Before anything else, I would like to point out that only 1 percent of abortions are performed at or after the 21st week, and although there are no statistics on this, I would take a guess that most of them are performed for health reasons. Doctors are bound by codes of ethics that require them not to perform abortions after the 21st week except for health reasons. Surely there are a few doctors out there who break the rules, either for good reasons (the link I quoted before mentioned a few have done it for severely depressed women who would probably not be able to deal with the stress of having a baby or going through the adoption process, which I support) or not so good ones. So if people want to pass a law against that, with health-related exceptions, I'm all for it . . . since doctors aren't supposed to be doing it anyway.
Most people don't support late-term abortions for reasons other than the mother's health . . . the issue comes about when the laws that are passed against it are so ambiguously worded that they can deny access to abortions even if the mother's health IS in jeopardy . . . or they can deny access to any abortion after the second trimester -- or even after the first. That's where the major controversy comes from.
Random sidenote: Stillborn babies sometimes have to be "aborted" because delivering a stillborn baby can cause health complications to the mother. I'm not sure why we should insist that a stillborn baby be c-sectioned out when the mother would prefer a D&X, but whatever . . .
Quote:
Originally posted by DZHBrown
Also regarding rape - if the victim seeks treatment immediately, she can take the emergency contraception.
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As Kath mentioned, there are a number of reasons why this isn't necessarily the case. And as anybody who has dealt with rape victims knows, it isn't that simple -- most of them are in shock and unable to process the rape in the time period that they would be required to take the emergency contraception. One of my best friends in high school got raped and when I suggested that she go to Planned Parenthood to get the morning-after pill and get checked out, she flat-out refused and wouldn't speak to me until I dropped the subject.