Get To Know Death And Abortion Sticks

Once abortion is banned in the United States your reality will change (and by "your" I mean all females of reproductive age, children, men and family members; basically, everybody). To help you adapt to what's coming, here are two things you need to familiarize yourselves with--death and the "abortion stick".

Death

A 23-year-old woman, para one [one pregnancy], presented with a complaint of abdominal pain for 2 days. She had a history of 3 months of amenorrhoea [no menses]. The patient had undergone vaginal abortion (details obscure) 2 days previously, followed by a low-grade fever (102º F) with progressively increasing pain and a foul-smelling vaginal discharge. There was no history of excessive vaginal bleeding or bowel/bladder complaints.

...

With a provisional diagnosis of septicemia following septic abortion with peritonitis, the patient underwent emergency exploratory laparotomy [the abdomen was opened up]....There was rupture of the uterine fundus [top part], with fetal products encapsulated in blebs throughout. The patient’s fallopian tubes and ovaries appeared to be normal. The uterine and ovarian pedicles were not thrombosed. Bowel exploration did not reveal any perforation. Given the extensive uterine involvement a total abdominal hysterectomy was performed.

...

Postoperatively the patient received intensive medical support, but her condition followed a progressive, downhill course. Subsequently, she developed a high-grade fever, hypotension, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The patient died on postoperative day 9.

The "Abortion Stick"

An 18-year-old woman presented with a complaint of acute abdominal pain for 2 days following termination of a 2-month pregnancy performed by a local woman who served as an untrained midwife. The pain was acute in onset with increasing intensity, and localized to the lower abdomen. She gave a history of high-grade fever and a blood-stained, foul-smelling vaginal discharge for 2 days. She reported no bowel or bladder complaints.

...

Surgical findings included approximately 200 mL of intensely foul-smelling, dark-colored fluid in the peritoneal cavity. The uterus was soft in consistency, congested, and discolored, suggestive of gangrenous change. Both ovaries appeared to be normal. Subtotal hysterectomy was performed. On gross pathologic evaluation of the uterus, a foreign body consistent with a 2-X-4-cm tree twig was found in the cervix....The patient gradually recovered in intensive care. She was discharged in a healthy condition after 3 weeks of hospitalization.

Two final notes.

First, what the physicians did in both cases was to perform an abortion (via a hysterectomy).

Once abortion becomes illegal here physicians will face jail time for caring for these septic abortion patients. So, fingers crossed and let's all hope these patients will be considerate enough to expire before they get to the hospital.

[Don't even bother with the "but any ban will have an exception for the woman's life" nonsense, unless you can 1) show why one embryo-American is less deserving of legal protection than another (either terminating a pregnancy is so icky that the practice needs to be made illegal, or it's not), and 2) medically justify treating female patients only, and only if, their life is in danger. And while you're at it, you also need to came up with a precise demarcation line. How unstable do we allow a female patient to become before we consider her worthy enough of receiving medical care?]

Second, in case you think this could never happen here because we live in a country where the standard of care is far superior to, well, everywhere else, think again.

The care received by the patients described in these case reports isn't the problem; it's on par with that available at any Level III hospital in the US. The problem is that despite the best medical and surgical management, the gangrenous uterus is often associated with a mortality rate of up to 70%.

Living across the street from the best hospital in the US won't guarantee your survival. Not banning a safe and effective medical procedure will.