process that occurs.
Therefore, my conclusion is that we cannot know if we are committing murder when we abort; and not knowing I do not feel justified in taking the chance.
As to your other points, they may be valid for some people; I fully support sex education, contraception, and support for those who find themselves facing an unexpected pregnancy. I do support any programs which educate men that no means no, and those that support a woman's right to choose to say no whenever. Finally, yes, pro-life is political framing, just as is pro-choice.
3
A real and productive mission.
4
"Private health care decisions". Dr., rethink your semantics. These decisions do not fit the category of "private." Good or bad? debate holds merit all around. But do not foreclose debate with absurdly incorrect labeling such as PRIVATE when another life (or potential life) sits at the crux of the issue.
10
@Gerry Professor. Should I have asked you for a decision when I had my last abortion? Should my sister have asked you for a decision when she was considering braces for her son? Should every human everywhere check with you -- or people like you -- before they make a decision about anything concerning a life (actual or "potential?")
21
Sorry but it is a private decision in the US; SCOTUS confirmed it in Roe v. Wade. Your assigning rights to unborn clumps of cells is your belief, not science. And what a particular woman chooses to do is absolutely none of your dang business..
22
Gerry Professor: Should a man wanting a vasectomy have to rationalize his decision? Ask permission? Observe a waiting period? Listen to "volunteers" tell him why he should want to have children? Look at his sperm under a microscope? Be required to have the procedure done in a doctor's office with hospital-wide corridors? Why do all the "shoulds" and restrictions apply only to women?
91
Thank you for providing women choice even when that choice is difficult.
8
Thanks for what you do for women and for writing about your work. I'm just sorry women have to keep fighting the same battle for autonomy over and over again.
18
I sincerely wish that doctors would first be as passionate about educating these women (and men!) on effective birth control, thus helping them avoid the difficult decision an abortion demands. Yes, I understand there are 'unplanned' pregnancies, but I don't see how the doctor can compare health care and the availability of birth control in the US to a country in Africa.
2
My OB/GYN did educate me about birth control. Of course, I had sufficient insurance to be able to go for annual check-ups and visits in between should the need arise. Planned Parenthood also provides the same services for low income women. So, you must be someone manning the barricades to keep the government funding Planned Parenthood, right?
10
Thank you for at least acknowledging that men have responsibility for birth control too. I think most of us would agree that in an ideal world every pregnancy would be wanted.
Of course, the same fundamentalists who want to stop abortions also want to ban, or at least make it is difficult as possible, to obtain birth control. Thanks to our far-right Supreme Court, they will undoubtedly be successful at chipping away at birth control. Younger people would do well to remember that there was a time, not all that long ago, when birth control was illegal even for married couples in "blue" states like Connecticut.
Of course, the same fundamentalists who want to stop abortions also want to ban, or at least make it is difficult as possible, to obtain birth control. Thanks to our far-right Supreme Court, they will undoubtedly be successful at chipping away at birth control. Younger people would do well to remember that there was a time, not all that long ago, when birth control was illegal even for married couples in "blue" states like Connecticut.
5
Thank you for doing this important work. Making abortion illegal or inaccessible will just end up killing women.
19
....as opposed to killing 1 million innocent babies a year in the US alone.
3
Thank you so much for what you do, Dr. Parker. It is tragic that in many parts of this country, providing a legal medical service for women is an act of courage. I hope that young doctors reading of your story will follow your lead.
17
People who are against abortions should be really be about preventing pregnancy. Do they advocate for birth control education and publicly funded birth control options? No; so what do they think happens to poor women stuck in a bad relationship? Ever try to get out providing sex to an abusive spouse? Try it sometime and let us know what happens.
I for one can say I will never have an abortion. But it's not for me to decide when others should or shouldn't have them because it's their body. If you're against abortions, then you really should be against fornication. But you don't make laws about that right? Because you can't control it. Same thing with abortion, folks. That's what this country is about.
And all the anti-abortion movements will end up promoting is more ill will to people of faith because if religious organization ally themselves to a secular issue of abortion legislation, the argument could be made that they are infringing on separation between church and state. You can't legislate Sharia Law nor can you legislate Christendom's morals.
Let God be the judge of people. Stop trying to make a cheap and flawed facsimile of heaven on earth because you can't.
I for one can say I will never have an abortion. But it's not for me to decide when others should or shouldn't have them because it's their body. If you're against abortions, then you really should be against fornication. But you don't make laws about that right? Because you can't control it. Same thing with abortion, folks. That's what this country is about.
And all the anti-abortion movements will end up promoting is more ill will to people of faith because if religious organization ally themselves to a secular issue of abortion legislation, the argument could be made that they are infringing on separation between church and state. You can't legislate Sharia Law nor can you legislate Christendom's morals.
Let God be the judge of people. Stop trying to make a cheap and flawed facsimile of heaven on earth because you can't.
14
Thank you, good doctor, for helping these women.
11
As an independent, I am uncomfortable with both positions.
Republicans seem more pro-birth than pro-life - bring the babies into the world with little thought of how they can have healthy, productive lives. To be Pro-life, there has to be a real chance at life. Right now, those life chances for too many children eventually lead to lack of education, lack of jobs, addiction, prison, and violence. Hardly a life.
Progressives claim to be pro-choice, but for many there really isn't one, and not just because of availability. To be Pro-choice, there has to be a real choice. Right now, it is a choice between two unpalatable options. Raising a child in poverty, despair, and violence vs. terminating the pregnancy. Hardly a choice. (Also, current abortion practice eliminates a higher proportion of minorities - like an unintended (?) eugenics program.)
Could a compromise work? Strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of the social safety net without increasing dependency. Better education, better pre-K, health care for all, and jobs creates an environment of hope to welcome children into this world. This approach could support the values of both sides. It would reduce the demand for abortions, yet still retain choice. The primary result would be healthier children who are more likely to grow into better adjusted and more productive citizens.
OK. You're right. The Republicans would probably never go for it.
Republicans seem more pro-birth than pro-life - bring the babies into the world with little thought of how they can have healthy, productive lives. To be Pro-life, there has to be a real chance at life. Right now, those life chances for too many children eventually lead to lack of education, lack of jobs, addiction, prison, and violence. Hardly a life.
Progressives claim to be pro-choice, but for many there really isn't one, and not just because of availability. To be Pro-choice, there has to be a real choice. Right now, it is a choice between two unpalatable options. Raising a child in poverty, despair, and violence vs. terminating the pregnancy. Hardly a choice. (Also, current abortion practice eliminates a higher proportion of minorities - like an unintended (?) eugenics program.)
Could a compromise work? Strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of the social safety net without increasing dependency. Better education, better pre-K, health care for all, and jobs creates an environment of hope to welcome children into this world. This approach could support the values of both sides. It would reduce the demand for abortions, yet still retain choice. The primary result would be healthier children who are more likely to grow into better adjusted and more productive citizens.
OK. You're right. The Republicans would probably never go for it.
50
Roe vs Wade is the compromise.
An absolutist position on reproductive choice would require abortion on demand at any time during the pregnancy. But this precedent allows states to reserve the right to regulate after the point of viability.
An absolutist position on reproductive choice would require abortion on demand at any time during the pregnancy. But this precedent allows states to reserve the right to regulate after the point of viability.
9
Your argument is flawed. Sometimes women who are NOT poor wish to terminate a pregnancy. Reproductive rights should not be contingent on financial status.
9
Last time I checked, progressives support all the things that would reduce the number of abortions -- comprehensive sex education, readily available birth control and a sufficient social safety net so women aren't forced to choose abortion for economic reasons. Your argument is based upon false equivalence.
9
As an Alabamian, as a woman, and as a human being I thank you, Dr. Parker and a hearty ditto to all the positive comments placed here!
17
Please be careful -- keep yourself safe. This country needs you.
9
Thank you, Dr. Parker, not only for your courage and compassion in performing this essential procedure and bringing it to the women who need it the most, but also for taking the time to write about your experiences.
9
Dr Willie Parker is a true hero. Were that there were many more like him.
It is so sad that so many conservative politicians, especially in the South, pretend to be so "religious" and yet have so little respect for women's rights of conscience and religious liberty, so little regard for women's health and welfare, so little concern about the poverty that afflicts so many millions of children and families in our country.
Voters next year will have an opportunity to do something about this.
Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty (arlinc.org)
It is so sad that so many conservative politicians, especially in the South, pretend to be so "religious" and yet have so little respect for women's rights of conscience and religious liberty, so little regard for women's health and welfare, so little concern about the poverty that afflicts so many millions of children and families in our country.
Voters next year will have an opportunity to do something about this.
Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty (arlinc.org)
14
"had never performed abortions because I felt they were morally wrong"
"My concern about women who lacked access to abortion became more important to me than worrying about what might happen to me for providing the services."
Ignoring the issue of abortion, I'm going to critique the idea that one's motivation regarding something they consider morally wrong is "what might happen" to them - it is a selfish motivation, and if I were God, I'd give ZERO points for it, maybe take away points. Also, the story of the good Samaritan was about a man in need being passed over by his own people, who would be expected to care about one of their own but did not, and instead being helped by someone from another (unfriendly) group, who would be expected not to care but did - that strikes me as the wrong analogy. Bottom line: she's doing something she considers morally wrong because people want her to - I'm not criticizing her for providing abortions, just find her rationale off.
"My concern about women who lacked access to abortion became more important to me than worrying about what might happen to me for providing the services."
Ignoring the issue of abortion, I'm going to critique the idea that one's motivation regarding something they consider morally wrong is "what might happen" to them - it is a selfish motivation, and if I were God, I'd give ZERO points for it, maybe take away points. Also, the story of the good Samaritan was about a man in need being passed over by his own people, who would be expected to care about one of their own but did not, and instead being helped by someone from another (unfriendly) group, who would be expected not to care but did - that strikes me as the wrong analogy. Bottom line: she's doing something she considers morally wrong because people want her to - I'm not criticizing her for providing abortions, just find her rationale off.
2
thank goodness we do not live in a theocracy, then.
7
As long as abortion opponents continue to use the term "baby" instead of a fetus, an egg, or an ovum, a not yet fully developed human, they will win.
I eat eggs and I am not eating a baby chick are you?
I eat eggs and I am not eating a baby chick are you?
15
As long as abortion proponents continue to deny that it is a human being growing inside a woman's body, people will ask the question, "Is it a fair 'choice,' when the person most affected has no voice"? When a woman, sadly, miscarries, what does everyone say? "I'm so sorry you lost the baby".
I am a proponent of and have worked to provide access to free contraceptives for teen women and men; provided workshops on avoidance of sexually transmitted diseases, and post-birth support for women who have been abandoned during a pregnancy. I prefer the term in Spanish, "anticonceptivo;" it more clearly states preventing conception. Abortion is very, very past conception. I feel very sad that this Physician attempts to embrace Dr. King's words in the course of doing harm.
I am a proponent of and have worked to provide access to free contraceptives for teen women and men; provided workshops on avoidance of sexually transmitted diseases, and post-birth support for women who have been abandoned during a pregnancy. I prefer the term in Spanish, "anticonceptivo;" it more clearly states preventing conception. Abortion is very, very past conception. I feel very sad that this Physician attempts to embrace Dr. King's words in the course of doing harm.
2
While Roe vs Wade is nominally an important Supreme Court precedent, it has been rendered practically meaningless in many southern states. SCOTUS may indeed be poised to deliver a fatal blow with the Texas case.
But thank God for brave individuals like Dr Parker who will keep the fight for reproductive health alive no matter what.
But thank God for brave individuals like Dr Parker who will keep the fight for reproductive health alive no matter what.
9
"I want for women what I want for myself: a life of dignity, health, self-determination and the opportunity to excel and contribute."
I want the same for men and women, including unborn children. I have deep love and compassion for them, and want them to have every blessing in life I have had, and more.
I want the same for men and women, including unborn children. I have deep love and compassion for them, and want them to have every blessing in life I have had, and more.
3
I have had the honor of meeting Dr. Parker a few times, and he is one of the most honorable, caring and funny people. He's just really an outstanding care provider and surrounds himself with the same kinds of people as him. The Deep South is incredibly lucky to have him and his team.
Thanks for everything you do, Dr. Parker.
Thanks for everything you do, Dr. Parker.
105
Abortion is a legal and personal choice some women make. Not everyone agrees about when life begins, and not everyone considers abortion to be "murder", as some dramatically call it. Even if it's for the sake of convenience and the woman isn't wracked with guilt, she is still entitled to make the choice and the service should be available to her. Well-off women have always had access to safe abortions and always will. It's poor women who suffer when clinics are closed, and this is just another part of the war being waged on poor people. Abortion should be available to all, not just those that can afford it. And, it's no one else's business why a woman makes the decision to undergo the procedure. Thanks to Dr. Parker for providing this service and for not judging those who come to him for help.
105
Dr. Parker is an example of true medical ethics in action. Others have already thanked him and I can only add my voice to the chorus. But one statistics in the article caught my attention: a majority of pregnancies in the South are unplanned! How is this possible? Doesn't it indicate precisely that the war on abortion is the war on contraception? Why are there not clinics on every corner offering free contraception and advice on limiting family size, especially to poor and young women? The moral case against abortion never made any sense to me and seeing some of the comments below, it is even clearer that the impetus of the "pro-life" movement is the hostility to female sexuality and autonomy, both of which are impossible without fertility control.
109
Mor: Then it will surprise you to know that nationwide, half of all pregnancies are unplanned - the result of our failures at sex education and providing basic health care, including contraception, to all at no cost. Compare these statistics to those of any western European country and then have a good cry.
9
Are people really so oblivious to the fact that a) people who are against abortion are often also against contraception, at least if they are religious conservatives which the majority of anti-abortion activists are? They don't care about life or babies; they are obsessed with regulating the sexuality of other people, and I suspect one of the main reasons they object to birth control is because it empowers women. They would much rather keep them barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.
4
I would be interested to know what the change in your salary and lifestyle was (as compared to a general practice OB/GYN), after you became "morally" motivated to provide abortions.
3
Clare --
What an ugly and baseless implication. Is it hard for you to imagine that some people conduct themselves based on principles they believe in? Is everything about money for you?
What an ugly and baseless implication. Is it hard for you to imagine that some people conduct themselves based on principles they believe in? Is everything about money for you?
11
Do you apply this odd salary litmus test to everyone with regard to their morality? How about other doctors who change specialties? Politicians? Your family members? You clearly missed the point of the article if this is what you take away from it.
11
Seriously????? First, can you possibly think that performing abortions in Mississippi pays more than being an OB/GYN in Chicago, and that even it it did which is HIGHLY unlikely, that someone would be motivated by that? This doctor is literally putting his life at risk, because some "pro-life" person is likely to try to shoot him. Can't imagine anyone wanting to take that on just to make a few extra bucks.
7
"I had been working for 12 years as an obstetrician and gynecologist, and had never performed abortions because I felt they were morally wrong."
What changed, then? When did abortion become morally right and how did that change come about?
Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are also legal, but that does not mean they are healthy for you. Their legality also does not create any obligation for anyone else to provide them to others.
I hope that the author will think back and recall the moral principles that led him to avoid elective abortions for so many years.
What changed, then? When did abortion become morally right and how did that change come about?
Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are also legal, but that does not mean they are healthy for you. Their legality also does not create any obligation for anyone else to provide them to others.
I hope that the author will think back and recall the moral principles that led him to avoid elective abortions for so many years.
3
You do not need abortion; you need ADOPTION!
1
Sigh. Take a moment to find out how many children are currently languishing in foster care - it is a substantial number. There are not enough adoptive homes for all the children now born; where will you put the new ones? I wish every baby had a loving, safe, nurturing home, but they don't. And there is another child to consider here - the pregnant woman. She does not lose her rights and humanity as soon as she becomes an incubator. I don't know what Jesus would do, but He certainly would show far more love and compassion than anti-abortion posters on this commentary.
9
Thank you, Sir, I can only admire courageous.
I recall when abortion post Doe V. Roe was finally legalized and seemingly almost acclaimed: Though my wife tells me I'm wrong because the pre-dominant Southern Baptists were really never officially for it.
Yet at first, it was really not the hugely divisive issue it became.
It is of course now (to acknowledge the least) a moral/existential/substantive gigantic complex political-sociological phenomenon with which to agonize.
And, meanwhile, our good-spirited world leader Pope Francis surely understands the likelihood for schism should his RCC rescind its strict/inflexible opposition.
I recall when abortion post Doe V. Roe was finally legalized and seemingly almost acclaimed: Though my wife tells me I'm wrong because the pre-dominant Southern Baptists were really never officially for it.
Yet at first, it was really not the hugely divisive issue it became.
It is of course now (to acknowledge the least) a moral/existential/substantive gigantic complex political-sociological phenomenon with which to agonize.
And, meanwhile, our good-spirited world leader Pope Francis surely understands the likelihood for schism should his RCC rescind its strict/inflexible opposition.
1
bless Dr. Parker for doing the difficult thing.
9
Dr. Parker, you are a true hero. Thank you for your brave service to women.
8
You sure can be proud of such courageous attitude Doctor. I admire you. Even here in France where abortion is legal (thanks to Mrs Simone Veil who had the same kind of courage when she stood up at the Assemblée Nationale in front of a majority of male politicians to defend and pass the abortion law for all women called "Loi Veil" in 1975, is now performed and entirely taken care of financially by our social security system but there is the anti-abortion at work here too...always and always will be.
5
Thank goodness for "good Samaritans" like you, Dr. Parker. PLEASE watch your back! "Pro-lifers" would like to do you great harm.
9
It's gratifying to learn that in these times there are still physicians out there who are willing to risk a lot to do the right thing. And just what is the right thing here, anyway? First and foremost, the highest medical standards and the best medical facilities to protect the safety and health of the patient. Secondly, the highest level of medical care. Third, compassion. Next, courage to act when action is necessary, without making moral judgments. Finally, the fortitude to withstand criticism and even the opprobrium of others including medical colleagues and peers and ignorant politicians, whose ignorance and disregard of the rule of law is appalling. Dr. Parker is to be commended for doing the right thing.
89
Thank you, doctor. What is the potential for a pill to eliminate the need for your services? Would that be better? What do we need for that to happen (other than for it to be possible for men to turn up pregnant)?
1
A brave man given the grotesque violence doctors performing health procedures for women face. Domestic terrorism by extremist Christians is all too common. What I want to know is when are moderate Christians going to step up and denounce and fight against the extremism that fuels domestic terrorism in the United States?
12
Dr. Parker providing abortions does not constitute a crisis but is the willing decision to end innocent human life. I am sure you are profiting nicely monetarily for this inhumane and sad behavior. I do not understand how a doctor who is supposed to save lives can perform abortions without even a whimper of sorrow. We have already seen over 50 million babies killed due to abortion and do we really need to continue this cruel and barbaric behavior? These little ones deserve to live and thrive in our society. This is heartbreaking to many of us to think that these innocent babies did not have a chance at life.
1
You've certainly convinced me. I promise--I will never have an abortion. Of course, as a man, it's not a tough pledge to make.
5
"These little ones deserve to live and thrive in our society."
Everyone does but as Dr. Parker points out, many are coming into circumstances where they cannot receive adequate care, emotionally or financially. How can one "thrive in our society" when they face neglect, experience poverty, receive poor educations and have limited opportunities for jobs that allow them to thrive? Is that not cruel as well?
And it is especially cruel that conservatives continue to destroy social safety nets that might make a difference to the life of such a child. Whichever choice is made, abortion or birth, the mother is damned for choosing abortion and damned for needing public assistance to care for children she cannot afford. As many have said, "pro-life" is more about "pro-birth" with little regard for the quality of life for that child. This is unconscionable.
Let's keep abortion safe, legal and readily accessible to women in all parts of this country, regardless of their financial circumstances. And thank you, Dr. Parker, for your willingness to meet the needs of these women while risking harm to yourself. Please ignore the cynics who question the financial incentives behind your change of heart. Any rational person would agree that no amount of money is worth putting one's life at risk.
Everyone does but as Dr. Parker points out, many are coming into circumstances where they cannot receive adequate care, emotionally or financially. How can one "thrive in our society" when they face neglect, experience poverty, receive poor educations and have limited opportunities for jobs that allow them to thrive? Is that not cruel as well?
And it is especially cruel that conservatives continue to destroy social safety nets that might make a difference to the life of such a child. Whichever choice is made, abortion or birth, the mother is damned for choosing abortion and damned for needing public assistance to care for children she cannot afford. As many have said, "pro-life" is more about "pro-birth" with little regard for the quality of life for that child. This is unconscionable.
Let's keep abortion safe, legal and readily accessible to women in all parts of this country, regardless of their financial circumstances. And thank you, Dr. Parker, for your willingness to meet the needs of these women while risking harm to yourself. Please ignore the cynics who question the financial incentives behind your change of heart. Any rational person would agree that no amount of money is worth putting one's life at risk.
9
Yet another good place to point out places like Alabama that restrict abortion most harshly, are the same places the oppose sex education, pregnancy awareness programs, and the basic empowerment of poor, uneducated women, social and economic, that can help them resist pregnancy in the first place.
121
Alabama? You're talking about Ohio, Robert, where our governor has signed 16 laws restricting access to abortion and reproductive health care. And he wants to be president of these United States. God help us!
8
"A majority of pregnancies in the South are unintended. "
What did they think would be the result of unprotected intercourse?
What did they think would be the result of unprotected intercourse?
1
They probably had no idea, since their schools don't teach anything useful about birth control.
7
Thank you, Dr. Parker, for using your talents to help give women access to a legal medical procedure. I certainly wish more physicians, especially women ob/gyns, would make providing this service a priority as a vital component of ongoing patient care.
7
"We know that when women have access to abortion ... they thrive." So says a man who works as a full-time abortionist. How exactly do we know this, and what kind of "thriving" is this?
3
The ability to thrive without financial devastation, to finish college, to avoid a health threat from the pregnancy/birth or a fetus with a genetic health issue, to prevent a negative effect on one's family by a having a child without the proper resources (financial, emotional, medical health)...
15
You have far more faith than I do.
Thank you Dr Parker for taking on this mission. Indeed it is a mission. Years ago when I was a young student nurse rotating in surgery we were called out in the middle of the night to assist with an emergency hysterectomy on a young woman who was hemorrhaging from a botched abortion. This was a catholic hospital operated and staffed by nuns. As we prepared the young woman for surgery Sister admonished us not to judge." Do you think that the Blessed Virgin looked down the side of her nose at the Mary Magdalen" ? I have carried those words for the rest of my life,
97
It is sad that today it is Catholic hospitals that are so powerful in refusing to perform abortions.
6
Land of the free—unless you're a woman. In that case, you're subject to the whims of the religious zealots in this country. When the argument is proposed that women will go back to dying in back alleys from illegal abortion, many have no qualms about it. They believe women deserve it. That's the country we live in, where women are third-class citizens after men and fetuses.
11
Thank you for providing a service that is needed and becoming increasingly difficult to access. Your thoughtfulness on this topic and the genuine empathy you feel for your patients is overwhelming. I pray that you and your family suffer no ill harm or repercussions for speaking out on a topic of such importance.
11
As another commenter stated: the ideal is safe, legal and rare.
Absent those ideals, heartfelt thanks to the Dr. Parkers out there who are willing to offer help to those in need.
Absent those ideals, heartfelt thanks to the Dr. Parkers out there who are willing to offer help to those in need.
7
We all know, and may have used, that automatic line, "Thank you for your service," to veterans. It often seems to be something that really does not get at what people who are in the frontlines are doing for us. . .invisible but essential to our lives. It is the same with the healthcare providers working in the midst of religious zealotry that serves no one but the zealot and the sycophantic politicians that follow them for votes. A more meaningful form might be, "Thank you for being there" and then, we need to follow up with responsible voting that protects all people's rights, whether we agree with pro-choice or pro-life positions. Nobody should be excluded under the umbrella of American democracy. It is enough that service people are in harm's way. We have no right to put men and women who provide professional, legal services in harm's way either. Do the right thing and let's be there for them in the voting booth, at the very least.
120
At age 14 in the late 1950s I was seduced by a man of 32. A doctor told me "You've made your bed, now lie on it." Pregnant at 15 and parentless, I went to a drug store and bought multiple medications labeled "Not to be taken by pregnant women" and took them in large quantities. The miniscule fetus was aborted. I was fortunate that I neither died nor had a deformed child, and that 12 years later I could bear a wanted and loved child within a happy marriage. Outlawing abortion will not prevent abortions.
392
Bless you. I am close friends with a woman who, at 15, was raped, got pregnant and bore the child. Such a tragedy. She suffered horribly due to the woman-hatred of others.
Her life story is complex but she suffered in so many ways due to this bad start, which was totally not her fault in any way. Abusive husband, etc.
She could have had that same child years later, in the right place, if she had had the proper support from her family.
Her life story is complex but she suffered in so many ways due to this bad start, which was totally not her fault in any way. Abusive husband, etc.
She could have had that same child years later, in the right place, if she had had the proper support from her family.
7
In nature, the gain and loss of life is a given, a culling and seeding. In higher animals, the partiality is for the caretakers, the female adults, because without them, the young cannot thrive.
The very selective nine-month concerns of the fetus-fetishizers seems madness to me. The parent - which is what women are, not incubators - are in the best position to know what their needs and capabilities are to provide not only for the fetus, but for themselves and others they are responsible to.
These sentient beings have been given the role by nature to make this decisions. They have a higher duty than merely bringing to term all products of a sperm and egg coalition. They have the long term-long view responsibility. They know the world they inhabit, physically, psychologically in terms of their life’s arc.
And for the bearers of the unavoidable queasiness at imagining the death of a full flesh and blood “potential” child, turn your mind to the suffering and joys of thinking, breathing, walking children and spend your energies there. The fetus has never had a single thought, will not miss a life that never was, and in principle is depending on a parent to do what is best, just as in the air breathing world.
Ideal is the realm of the gods, here on Earth, we do what we can to get through.
The very selective nine-month concerns of the fetus-fetishizers seems madness to me. The parent - which is what women are, not incubators - are in the best position to know what their needs and capabilities are to provide not only for the fetus, but for themselves and others they are responsible to.
These sentient beings have been given the role by nature to make this decisions. They have a higher duty than merely bringing to term all products of a sperm and egg coalition. They have the long term-long view responsibility. They know the world they inhabit, physically, psychologically in terms of their life’s arc.
And for the bearers of the unavoidable queasiness at imagining the death of a full flesh and blood “potential” child, turn your mind to the suffering and joys of thinking, breathing, walking children and spend your energies there. The fetus has never had a single thought, will not miss a life that never was, and in principle is depending on a parent to do what is best, just as in the air breathing world.
Ideal is the realm of the gods, here on Earth, we do what we can to get through.
196
Bravo. A non existent life does not exist. Women are not incubators.
5
Thank you, Dr. Parker.
Women have always had abortions, and always will, whether it be safe or dangerous, legal or illegal.
We simply cannot force someone to risk their health, safety, and life (100% of pregnancies present risk to the pregnant person) to remain pregnant and give birth against their will.
And to force someone into waiting, or into an unsafe abortion, is far more immoral. Over 47,000 women die annually around the world from an unsafe abortion in places where it is not legal.
"Pro-life" is anything but.
Quite simply, the only person that can decide to remain pregnant and give birth is the pregnant person. Physicians like Dr. Parker save the lives of the born, ever day.
Women have always had abortions, and always will, whether it be safe or dangerous, legal or illegal.
We simply cannot force someone to risk their health, safety, and life (100% of pregnancies present risk to the pregnant person) to remain pregnant and give birth against their will.
And to force someone into waiting, or into an unsafe abortion, is far more immoral. Over 47,000 women die annually around the world from an unsafe abortion in places where it is not legal.
"Pro-life" is anything but.
Quite simply, the only person that can decide to remain pregnant and give birth is the pregnant person. Physicians like Dr. Parker save the lives of the born, ever day.
229
Over 50 million babies have died since Roe vs. Wade. This is a travesty and how many more innocent lives must be taken until we see the injustice that has occurred in our society?
2
Birth control is certainly easier to obtain now than ever before, but it is still complicated on the whole. Hormonal forms of birth control, which constitute the majority, have plenty of unwanted side effects. Then there is that murky area between wrapping up nursing and getting back on birth control where many women find themselves unexpectedly pregnant. It's the lucky woman whose partner will agree to a vasectomy once the family is complete. We have a long way to go to improve birth control methods. In the meantime, unwanted pregnancies are going to occur. Thank you Dr. Parker.
20
I hear the same old pro-abortion arguments here, couched in familiar euphemisms. Hide the grizzly, barbaric reality of abortion behind the facade of "choice" or "women's health", and it makes everything okay.
Where is this doctor's compassion for the unborn child who's life he is terminating? He has none. He is rationalizing killing.
I've known lots of women who have had abortions, and not one of them was due to some extreme circumstance, such as a threat to their life or health. All of them were for convenience. They got pregnant, didn't feel like having a kid, so off they went to the abortion clinic, Several of them had multiple abortions.
Since abortion was legalized in 1973, nearly a quarter of our future generations have ended up in the trash cans of abortion clinics.
Just because something is legal, doesn't make it right.
Where is this doctor's compassion for the unborn child who's life he is terminating? He has none. He is rationalizing killing.
I've known lots of women who have had abortions, and not one of them was due to some extreme circumstance, such as a threat to their life or health. All of them were for convenience. They got pregnant, didn't feel like having a kid, so off they went to the abortion clinic, Several of them had multiple abortions.
Since abortion was legalized in 1973, nearly a quarter of our future generations have ended up in the trash cans of abortion clinics.
Just because something is legal, doesn't make it right.
7
And just what business is it of your that you feel you should have any say in the outcome? Go get your own life.
8
DG has no regard for women's rights of conscience or religious liberty. He, and DG is surely a "he", knows zip about the biology of the matter and probably imagines that the Bible frowns on abortion, which is clearly does not. DG can't get pregnant, so he should just keep his nose out of women's rights and health matters.
9
I will address only one of your statements.
You bemoan the potential lives lost since the legalization of abortion in the US in 1973. You seem to imply that those potential lives did not come into being because abortion was legalized. This is false.
As Guttmacher Institute research (accepted by both sides of the debate) has established repeatedly, abortion rates do not change with criminalization or legalization. The only variables that changes are mortality and morbidity for the woman and timing of the procedure, with illegal procedures tending to occur later in pregnancy. Women who are motivated to terminate a pregnancy find a way, legal or illegal.
Just as my poor young immigrant great-aunt did in the early 1920s. Unfortunately abortion was illegal in the US at that time. My great-aunt, like so many others, ended up dead after a back alley abortion. I keep her photo and have shown it to my children and grandchildren many times, telling them her story. "Never again" must be our rallying cry.
Criminalizing abortion does not reduce abortion rates – – it merely harms and/or kills women.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
You bemoan the potential lives lost since the legalization of abortion in the US in 1973. You seem to imply that those potential lives did not come into being because abortion was legalized. This is false.
As Guttmacher Institute research (accepted by both sides of the debate) has established repeatedly, abortion rates do not change with criminalization or legalization. The only variables that changes are mortality and morbidity for the woman and timing of the procedure, with illegal procedures tending to occur later in pregnancy. Women who are motivated to terminate a pregnancy find a way, legal or illegal.
Just as my poor young immigrant great-aunt did in the early 1920s. Unfortunately abortion was illegal in the US at that time. My great-aunt, like so many others, ended up dead after a back alley abortion. I keep her photo and have shown it to my children and grandchildren many times, telling them her story. "Never again" must be our rallying cry.
Criminalizing abortion does not reduce abortion rates – – it merely harms and/or kills women.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
11
Dr. Parker is be commended for performing abortions on women who make the difficult and enormous personal decision to abort a fetus. Regardless of one's moral view on abortion, it has been a legal right in our country for over 40 years, since the 7-2 Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973. In 1972 the landmark federal civil right case, Title IX, prohibited sexual and gender-based discrimination, as well, and not just in education. Despite these legal rights awarded to women, our mostly male-based, conservative and judgmental legislators seem hell-bent on deteriorating women's rights. What is next? Shariah Law? That will be the day I give up my U.S. citizenship. Interestingly enough, Philip Galenes column this week, Lunch with Three, features two well-known feminists, Ruth Bader Gindsberg and Gloria Steinhem. Most striking is the article in today's paper by Denise Grady discussing the possibility of uterine transplants in men so they may become pregnant. It reminds me of a Margaret Atwood novel; girls' uteruses will be removed at birth and transplanted into boys. Women will be denied pregnancy altogether and men will populate the world. And of course, men would not be denied abortions.
19
Dr Parker,
Thank you so very much for your caring about women's health and choice. Insurance, right wing companies and the church prevent poor women from getting contraceptives It is beyond understanding. You are not breaking the law--you are giving help where needed to support the law.
Let's talk about 100's of people being murdered by guns every day in America and innocent people electrocuted for crimes they did not commit. There is no law protecting living, breathing people on that platform. Where are the so-called morals there???
Women could not vote until 1920! If we do not get out and vote this election, we are doomed like the women in Mississippi and the South.
Stop the oppression NOW!!!
Thank you so very much for your caring about women's health and choice. Insurance, right wing companies and the church prevent poor women from getting contraceptives It is beyond understanding. You are not breaking the law--you are giving help where needed to support the law.
Let's talk about 100's of people being murdered by guns every day in America and innocent people electrocuted for crimes they did not commit. There is no law protecting living, breathing people on that platform. Where are the so-called morals there???
Women could not vote until 1920! If we do not get out and vote this election, we are doomed like the women in Mississippi and the South.
Stop the oppression NOW!!!
26
Dr. Parker is a hero to me. Thank you, Dr. Parker, for all you do.
28
This is one of those things where you know in your gut whether it is right or wrong, as in "We hold these truths to be self-evident ..." Really, there is no point arguing about it or even talking about it.
3
Good on you, Dr Parker.
18
We should stipulate that this op-ed probably would do more good providing a rational counter-argument to prevailing conviction if published in the WSJ. Here it does little more than reinforce already-firmly-entrenched belief systems of the Times readership.
But the message that readers should take away from this op-ed isn’t that women have a right to access to abortions, or even that some of our states are resolved to deny that right, but that at least half the resistance to respect of this right would disappear, even in the Deep South, if public funds weren’t used to perform them. In terms of public acceptance, it’s one thing to respect law that one disagrees with and quite another to be forced to pay for it. Now, we pay for access to rights all the time, whether or not as individuals we agree with it; but abortion is a unique and incendiary issue, and if we wish to remedy the problem of access in the teeth of resistance, we need to be intelligent about how we do it.
Some will argue that organizations such as Planned Parenthood claim that they don’t use public funds to support abortion activities; but that’s nonsense – public funds under Title X are allocated to PP to support other, non-controversial healthcare services, and one side cross-subsidizes the other. If we could get the services provided by Dr. Parker paid for ENTIRELY and DEMONSTRABLY by contributions, I believe that we’d see far less resistance to clinics that offer the services – even in the Deep South.
But the message that readers should take away from this op-ed isn’t that women have a right to access to abortions, or even that some of our states are resolved to deny that right, but that at least half the resistance to respect of this right would disappear, even in the Deep South, if public funds weren’t used to perform them. In terms of public acceptance, it’s one thing to respect law that one disagrees with and quite another to be forced to pay for it. Now, we pay for access to rights all the time, whether or not as individuals we agree with it; but abortion is a unique and incendiary issue, and if we wish to remedy the problem of access in the teeth of resistance, we need to be intelligent about how we do it.
Some will argue that organizations such as Planned Parenthood claim that they don’t use public funds to support abortion activities; but that’s nonsense – public funds under Title X are allocated to PP to support other, non-controversial healthcare services, and one side cross-subsidizes the other. If we could get the services provided by Dr. Parker paid for ENTIRELY and DEMONSTRABLY by contributions, I believe that we’d see far less resistance to clinics that offer the services – even in the Deep South.
2
The opposition to abortion seems to rationalize itself around a rotating series of issues--public funding, sexual morality, the sacredness of fetal life, dubious versions of the mental or physical health of women, etc. I'd wager that 90%, not half, of the opposition to legal abortion would disappear if there weren't so much money & political manipulation to be gleaned from demagoguing the issue.
65
If the Hyde Amendment is nonsense, can we repeal it?
7
Clearly you don't understand the law - NO PUBLIC FUNDS pay for abortions. Your assertion is what is nonsense.
11
Thank you Dr. Parker!
19
Thank you for your service.
15
You are a brave man Willie J. Parker. I salute you.
19
If you're against abortion, don't have one. Abortion is legal in ALL of this country, not just in some pockets or corners or underground caverns.
You, Dr. Parker, are my hero. Not _just_ because you perform abortions in a place where you put your life on the line every time you go to work, but because you have the strength of character to write about it in the New York Times.
From strength to strength, Dr. Parker.
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
You, Dr. Parker, are my hero. Not _just_ because you perform abortions in a place where you put your life on the line every time you go to work, but because you have the strength of character to write about it in the New York Times.
From strength to strength, Dr. Parker.
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
40
Thank you for your service, and thank you for providing a model of morality & courage.
27
Thank you!!!!
21
Thank you. THANK YOU. Thank you for sharing your story, and thank you for your efforts.
23
DM from Kentucky says, "Sadly, your myopic interpretation of benevolence never once mentioned the fatal consequences of the lives you terminate from your "moral" concern over the inconveniences of unwanted pregnancies." News Flash, DM. They are a cluster of cells, not "lives", until they can survive on their own. Did you ever eat an egg with a red spot in it? Those are cells - not chickens.
29
There are two choices here when it comes to women's lives. Abortion is kept legal, women and men have access to birth control, and we teach children about sex, reproduction, and what they can do besides having sex as teens if they want to give each other pleasure. Or we can decide to make abortion illegal, or very hard to get and pay for unwanted children, watch women get illegal abortions with all the dangers attendant upon that, and pat ourselves on the back about our superior morality.
Abortion ought to be safe, legal, and rare. No one but the woman, her significant other(s) if she desires, and the doctor should be making the decision. Any other way and it makes us look like hypocrites. Women are not baby making machines. We are human beings who know our limits and if we decide that we cannot love, support, and nurture a child that decision should be respected.
Abortion ought to be safe, legal, and rare. No one but the woman, her significant other(s) if she desires, and the doctor should be making the decision. Any other way and it makes us look like hypocrites. Women are not baby making machines. We are human beings who know our limits and if we decide that we cannot love, support, and nurture a child that decision should be respected.
43
Many appear to want to return us to the days of self- or unsafe abortions. How many women died as a result of an infection from dirty instruments? How many died as a result of other errors in an abortion? Had they been unafraid to go to the hospital for proper medical treatment as soon as a problem started, their lives may have been spared.
Or would you prefer that any woman who would even think of having an abortion should die?
Only the woman who is pregnant should make the final decision regarding whether or not to have an abortion.
If you want fewer abortions, you must make available to all women free birth control and provide instruction on use. You must also provide free pre- and postnatal healthcare for mother and child. Finally, you must provide housing and sufficient paid leave for all pregnant women and new mothers.
Or would you prefer that any woman who would even think of having an abortion should die?
Only the woman who is pregnant should make the final decision regarding whether or not to have an abortion.
If you want fewer abortions, you must make available to all women free birth control and provide instruction on use. You must also provide free pre- and postnatal healthcare for mother and child. Finally, you must provide housing and sufficient paid leave for all pregnant women and new mothers.
37
NYC dweller asks, "Is the US becoming a fundamentalist country?" NO. But the inhumane supposed "christian" radical religionists have gotten too much control of OUR society. The vast majority of Americans believe a woman has the right to choose what she does with her own body. The vast majority of Americans think Roe V Wade is settled law and can't be undone. The vast majority of Americans think we already have an Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteeing the inalienable right of women to make their own reproductive, and in turn life, choices. Radical supposed christian religionists stopped the ERA when it was 3 states short of ratification in 1978. There is no such thing as "settled law" because OUR elected officials and judiciary can undo ANY law. The radical right immoral religionists have taken control of many of OUR governments at all levels and OUR Supreme Court of the United States of America and much of the rest of OUR judiciairy, funded by the Koch brothers and other democracy-destroying BIG money greedsters. They Can and Will undo Roe V Wade if WE let them. WE MUST NOT LET THEM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment
28
One is either pro-choice or pro-the-proliferation-of-unsafe-abortions. The subtext to the pro-life movement puts women's lives at risk, not by "making abortions safer" through the closing of clinics that do not meet prohibitive standards, but by forcing women back into the alleys, the falls, the punches and the herbal remedies of centuries past.
51
When the Supreme Court first deemed abortion legal, in 1973, they did it on the basis of a woman's right to privacy. This was the wrong decision. They should have allowed it based on the First Amendment. Religious institutions have no right to impose their interpretation of morality on anyone else. It should be up to a woman (and her doctor) to decide what's best for her. Not some self-anointed church or 'priesthood'.
44
You raise a very valid point. Is it a right to privacy issue, which is disputed anyway, or should it be based upon something else? Abortions will occur no matter what the legislation says. Some of them will be for what society considers good reasons and some will be for reasons that society doesn't like. If we are as civilized as we think we are we can live with those decisions knowing that most of the time the decision to have an abortion is based on a solid reason. To those who think that every ball of cells needs to come to fruition, consider how often it doesn't in the natural course of things. Then consider how poorly we do supporting the citizens who are alive and in need of assistance. Why would you want to force a woman to have a child she cannot care for, or that will be handicapped and require lifetime care, or that is the result of rape or incest? That is not civilized. It's selfish.
23
I always thought that abortion should have been made legal because of the provider's due process right to be free of vague and unclear laws.
There are always exemptions to abortion restrictions for the life and health of the mother. These are ill-defined concepts. Doctors will always disagree about how threatening a given pregnancy is to a woman's life or long term health. Therefore how can one ever determine when an abortion is illegal under such restrictions?
The only way to protect the due process of the provider is to make abortion legal.
There are always exemptions to abortion restrictions for the life and health of the mother. These are ill-defined concepts. Doctors will always disagree about how threatening a given pregnancy is to a woman's life or long term health. Therefore how can one ever determine when an abortion is illegal under such restrictions?
The only way to protect the due process of the provider is to make abortion legal.
7
Perhaps it should be redecided on the basis of the 13th amendment...that no one can hold anyone else in involuntary servitude. No fetus (which doesn't hold legal citizenship anyway) can hold a women in involuntary servitude, even for 9 months. This is pretty solid legal ground, and one decidedly NOT one decided from the "emanations and penumbras" of the constitution.
4
The truth is, no one wants abortion. But worse is letting a woman die unnecessarily, sometimes a woman who is already a mother. And worse is forcing girls and women to give birth when they have no support in place, or would have to forego a future.
We had a great program in our state to reduce teen pregnancies, a successful program offering IUDs and implants to girls. Due to unscientific belief about how those IUDs worked, the program was unfunded.
I do not want a society where women are held down by the primitive beliefs of some ignorant and rabid fundamentalists. Thank you, Dr. Parker, for your courage and your understanding. You have expressed the true nature of compassion, that it is selfless, and your service helps us all.
We had a great program in our state to reduce teen pregnancies, a successful program offering IUDs and implants to girls. Due to unscientific belief about how those IUDs worked, the program was unfunded.
I do not want a society where women are held down by the primitive beliefs of some ignorant and rabid fundamentalists. Thank you, Dr. Parker, for your courage and your understanding. You have expressed the true nature of compassion, that it is selfless, and your service helps us all.
44
Many women live in circumstances where they are coerced or forced into having sex. A women who is dependent on a man will find it hard to say no. A woman locked into an abusive relationship may agree to sex to keep herself and her children safe. In these situations, it's unrealistic to think it's a woman's "choice" to avoid pregnancy. Until our society makes it possible for women to be free of this sort of pressure to provide sex, abortion may be the only option available to some women.
44
Thanks Marjorie. My mother was a women who was forced into having sex in her first marriage to a violent, abusive man. When she got pregnant - against her will - with a third pregnancy, she spent weeks jumping off a table so that the pregnancy would "miscarry". It did (happenstance or directly because of her actions, we'll never know) and she fled with her children to her father's home. A brave woman she was especially since it was back in the late 1940's.
7
Dr. Parker's analogy of the good Samaritan is fallacious as the good Samaritan did not profit financially from his "good deed" as Dr. Parker surely does. Dr. Parker's moral dilemma was resolved by his taking the path of the least resistance and wanting to be congratulated for it. Ending the life of the unborn child solves nothing and does not help anyone. The only way to end the "abortion crisis" is through education and out reach to those who need support. Should Dr. Parker really like to make a difference he can go back to providing care as an obstetrician and help these women to deliver healthy children. While the financial incentive isn't as great as providing abortions the service he would be providing to these women and their unborn children would far more beneficial to them and society as a whole.
5
Here he is taking his life in his hands, risking that he'll get shot like other abortion providers have been, while you slam him for getting paid like any other doctor for just walking through the door. You've twisted morality into a pretzel.
A bullet, not a doctor, takes the path of least resistance, shot off by angry lunatics claiming they're "pro-life."
A bullet, not a doctor, takes the path of least resistance, shot off by angry lunatics claiming they're "pro-life."
25
Robert, how many unwanted pregnancies have you, personally, been forced against your will to carry to term?
12
How many times have you been pregnant Robert and had to decide what to do? Thought so.
5
I believe that the main issue that divides us is "what defines life?. For me, the life of a human being is defined by the ability to think, and I do not believe that this ability exists in utero, and I do not believe that it exists in brain-dead adults. I do not think it is the beating of the heart that is critical. Surely a fertilized egg has the potential to grow into a human being, but so does an unfertilized egg if I have sexual relations with someone in order to get it fertilized. Should I feel compelled to attempt to fertilize that egg in order to create another one of God's beings? I think not.
I believe that the best way to reduce abortions is to make family planning available to all women. When that fails, I believe there should be available safe and affordable abortion from someone like Dr. Parker within a reasonable distance. As an aside, there was no moment worse in my life than when my 54-year old university brother collapsed while running the Sunday after Thanksgiving of a heart attack, and his heart was resuscitated, but his brain was not. Two weeks later, his life support was turned off despite the fact that his heart was beating, and his legs were kicking from involuntary movements. Indeed, there was even the question of collecting organs for donation. Life is such a precious thing to have, but it is our thinking that sets us apart, and it is our thinking that should be the criteria for life.
I believe that the best way to reduce abortions is to make family planning available to all women. When that fails, I believe there should be available safe and affordable abortion from someone like Dr. Parker within a reasonable distance. As an aside, there was no moment worse in my life than when my 54-year old university brother collapsed while running the Sunday after Thanksgiving of a heart attack, and his heart was resuscitated, but his brain was not. Two weeks later, his life support was turned off despite the fact that his heart was beating, and his legs were kicking from involuntary movements. Indeed, there was even the question of collecting organs for donation. Life is such a precious thing to have, but it is our thinking that sets us apart, and it is our thinking that should be the criteria for life.
23
Thank you Katherine for your thoughtful comment. Your view on when "personhood" is possible was supported by the 12 Nobel laureate biologists, including DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick, and other distinguished scientists who advised the Supreme Court in a brief in the Webster case years ago that personhood is possible only when brain development permits, sometime after 28-32 weeks of gestation. ED (arlinc.org)
5
The author's opening statement, "In public health, you go where the crisis is," touches on a root cause of the lack of abortion services and other issues of poor health in the US. Public health should encompass the promotion of good health through institutions and policies that prevent disease in the population. But the author is right in the suggestion that what public heath IS in the US is the response to crises,usually with a medical or pharmaceutical treatment that carries a cost and usually provide for a corresponding profit for someone.
When it comes to health promotion there are few broad policies. We are left to our own devises in the name of the freedom of corporations to poison us or in the name of the individual liberty to choose (except for abortions, of course).
The authors response to this crisis is admirable and necessary. But if we practiced real public health in the US, we would not have to depend on such admirable souls among us to solve our collective health problems.
When it comes to health promotion there are few broad policies. We are left to our own devises in the name of the freedom of corporations to poison us or in the name of the individual liberty to choose (except for abortions, of course).
The authors response to this crisis is admirable and necessary. But if we practiced real public health in the US, we would not have to depend on such admirable souls among us to solve our collective health problems.
15
Dr. Parker is in good company as this care has been ongoing sense 1973 (>40 years) and greater than 50 million terminations have occurred in the USA. The procedure is the most common, ordinary non-labor/deliver procedure done on women in their reproductive years. As another comment noted pregnancy is a two party event, and technically 100 millions individuals have been the direct principals in terminating unwanted pregnancy. Again, a very common Healthcare event historically and contemporaneously. These numbers are so very large that every person in America is closely related to a women that terminated or the man that impregnated her making every person in America closely involved with abortion as Mother or Father of, Sister or Brother and, obviously ever aunt and uncle or cousin. Abortion is a family event and everyone is complicit directly or family-wise.
4
Dr. Parker's response only works when you negate the humanity of the fetus. In no other situation could his activity be deemed morally excellent. The poor prenatal and perinatal outcomes of African Americans in the South are despicable. But to seek to address the problem by treating a child as a tumor to cut out before it metastasizes, improving statistics by pathologizing pregnancy and child-birth, is as equally repugnant. A 1 week old human embryo looks, acts, and functions exactly as any other 1 week old human does, unique in its genetic signature and as dependent on its environment for survival as a 30 week premature infant or even a newborn.
The interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan hinges on Christ turning the question that elicited the story. The lawyer came to Christ asking, "Who is my neighbor?" Christ applies the story by asking, "Who proved to be a neighbor?"
We cannot justify the imposed injury of an innocent neighbor for the good of another neighbor, even though the suffering of that neighbor may be truly great. We cannot prove to be a neighbor only to those who are more visible to us in their humanity. The lawyer in the Gospels sought to justify himself by determining who it was that he was required to be a neighbor to. Dr. Parker has entered into the same error. He has picked the good of one neighbor over another. This should be disturbing to any who believe in true political equality.
The interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan hinges on Christ turning the question that elicited the story. The lawyer came to Christ asking, "Who is my neighbor?" Christ applies the story by asking, "Who proved to be a neighbor?"
We cannot justify the imposed injury of an innocent neighbor for the good of another neighbor, even though the suffering of that neighbor may be truly great. We cannot prove to be a neighbor only to those who are more visible to us in their humanity. The lawyer in the Gospels sought to justify himself by determining who it was that he was required to be a neighbor to. Dr. Parker has entered into the same error. He has picked the good of one neighbor over another. This should be disturbing to any who believe in true political equality.
5
There's no other situation where we expect one person to sacrifice his or her body or body parts for the sake of another's survival save pregnancy.
We do not require people to donate organs or even replaceable body parts like blood or bone marrow even when failure to do so will result in another's death. Why should pregnant women be required to donate their bodies against their will for the survival of another? How is that not slavery?
We do not require people to donate organs or even replaceable body parts like blood or bone marrow even when failure to do so will result in another's death. Why should pregnant women be required to donate their bodies against their will for the survival of another? How is that not slavery?
14
@Daniel. Your tax dollars support the killing of millions of "neighbors" around the world as U.S. troops go to war.
Chew on that. (And maybe learn the definition of "humanity.")
Chew on that. (And maybe learn the definition of "humanity.")
7
You are so wrong on this….the well bing of the woman is the only issue and you have no right legally or morally to judge her or her Doctors….and I suspect you are a Christian so what part of judge not don't you get and btw we are thankfully not a theocracy here in the USA so all your Bible quotes are not really applicable and I say that as a Christian.
6
The doctor makes a very interesting application of the principle of double effect, which applies where an action has two effects, one good and one bad. To be morally acceptable, the good effect must come first and be equal or superior to the bad effect.
Abortion to save the life of the mother is a good example. The mother survives, the fetus does not. The lives of the mother and the of the fetus are at least equal. Therefore, the principle is respected.
It becomes a much more dicey question where the woman might suffer severe consequences from an unwanted birth but can certainly survive it. Abortion in these circumstances raise some interesting questions when analyzed in light of the principle: Does the good consequence come before the bad consequence? Are the future severe consequences to the mother equal or superior to the immediate loss of life for the future child? Does it matter?
Abortion to save the life of the mother is a good example. The mother survives, the fetus does not. The lives of the mother and the of the fetus are at least equal. Therefore, the principle is respected.
It becomes a much more dicey question where the woman might suffer severe consequences from an unwanted birth but can certainly survive it. Abortion in these circumstances raise some interesting questions when analyzed in light of the principle: Does the good consequence come before the bad consequence? Are the future severe consequences to the mother equal or superior to the immediate loss of life for the future child? Does it matter?
4
Is there ever a thought among enlightened people like Mr. Parker that maybe, just maybe, his time might be better spent on preventing unwanted pregnancy than on encouraging women to use abortion as a birth control method?
It may well be that there was an era before the widespread availability of cheap birth control that making abortion freely available was the essence of compassion and enlightenment. Not now. Women who unintentionally get pregnant, absent rape or incest, have only themselves to blame.
If we were truly enlightened, abortions would be less and less common, as women better managed and planned their reproductive lives.
Instead, we get people like this doctor who effectively considers his patients no more intelligent about preventing pregnancy than dogs in heat.
Some half-century after the Pill, with countless other birth control methods readily available, and in an age of instantaneous information access, we still think women are so stupid or so incapable of controlling their urges that control over their lives and bodies can only be secured by allowing them unrestricted access to abortion.
That ain't Progress.
It may well be that there was an era before the widespread availability of cheap birth control that making abortion freely available was the essence of compassion and enlightenment. Not now. Women who unintentionally get pregnant, absent rape or incest, have only themselves to blame.
If we were truly enlightened, abortions would be less and less common, as women better managed and planned their reproductive lives.
Instead, we get people like this doctor who effectively considers his patients no more intelligent about preventing pregnancy than dogs in heat.
Some half-century after the Pill, with countless other birth control methods readily available, and in an age of instantaneous information access, we still think women are so stupid or so incapable of controlling their urges that control over their lives and bodies can only be secured by allowing them unrestricted access to abortion.
That ain't Progress.
3
It's unfair to say that women who unintionaly get pregnant, absent rape or incest have only themselves to blame.The problem is this many of the people and groups that oppose abortion also oppose things like sex ed (unless it is abstinence only, which has proven to not be effective) and easy access to contraceptives (Defunding Planned Parenthood will destroy what little access many lower income women have to birth control and preventative screening for breast and cervical cancer).
You can't have it both ways- to not allow women to have access to abortions and to not give them the tools that would prevent the unwanted babies in the first place. Sex is not the sole privilege of upper middle class women with health insurance.
You can't have it both ways- to not allow women to have access to abortions and to not give them the tools that would prevent the unwanted babies in the first place. Sex is not the sole privilege of upper middle class women with health insurance.
14
Unfortunately, the only 100% effective means of birth control is total abstinence. People get pregnant on birth control all the time. All you have to do is be on an antibiotic and not realize that it knocks out the effectiveness of your birth control pill or your IUD simply stops working one day and 9 months later they pull it out so that it’s not in the way when they deliver the baby the following week. Accidents happen all the time and it seems exceptionally cruel to force a woman to have a baby she doesn’t want, can’t afford, etc. And cruel to the baby to be brought into a world that doesn’t want her.
8
@S.D. Keith. So, any woman who doesn't have the bucks to pay for that "cheap" birth control, and any woman who is too stupid to have "managed and planned" her reproductive life, and any woman who was "incapable of controlling" her urges (gosh!) has only herself to blame?
Are you telling us that abortion should be illegal? That we will face injury or death, or prison, when we have -- have to have -- an abortion?
Is this your "Progress?"
Are you telling us that abortion should be illegal? That we will face injury or death, or prison, when we have -- have to have -- an abortion?
Is this your "Progress?"
7
Thank You, Dr. Parker for your compassion and true understanding of the damage radical religionists are causing women, the men who love them and their families. These radical moralists hiding behind religion simply want to control women's bodies to keep them home, barefoot and pregnant, to provide live fodder for their endless wars. It is immoral and an outrage to ALL women in America - and the men who love them. WE must take action to STOP the Supreme Court of the United States of America from further trying to make Roe V Wade meaningless as they have been doing since catholic, corporate chief justice John Roberts, a Ted Cruz pick for George Bush Jr's political team, and his four catholic corporate male brethren decided to hear all these lawsuits that attack women. YES, THERE IS A RADICAL RELIGIOUS REPUBLICAN/LIBERTARIAN/TEA PARTY WAR ON WOMEN IN AMERICA! WE must not vote for one of them and WE must DEMAND that those in power STOP these ATTACKS ON he INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO CHOOSE WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR OWN BODIES AND LIVES.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/politics/supreme-court-health-care-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/politics/supreme-court-health-care-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
28
Thank you Dr. Parker. Our society needs courageous and caring people like you. We are all better off for what you do and how you do it.
29
Thank you for supporting women's rights, women's health, and religious freedom.
32
Thank you for your courage and commitment to helping women obtain complete health care.
31
My very conservative Republican father, raised Catholic, was strongly pro-choice in the days before Roe v. Wade. He was a pathologist. He had done too many autopsies of women and young girls who had died as the result of botched illegal or self-induced abortions. Abortions were available to middle-class women who could afford to be diagnosed with some condition that required a D+C in the hospital. Then and now, poor women are the ones who suffer. We seem to be returning to the pre-Roe v. Wade days. My father would be appalled.
741
Christine---a great post.....we are becoming two countries as far as abortion is concerned..blue states...readily available but can be threatened any time based on the Supreme Court's whim and twisted logic...the red states...heading back towards the time of back alley abortions and uncertified practitioners...if you are anti-abortion and don't believe that this will not happen anywhere then you living in an alternate reality. More babies and women will be killed rather then less. That is reality...
7
It is the innocent babies in the womb who have suffered (50 million to date). I guess their lives do not matter. How very sad we have become as a society to have let this happen.
2
I remember those times clearly. I called it the Slaughter of the Innocents. God forbid we ever go back there.
3
Thank you for this insightful article. I am firmly pro-choice and I believe women should have the absolute right to make choices about their reproductive health. I work in the are of sexual and reproductive health research and it is absolutely appalling how women who choose to get an abortion and healthcare providers who choose to provide this essential service are treated. You are a hero, if only more like you were in developing countries like mine.
111
Thank you doctor for all that you do not only for the women of the South but to uphold any woman's right to choose. I don't understand why men have to make decisions about a woman's body. How about placing restrictions on use of Viagra? Instead of worrying about abortion if we placed emphasis on education and health, there would be fewer unwanted pregnancies and better outcomes for children who are born. But that would take away sound bytes from these "moral" policemen!
68
You are absolutely a hero.
Many thanks for helping women keep some semblance of autonomy, in these fundamentalist states. As well as keeping their health and safety more likely ensured.
Many thanks for helping women keep some semblance of autonomy, in these fundamentalist states. As well as keeping their health and safety more likely ensured.
54
If men needed abortions they could be gotten safely for free on every street corner.
Thanks for being the saviour to so many women. You deserve the Medal of Freedom at the least.
Thanks for being the saviour to so many women. You deserve the Medal of Freedom at the least.
118
Thank you Dr. Parker. May God protect you.
38
Let us not count on protection from a deity, but by working to block the misogynists who fear women's sexuality from imposing their fear on the rest of the population.
4
Thank you Dr. Parker. I hope people in this country will better understand what is at stake in this upcoming Supreme Court decision. People need to vote for pro-choice candidates who will not return women to back alley, unsafe abortions. I don't understand why we don't learn from history. Abortion became legal in the 70's because women were dying.
115
Thank you, Dr. Parker, for having the courage of your convictions and the bravery to do the work required. America desperately needs more doctors like you.
81
Thank you Dr. Parker. America needs more doctors talking candidly about this. You are courageous! The women of Mississippi and Alabama are lucky to have you.
75
A feeble attempt, at best, to justify the taking of an innocent life. I was not moved. Not mentioned were all the other abortions, performed solely for the reason of the inconvenience of having a child, enabling the mother (and father) to continue in a lifestyle where there are no ramifications for their actions.
8
@Mark,
An unwanted child should not be brought into the world merely to be a punishment to inconvenience the parents. This attitude underlies much of the so-called pro-life movement, which is really just pro-birth. As long as the fetus is a burden to the mother, the pro-birth movement will defend its right to life as an unwanted child, to be raised by an absent father and a woman who is unready, unwilling or unable to be a mother. If an innocent fetus has rights, one of them should be the right to be born to loving parents who are ready and able to raise a child.
An unwanted child should not be brought into the world merely to be a punishment to inconvenience the parents. This attitude underlies much of the so-called pro-life movement, which is really just pro-birth. As long as the fetus is a burden to the mother, the pro-birth movement will defend its right to life as an unwanted child, to be raised by an absent father and a woman who is unready, unwilling or unable to be a mother. If an innocent fetus has rights, one of them should be the right to be born to loving parents who are ready and able to raise a child.
219
Mark, how many children are you willing to adopt since you "care" so much for the unborn?
24
How many unwanted children have you adopted?
16
When the natural right to control gestation is found to last only the first eleven weeks and then require balancing against the dignity of the human fetus, you might finally see aborting gestation for 11-weeks become trivial and more healthy than other forms of birth control.
The 1973-2016 failure of medical ethics where killing a fetus up until the point of birth or "viability" will be a sad mark on the medical profession.
Human-dignity-us.org
The 1973-2016 failure of medical ethics where killing a fetus up until the point of birth or "viability" will be a sad mark on the medical profession.
Human-dignity-us.org
4
Mr. Neeley, if it were possible for you to be unwillingly pregnant, you might have a different opinion. As it is, consider this: everyone is going to die. It's not a question of "whether," merely "when." In the case of an abortion, a woman has made a decision about her body which the Constitution considers to be an issue of privacy. Perhaps you might absent yourself from her life, where you have no standing.
43
No viability prior to 23 weeks. Perhaps you have seen miscarriages at 21 or weeks. If you have/had, as I have, then you might find it difficult to argue that it's possible to "kill" something that has no chance of living. As for earlier and earlier "viability," I believe it is not always a good idea to undertake "saving" medical procedures when the chances of a continued healthy life (think of difficult end-of-life decisions) are close to none without continued and expensive medical intervention, either for the short or long term.
3
Stay safe and thank you
53
A stark reality that most won't want to accept. Dr. Parker is ministering to his flock.
29
Bravo! And thank you for writing and allowing this informative Op-Ed to be published. Most of all, thank you for providing this essential service. Too many people fail to grasp the fact that limiting or eliminating safe abortion services does not end abortion. A woman who wants to terminate a pregnancy will find a way.
55
I commend you for your bravery and selflessness for providing such a necessary, though emotionally heartbreaking, medical service to the disenfranchised. It is telling that those who are so determinedly fighting to take away a woman's right to choose her own destiny are those who will never be faced with utter the devastation of an unwanted child, namely men. Who, but the potential parents, should decide whether one has the emotional, physical and financial ability to raise a child into adulthood and beyond. We are parents until our children die. It is truly a lifetime commitment. My attitude towards legal and safe abortion would possibly be much different if there were adequate safety nets provided to those who find themselves facing financial and emotional hardship by bringing another child into the world. Would there be less abortions then? Committing to a child is the most important decision a potential parent will ever make. Having a government force those who are not capable of committing to this enormous, physically and emotionally exhausting life changing event is reprehensible. Especially a government which shows total disregard to the child's well being after it is born. The fact that black women die in childbirth at rates comparable to the poorest of third world nations is appalling. Yet many in government turn a callous, blind eye to these horrific statistics. We are not chattel, nor government property to do with what they wish. When will women's lives matter?
378
I was with you until the part about "who but the potential parents should decide..."
A man who has impregnated a woman should not have automatic rights here. It is the woman who should choose.
A man who has impregnated a woman should not have automatic rights here. It is the woman who should choose.
6
Brava Sharon! Wonderfully stated!
1
It is always interesting to me that conservatives believe iso strongly in the 'right to life', yet have so little concern for the actual children created from the fetus. And thus woman feel trapped knowing they can not provide the care a child needs to thrive and grow. Thank you for your work.
62
Dr. Parker is courageous in his efforts to ensure access to abortions for women in the deep South. State restrictions on access to abortion services since the Hyde Amendment have been designed to undermine this access. His compassion and concern are for the women who, without access to other family planning services like contraception end up with an unplanned pregnancy. Abortion is a legal and legitimate option and must be available to women who choose it. State control over access to sexual and reproductive health services are a major threat to women's autonomy.
46
Keep writing!
25
As a lifelong educator and school board member, I can add that our schools would function much better if women who feel they cannot raise another child were allowed to bow out of unexxpected pregnancy. Furthermore, education would be less expensive.
I cannot understand this public policy. What was it that Native Americans were said to say about not judging another human until you had walked in their moccasins?
You are a true saint.
I cannot understand this public policy. What was it that Native Americans were said to say about not judging another human until you had walked in their moccasins?
You are a true saint.
52
Thanks for speaking up. One can understand why a doctor might avoid performing abortions given the daily demonstrations and hassles that a clinic can face. To provide those services in light of those facts requires courage. Thanks for your courage.
51
Thank you for your work. What you are doing is important and good work. Women need more doctors like you to serve them.
45
I am in awe of your courage and compassion. May you and your family be safe from those who wish to harm you for what you do. I wish there were more doctors like you. Women all over the country would be safer.
581
Courage? What real risks is he taking? Very minimal!!
1
Um, given the hate mail and physical attacks on and murders of Doctors who perform abortions that have occurred in the US, Dr Parker is clearly taking a risk.
6
Clearly, vulcanalex has whatever head s/he has firmly buried in the sand to NOT know about the targeted killings of MDs and other health personnel at reproductive health clinics.
So, yes, Dr. Parker is indeed courageous for facing those very real and very significant risks.
So, yes, Dr. Parker is indeed courageous for facing those very real and very significant risks.
10
Thank you Dr. Parker.
Chris Larsen
Chris Larsen
27
Thank you, Doctor, for your courage and compassion.
I have come to realize that the only effective and moral way to reduce abortion is by measures that reduce demand, not supply - healthcare, fact- based education and safe, effective contraception.
This is how it is done in the countries with the lowest abortion rates in the world, like Switzerland and the Netherlands. This approach also leads to healthier pregnancies, lower maternal and infant mortality rates.
Compare them, too, with countries like Nicaragua, that have followed the woefully misnamed "pro-life" approach and criminalized abortion. Abortion is driven underground, and the quality of prenatal care declines. Mortality increases. Women who miscarry risk arrest and imprisonment, as do any medical personnel who assist them.
I have completely lost faith in the so-called pro-life movement. Perverse sadism and wholesale destruction of other people's rights and privacy are perpetrated under the fatuous claim of being the champion of the fetus.
Colorado recently slashed their rates of abortion and unplanned pregnancy by making a new generation of safer, more fail-proof contraceptives accessible to lower income women and teens.
You would think so called pro-life politicians would find something positive about an immediate forty percent drop in abortions.
They couldn't get rid of it fast enough.
I have come to realize that the only effective and moral way to reduce abortion is by measures that reduce demand, not supply - healthcare, fact- based education and safe, effective contraception.
This is how it is done in the countries with the lowest abortion rates in the world, like Switzerland and the Netherlands. This approach also leads to healthier pregnancies, lower maternal and infant mortality rates.
Compare them, too, with countries like Nicaragua, that have followed the woefully misnamed "pro-life" approach and criminalized abortion. Abortion is driven underground, and the quality of prenatal care declines. Mortality increases. Women who miscarry risk arrest and imprisonment, as do any medical personnel who assist them.
I have completely lost faith in the so-called pro-life movement. Perverse sadism and wholesale destruction of other people's rights and privacy are perpetrated under the fatuous claim of being the champion of the fetus.
Colorado recently slashed their rates of abortion and unplanned pregnancy by making a new generation of safer, more fail-proof contraceptives accessible to lower income women and teens.
You would think so called pro-life politicians would find something positive about an immediate forty percent drop in abortions.
They couldn't get rid of it fast enough.
159
A lot of the problem is that we do not have an actual healthcare system in this country, we just have a ragged, piecemeal way of dealing with healthcare in this country. All these 'clinics' with single issue facilities is just ridiculous! You should be able to walk into any hospital and have whatever issue you are experiencing dealt with in a timely fashion. A person should not have to run all over town and see dozens of healthcare providers just to get medical care.
Where I live, I have to drive to New Orleans for some doctors and Baton Rouge for others just to get a single procedure done! That is 80 miles each way just to get one procedure for a kidney problem done because neither place on my insurance does all the steps necessary. (Oh and at least one of the steps will have to be repeated because for some reason information never seems to get from one site to the other.)
A woman should be able to walk into any hospital in America and get an abortion done, there should be OB-GYN on staff at all hospital complexes, just like there should be general practitioners and orthopedists and pediatricians in the complex.
We need to completely rethink American healthcare.
Where I live, I have to drive to New Orleans for some doctors and Baton Rouge for others just to get a single procedure done! That is 80 miles each way just to get one procedure for a kidney problem done because neither place on my insurance does all the steps necessary. (Oh and at least one of the steps will have to be repeated because for some reason information never seems to get from one site to the other.)
A woman should be able to walk into any hospital in America and get an abortion done, there should be OB-GYN on staff at all hospital complexes, just like there should be general practitioners and orthopedists and pediatricians in the complex.
We need to completely rethink American healthcare.
62
Such are the drawbacks of healthcare for profit. - A person's wealth should not depend on the illness and pain of another. There's just too much incentive to "invent" ways to get richer e.g. drug manufacturers.
15
"A majority of pregnancies in the South are unintended…More than a quarter end in abortion." Where are the birth control options for these women? Who can provide that service for them?
22
Planned parenthood clinics are being closed and or defunded and, contrary to what some believe, Planned Parenthood assists in delivering birth control options along with other services like screenings for female health issues etc. And now, with some states not expanding medicare, contraception is even more unaffordable and/or out of reach of the women who could use it most.
This would not be a problem if white men had to carry a pregnancy to term.
This would not be a problem if white men had to carry a pregnancy to term.
38
I live in Georgia where sex education is iffy at best. We also have to use an "abstinence only" curriculum. How well does that work? All we have to do is look at the numbers of teen pregnancies, STD's and HIV infection rates. Georgia is always in the "top 10" for such laudable categories. So I guess the pregnancies are all immaculate conceptions and the STD's/HIV infections came from toilet seats. That is the mentality of our state legislature and school board. Until we address these issues as serious enough to teach about properly, we will stay in this situation.
My position on abortion is simple: If I were a woman I don't know if I could get an abortion. But I am not a woman and it's not my place to interfere. And until a man can get pregnant, it's not my business to stick my nose into the private life of any woman who is coping with an unwanted pregnancy. Let's not kid ourselves. It isn't a pro-life movement. It is a pro-birth movement and they don't care after a child is born what happens to that child.
My position on abortion is simple: If I were a woman I don't know if I could get an abortion. But I am not a woman and it's not my place to interfere. And until a man can get pregnant, it's not my business to stick my nose into the private life of any woman who is coping with an unwanted pregnancy. Let's not kid ourselves. It isn't a pro-life movement. It is a pro-birth movement and they don't care after a child is born what happens to that child.
38
Ok, so Planned Parenthood is not there and schools do not really teach sex ed. None of this is good, but that does not explain why in the 21st century women do not use contraception. School's sex ed class is not the only place to learn what sort of thing leads to pregnancy and some contraception means are cheap and available at the grocery store. Are you telling me that in this day and age the adult population of these states is so clueless as to not teach their teenage children about the means of avoiding pregnancy?
Thank you.
31
Good on you you. It is a brave person who stands up to intollerance.
The women of Mississippi and Alabama thank you.
The women of Mississippi and Alabama thank you.
39
God bless you. I'm horrified at the restrictions placed on women across certain states in our country. I remember being in high school and listening to people "debate" whether a woman should have legal access to abortion. What a shame we're still discussing this thirty years later. Thank you for your services!
42
Thank you, Dr. Parker, for your compassion and humanity.
We should also note that the need for abortions in America happens because of several failures at the societal level.
A great contributor is a lack of public and public-funded sex education due to America's religious puritanical streak and refusal to talk about reality.
A great contributor is the lack of free or low-cost contraception such as IUD implants for women and teenaged girls.
A great contributor is the American capitalist system that abandons a large part of the population to grinding poverty and limited access to any type of doctor and/or healthcare outside of an emergency room.
And of course, the shameless right-wing, misogynistic restriction of abortion laws horribly compounds the aforementioned factors to complete America's right-wing war on poor women all across America, particularly in Republican-ruled red states.
Republicans recently cancelled the Colorado Family Planning Initiative, the most successful teenage pregnancy reduction program in American history, earlier this year for ideological reasons, thereby ensuring that more teenagers will become pregnant and more teenagers will seek abortions.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/06/colorado-contraception-fa...
The Republican war on women with Christian Shariah law and policies increases the abortion rate when it's not causing a forced pregnancy.
It reminds me very of Islamic Shariah law and medievalism.
We should also note that the need for abortions in America happens because of several failures at the societal level.
A great contributor is a lack of public and public-funded sex education due to America's religious puritanical streak and refusal to talk about reality.
A great contributor is the lack of free or low-cost contraception such as IUD implants for women and teenaged girls.
A great contributor is the American capitalist system that abandons a large part of the population to grinding poverty and limited access to any type of doctor and/or healthcare outside of an emergency room.
And of course, the shameless right-wing, misogynistic restriction of abortion laws horribly compounds the aforementioned factors to complete America's right-wing war on poor women all across America, particularly in Republican-ruled red states.
Republicans recently cancelled the Colorado Family Planning Initiative, the most successful teenage pregnancy reduction program in American history, earlier this year for ideological reasons, thereby ensuring that more teenagers will become pregnant and more teenagers will seek abortions.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/06/colorado-contraception-fa...
The Republican war on women with Christian Shariah law and policies increases the abortion rate when it's not causing a forced pregnancy.
It reminds me very of Islamic Shariah law and medievalism.
800
The war on ALL WOMEN, not just poor women... Think Equal Pay, Family Leave, whatever law/policy that would truly enable American women to be 1st class rather than 2nd class citizens in their country...
22
Reasons given by the fundamentalists for defunding the program were that the IUDs were abortifactants. If abortion is legal, then why would a form of contraception that worked as an abortifactant be a problem? But the reality is, those copper Ts are not abortifactants. They create a chemical spermacidal environment in the uterus. Truth is, these fundmentalists can't bear the idea that men might be prevented from impregnating females (girls, in this case), that sperm might die. They have no problem with men having sex, but want to punish women for having sex, even if it is a teen girl who has been raped by her father. We need a better name for this fundamentalism than Shariah law, which is extremist Islam. We need a word for Christian oppression of women so that we are clear what is really happening in our country.
11
I live in Colorado, and was sorely disappointed with our state Senate. But living in a conservative area of Denver, it becomes painfully obvious that you can't have a rational, scientific discussion with ideologues that sacrifice rationality and scientific evidence at the alter of party-line purity.
To your point, these same people who shout loudest about not letting Sharia law into our legal system want to embed their Christian law, and see no hypocrisy in doing so.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
To your point, these same people who shout loudest about not letting Sharia law into our legal system want to embed their Christian law, and see no hypocrisy in doing so.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
14
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
Women are people. We have the right to make our own decisions. I know that is hard for some to accept, especially when a woman decides to do something they may not agree with.
But when you chip away at another's human rights, you chip away at your own. And when you stand up for another, we all gain.
Thank you, Doctor!
Women are people. We have the right to make our own decisions. I know that is hard for some to accept, especially when a woman decides to do something they may not agree with.
But when you chip away at another's human rights, you chip away at your own. And when you stand up for another, we all gain.
Thank you, Doctor!
669
Jennifer - women can make their own decisions over something unimportant like abortions.
They cannot make their own decisions about really important things like what healthcare coverage is appropriate for them, what foods to feed their children at school, or where they can enjoy a cigarette.
Thankfully, the US government decides those "important" things for women since it believes that women are not capable to decided them on their own.
They cannot make their own decisions about really important things like what healthcare coverage is appropriate for them, what foods to feed their children at school, or where they can enjoy a cigarette.
Thankfully, the US government decides those "important" things for women since it believes that women are not capable to decided them on their own.
The unborn child has no rights?
3
"Women are people. We have the right to make our own decisions." Stop the whining already. All PEOPLE need to take responsibility for their decisions and the consequences. Abortion should not be used as a birth control method to bail them out just because women can't or don't want to. Any human being, especially women who are given the gift/privilege of motherhood, who doesn't believe abortion should be legal but rare is seriously morally disordered.
1
Thank you-- I admire your willingness to put yourself at risk in order to keep women safe.
41
It takes a degree to be a doctor, but it takes compassion, sacrifice and love to be a physician. Thank you for trusting your patients and providing them with the family planning healthcare they need.
51
Sadly, your myopic interpretation of benevolence never once mentioned the fatal consequences of the lives you terminate from your "moral" concern over the inconveniences of unwanted pregnancies. Responding to the "crisis" of pregnancy with a solution that eliminates one life entirely for the benefit of easing the suffering of another, seems like a poorly calibrated scale of moral adjudication. I wish a love and concern for those unborn could also inform your conscience.
5
So, you would rather condemn a women and her other 4 children to a life where the mother isn't capable of giving those children all the energy and attention that they need. This, in a state that refuses to expand Medicaid; in a state, and a country, that angrily demands to stop funding one of the largest providers of gynecological health care available, thus upping the odds that she won't be able to prevent yet another pregnancy. After that baby is born, it's quite possible that that mother won't be able to feed them or find them medical care, thus guaranteeing that the cycle of poverty will continue for another generation.
One of the mantras on the right is "Don't get pregnant if you can't afford more kids," but the other is, "If you get pregnant, we'll make sure you have kids you can't afford." This is directed at both married and single women.
In your "concern" for one life that isn't even viable yet, you completely dismiss any concern for the rest of the family involved, and I'm willing to bet that you're not going to feel much concern for that child after it's born, either. "A life of poverty? A life without medical care? A life with a mother who's too exhausted to give it the attention and love it deserves? Meh - at least we saved it from an abortion."
One of the mantras on the right is "Don't get pregnant if you can't afford more kids," but the other is, "If you get pregnant, we'll make sure you have kids you can't afford." This is directed at both married and single women.
In your "concern" for one life that isn't even viable yet, you completely dismiss any concern for the rest of the family involved, and I'm willing to bet that you're not going to feel much concern for that child after it's born, either. "A life of poverty? A life without medical care? A life with a mother who's too exhausted to give it the attention and love it deserves? Meh - at least we saved it from an abortion."
12
DM: "I wish a love and concern for those unborn could also inform your conscience." - and if only the GOP had some love and concern for the child once it is out of the womb - you know healthcare, education, food, housing - the very things that the GOP keep denying the poor. But that doesn't concern you, does it?
10
Thank you for being a true physician who upholds his oath. Many doctors have proven a cowardly lot in recent years, buckling to the hate spewed by a minority of zealots even though the majority of Americans support a woman's legal right to an abortion. This hate-mongering against women must stop. I hope other doctors will be inspired by your voice of reason. It is strange and shameful that so many doctors have stood by silent during this latest witch hunt in our country's history. History, as is always the case in such times, will judge you well .
33
It is not that doctors are cowards. It is that "the hate spewed by a minority of zealots" is backed by those willing to kill actual living, thinking, caring people to support that zealotry. Terrorism is the weapon of the so-called pro-life crowd.
7
Thank you for caring how women survive and thrive in this tough world. You are really important to all of us.
33
Thank you, Dr. Parker, for this honest and insightful report on the reality of abortion and its importance to women. I believe abortion should be rare, safe and legal, and provided for by expert physicians like yourself, who are capable and caring of helping women make informed decisions. Many blessings to you.
31
You're a hero, Doctor. I hope you have bodyguards. Some "right to lifers" would not hesitate to kill you if they had the chance.
33
Thank you, Dr. Parker.
27
What an inspiring person. A real life "Cider House Rules", a book that influenced me greatly as a young man. If only more people thought like Dr. Parker in the US, the country would be a better place.
I note the US in particular, because here in Europe abortion is not an issue, even in majority Catholic Austria. I didn't leave the US due to abortion opponents, but it is a reason I'm happy with my choice. In Europe we shake our heads at what is happening to the "land of the free". Free to die from poverty. Free to be shot. Free as long as what you want for freedoms adheres to ever more conservative, restrictive mores. Yes, there has been great progress on some fronts (gay marriage, legalizing marijuana) but it seems to just bring more foam to the mouths of the conservatives.
As the years go by the Ben Carsons, Rick Santorums and Mike Huckabees of America resemble more and more the ISIS barbarians. "No abortion even to save the life of the mother" say several of the Republican presidential candidates. Their fans cheer and applaud. What are we coming to? We need more Dr. Parkers.
I note the US in particular, because here in Europe abortion is not an issue, even in majority Catholic Austria. I didn't leave the US due to abortion opponents, but it is a reason I'm happy with my choice. In Europe we shake our heads at what is happening to the "land of the free". Free to die from poverty. Free to be shot. Free as long as what you want for freedoms adheres to ever more conservative, restrictive mores. Yes, there has been great progress on some fronts (gay marriage, legalizing marijuana) but it seems to just bring more foam to the mouths of the conservatives.
As the years go by the Ben Carsons, Rick Santorums and Mike Huckabees of America resemble more and more the ISIS barbarians. "No abortion even to save the life of the mother" say several of the Republican presidential candidates. Their fans cheer and applaud. What are we coming to? We need more Dr. Parkers.
884
jlalbrect- You must be thankful every day that you had the financial means to escape and move to a far more civilized nation. If my husband and I could afford to move and could take our extended family with us we would do so in a heartbeat. What is happening in the USA is truly frightening. The conservatives turn a blind eye to the horrors being unleashed upon us daily. They have no compassion for their fellow man, it's dog eat dog or bootstraps. They don't recognize how truly blessed they are to not be in the shoes of the poor and disaffected in our country. They don't acknowledge and couldn't care less about the horrific circumstances so many of our people and children live with daily. The appalling living conditions, the lack of quality education and access to life saving medical care. African American parents worry constantly if their child will return home safely or be murdered in the streets. 3 presidential candidates, Cruz, Huckerbee, Jindal, align themselves with the most vicious ideology, (gay execution rally) and they are applauded. We are on the cusp of entering WWIII and they applaud. None support abortion, even for the most egregious circumstances: pregnancy resulting from rape, incest or threatening the very life of the mother. They talk of the sanctity of life then sentence women to death by withholding vital life saving medical care. And all is sanctioned by the right wing controlled state governments. Government sanctioned murder! When will this insanity end?
36
@sharon: It was luck and risk, not personal financial means that lead to my emigration. While I'm very thankful for my luck and taking that risk to emigrate here (20+ years ago!), I think every day about my mother and two sisters and their families stuck back in Texas. As bad as I thought Reagan had been back in the 80's, I certainly didn't imagine that his "revolution" would mutate into what it has become.
My dream is that a compassionate president like Sanders can turn us back towards the egalitarian US of my childhood. When the US working- and middle-class again have enough money to lead balanced lives, they will have the time and energy to be more involved in politics. Then the top-down ideology of the 1% will again go back to being closer to 1% of policy instead of having their current out-sized influence.
My dream is that a compassionate president like Sanders can turn us back towards the egalitarian US of my childhood. When the US working- and middle-class again have enough money to lead balanced lives, they will have the time and energy to be more involved in politics. Then the top-down ideology of the 1% will again go back to being closer to 1% of policy instead of having their current out-sized influence.
13
Bravo, well said, thank you!
4
I am fully on your side of the abortion dilemma, Dr. Parker, and I honestly bow to your superior moral decision to provide help despite all the obstacles and difficulties you must face.
Notwithstanding that, I somehow feel that the "brute force" method of fighting fire with fire (fighting restrictive laws with heroic defiance of the spirit that creates them) is a good choice, but perhaps there are better choices.
The point being that to many people the value of the Christianization of the eternal and undying soul is supreme, and certainly more important than satisfying the happiness of mere other mortals, such as mothers ready to give birth.
This is the crux, which we must either fight, or must somehow change. This is the very force that compels otherwise moral and good-willed Southerners and many other Christians to raise obstacles to abortions. Their belief is that a fetus has a soul, and it shall go to Hell upon abortion because it was dead before it had a chance to become Baptized, thus Christian. This is a strong and compelling belief, and no amount of otherwise legal abortions will make a dent in this religious claim.
I suggest that somehow a way to Baptize unborn embryos and fetuses be developed, and the entire abortion movement will become acceptable to those who presently oppose it on religious reasons -- which currently forms the majority of its opponents.
Notwithstanding that, I somehow feel that the "brute force" method of fighting fire with fire (fighting restrictive laws with heroic defiance of the spirit that creates them) is a good choice, but perhaps there are better choices.
The point being that to many people the value of the Christianization of the eternal and undying soul is supreme, and certainly more important than satisfying the happiness of mere other mortals, such as mothers ready to give birth.
This is the crux, which we must either fight, or must somehow change. This is the very force that compels otherwise moral and good-willed Southerners and many other Christians to raise obstacles to abortions. Their belief is that a fetus has a soul, and it shall go to Hell upon abortion because it was dead before it had a chance to become Baptized, thus Christian. This is a strong and compelling belief, and no amount of otherwise legal abortions will make a dent in this religious claim.
I suggest that somehow a way to Baptize unborn embryos and fetuses be developed, and the entire abortion movement will become acceptable to those who presently oppose it on religious reasons -- which currently forms the majority of its opponents.
3
But wait, why, if the fetus is innocent, should there be a need to baptize? What kind of god would damn an embryo to hell? If abortion is wrong why can't christians let god mete out punishment? Don't they trust their god to punish the wicked? I was raised in the Catholic church - a religion that specialized in guilt and fear. A religion that implores poor women to continue to have babies - why? To increase its minions - even as women will never be allowed as priests. Denying abortion is another misogynist's dream come true. If men had to carry the young abortions would be legal - a right of passage. I will never understand commercial religion - and the wealth of a vatican that is dependent on the poverty of women and children.
14
So why, then, does your god permit miscarriages?
10
Not everyone in this country is fundamentalist Christian. They are free to choose their own path, but should never be allowed to choose for others. I don't want the kind of society they are trying to legislate into existence.
8
You are a hero, by walking the walk. Thank you!!
131
Many thanks for helping women in USA exercise their legal constitutional rights. Why is there such a high pregnancy rate in the deep South? Is there no access to contraception? This is insane, even imagining the race-hating objectives of the Southern reactionaries would they not like their world more with fewer Black and single parent babies? Its impossible for me to understand them.
27
Thank you so much Dr Parker. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
64
There's only one thing I can say after reading this piece.
Thank you Dr. Parker.
Thank you Dr. Parker.
127
Thank you, Dr Parker for this clear and compassionate expression of the situation so many women of color and low income women face in our country today. We should be ashamed. And thank you for providing abortions to women who seek them. I especially love "I want for women what I want for myself". This is all women are asking for, to be treated as fully human.
119
I'm guessing that neither Mississippi nor Alabama decided to authorize the expansion of Medicaid that would have improved the health of the poorer segments of their populations. That would have demonstrated genuine concern for the health of pregnant women.
The closure of abortion clinics will reduce the number of abortions in a state, but it will also increase the number of illegal procedures, done in conditions that genuinely threaten the health of pregnant women. Knowledge of this reality, unfortunately, appears to have little affect on lawmakers. Driven by commitment to a narrow ideology that idealizes the fetus at the expense of all other considerations, they ignore the real world consequences of their legislative actions.
Even in the south, it may well prove the case that future generations will not praise them for their purblind self righteousness.
The closure of abortion clinics will reduce the number of abortions in a state, but it will also increase the number of illegal procedures, done in conditions that genuinely threaten the health of pregnant women. Knowledge of this reality, unfortunately, appears to have little affect on lawmakers. Driven by commitment to a narrow ideology that idealizes the fetus at the expense of all other considerations, they ignore the real world consequences of their legislative actions.
Even in the south, it may well prove the case that future generations will not praise them for their purblind self righteousness.
94
Having lived and worked in Alabama for 25 years, I can attest that elected officials are only concerned about protecting a person's health and human rights until the moment of birth. After that, you're on your own.
28
The doctor writes that he did not provide abortions because it is morally wrong. Then he goes ahead anyway. I thought a first principle of medicine was 'do no harm'. What about the irreversible harm done to the child in the womb? Unless necessary in the weightiest of circumstances to save the life or mind of the mother, abortion is an extemely serious wrong. First do no harm.
58
We live in a society which monetizes everything. Health, food, shelter and education are now commodities. This planet is under siege from violence and environmental degradation. And yet you speak of the morality of bringing more people into an already unmanageable situation. Interesting.
41
Abortion may be morally wrong for Dr. Parker, in his situation. But he does not prejudge the women in desperate situations for whom an abortion is the only option. We should walk a mile in their moccasins before drawing inapplicable conclusions based upon our own comfortable circumstances.
377
You have asked what is, really, a very fundamental question: Does the interior of the womb house a child? Your belief, clearly, is that yes, it does. My belief is very different. I believe that it houses an embryo, then a fetus, neither of which is a child.
What does the world believe? That answer changes in different times and places. That the unborn -- or even the infant -- is of great value, is a relatively modern thought, really only a few hundred years old, and even now not always accepted. And it depends on the luxury of reliable food and resources with which to sustain, not only the pregnancy, but the entire community.
You and I, perhaps, are fortunate not to live on the edge of our resources, with starvation only one poor harvest, extreme poverty only one broken safety net, away. Most of the world has never known the luxury that we know today. And yet we, who can expect our children to grow up, to be well-fed and healthy, we would impose our religious values on those who lack those expectations? We would risk the stability, even the lives of the living to sustain the unknowable unborn?
That, I think, is hubris.
What does the world believe? That answer changes in different times and places. That the unborn -- or even the infant -- is of great value, is a relatively modern thought, really only a few hundred years old, and even now not always accepted. And it depends on the luxury of reliable food and resources with which to sustain, not only the pregnancy, but the entire community.
You and I, perhaps, are fortunate not to live on the edge of our resources, with starvation only one poor harvest, extreme poverty only one broken safety net, away. Most of the world has never known the luxury that we know today. And yet we, who can expect our children to grow up, to be well-fed and healthy, we would impose our religious values on those who lack those expectations? We would risk the stability, even the lives of the living to sustain the unknowable unborn?
That, I think, is hubris.
60
thank you for all the women and families who will need your skills.
692
So it's too tough for a family's leader to understand he/she can't afford another mouth to feed? Birth control is widely available for very, very, little cost.
It's an insult to me as the leader of my family to imply I'm too stupid to see I can't afford another child and too stupid to know how they are created..
It's an insult to me as the leader of my family to imply I'm too stupid to see I can't afford another child and too stupid to know how they are created..
"....widely available...." except of course, for places where the despicable Hobby Lobby decision holds sway over what birth control methods are available to women, which is none of anyone's business except the woman. And also of course, the determined efforts of the right wing to shut down Planned Parenthood which provides - wait for it - BIRTH CONTROL METHODS for men AND women and especially those having trouble making ends meet.
7
Consider the irony :
For decades, there have been ongoing discussions whether making drugs legal might actually reduce its usage.
Yet, we are saying that legal abortions are causing it's greater use.
It also needs a man for a woman to become pregnant --- what is being done to educate men in preventing pregnancies? Particularly, the Christian churches that are taking such a strong stance against abortion, what are they doing about men's role in it?
The culture in the US is becoming increasingly sexualized. Messages from ads, TV sitcoms and music videos are overwhelmingly about more sex. At the same time there are no messages about consequences or responsibility.
Then we say that men are following an evolutionary urge, and at the same time, we increase the controls on women.
Is the US becoming a fundamentalist country?
For decades, there have been ongoing discussions whether making drugs legal might actually reduce its usage.
Yet, we are saying that legal abortions are causing it's greater use.
It also needs a man for a woman to become pregnant --- what is being done to educate men in preventing pregnancies? Particularly, the Christian churches that are taking such a strong stance against abortion, what are they doing about men's role in it?
The culture in the US is becoming increasingly sexualized. Messages from ads, TV sitcoms and music videos are overwhelmingly about more sex. At the same time there are no messages about consequences or responsibility.
Then we say that men are following an evolutionary urge, and at the same time, we increase the controls on women.
Is the US becoming a fundamentalist country?
481
We spend hundreds of millions of dollars to provide elderly men with penis pumps and drug therapies to help them maintain erections. At the same time, there is lots of God talk about pregnancy being god's will...perhaps failure to maintain an erection is god's will as well?
Why the extreme respect for god's will when it comes to a woman's reproductive system and none at all for a man's? Pregnancy can literally threaten a woman's life. ED does not threaten a man's life at all.
A Pennsylvania woman was convicted for obtaining the medication to induce an abortion for her teen aged daughter. She brought her daughter to an ER for treatment when there were minor complications. The hospital turned her in. Now I ask, has a single man been turned in to the police for illegally obtaining cialis or Viagra after presenting at an ER with one of those mortifying 6 hour erections? If a single man has been detained for that crime I certainly haven't heard of it.
The hypocrisy is astounding.
Why the extreme respect for god's will when it comes to a woman's reproductive system and none at all for a man's? Pregnancy can literally threaten a woman's life. ED does not threaten a man's life at all.
A Pennsylvania woman was convicted for obtaining the medication to induce an abortion for her teen aged daughter. She brought her daughter to an ER for treatment when there were minor complications. The hospital turned her in. Now I ask, has a single man been turned in to the police for illegally obtaining cialis or Viagra after presenting at an ER with one of those mortifying 6 hour erections? If a single man has been detained for that crime I certainly haven't heard of it.
The hypocrisy is astounding.
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Thank you
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No, it is becoming a country that is more and more "sure and certain" of their particular religious belief to determine the private lives of their neighbors. Intolerance born of religious certainty is as old as the hills and as destructive and ugly as it has been in the past. Some ethical choices like the wrong of slavery, also coming out of a religious sense, are acceptable because the consequence of getting rid of slavery is freedom for the individual. So too, the availability of contraception and abortion frees the lives of women from the purely animal state that we born to. Until those who oppose abortion are prepared to provide child care and money to care for that child from birth to 18 they are not entitled through religion to bring the woman into even a small physical threat through pregnancy or to a lifetime of care to another. Your religion cannot trump that of another person when the result is her enslavement to a purely physical level of life.
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Bless you in your important work!
May you serve the women of your state for a long, long time.
May you serve the women of your state for a long, long time.
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Thank you, Dr. Parker, for telling the truth about what it's like when abortion availability is limited. How the encroachment of restrictions are putting more women at risk and forcing them into desperate circumstances. I am grateful you see the needs and can respond with compassion. This is a far more truthful and honest way of responding than those who believe women should be punished for getting pregnant.
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How many of those who are most vocal at trying to deny abortion are ready to put their money where their mouths are? How many would be willing to sign a binding contract committing them to assuming all pre-natal expense personally, and then committing themselves personally to adopt, assuming all support and care until the age of 21?
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