There are safe abortions

THE EDITOR: Once again we must ask that you accommodate our reply to Ms Dopwell (Newsday July 23). We acknowledge that there is risk in any medical procedure, including abortion. We acknowledge that an abortion ends a potential human life. And we acknowledge that the death of the woman Ms Dopwell mentioned took place in a legally approved medical clinic.

I hope this helps Ms Dopwell to see that we are on the same page. There are safe and unsafe abortions. We call abortions unsafe when they result in complications for the woman. And we call them safe when they terminate a pregnancy without any complications. Ms Dopwell’s claim that quacks provide the same standard of medical care as trained medical doctors is an incredulous one. The facts in our country make that clear. The women entering our public hospitals with complications of abortion do not represent all social classes in our country. There are no rich women among them. Why? Because they obtain safe abortions from trained medical practitioners. The 4,000 women admitted to our public hospitals every year are all women who took risks outside of our medical services because there was no accessible alternative. They are the victims of unsafe abortions. The unborn child dies whether the abortion is safe or unsafe. I applaud Ms Dopwell’s value for the sanctity of life. And I am appalled by her disregard for facts and logic. Public policy needs to be informed by our best values and our regard for objective social reality. Our current criminal law of abortion is not reducing violence in the womb. It is extending that violence to women.

P A ARCHER
Maraval