Forgotten victims of the anti-abortion movement

Read this heart-breaking story about a woman whose fetus dies at 19 weeks but who can't get a D&E because barely anyone knows how to do them anymore, thanks to the "pro-life" movement.

One thing a number of people don't realize in the push and pull of the abortion debates is that the most common of the medical techniques that are used for abortion are also used to preserve the health of a woman who is going through a nasty miscarriage. The line between an abortion and making a miscarriage easier is thin indeed. I had a friend in college who began to miscarry in her first trimester, and from what she told me she held off from just getting the D&C as long as she could because she wanted that baby very badly. When it was obvious that the fetus was pretty much dead, they went ahead and did it, but she got sick with an infection anyway because the whole thing got dragged out. She got better pretty quickly, thank goodness, and was frankly just relieved that things didn't turn out worse. She eventually had another baby.

Ill-written, draconian anti-abortion laws are bound to create situations where doctors are not at liberty to perform emergency abortions that will make miscarriage situations less traumatizing or dangerous. And for those who truly are anti-abortion because you care about human life and dignity, and aren't in this to exert control over women, I would appeal to those values you claim to hold and allow women who are already in a miserable situation due to a miscarriage to at least get the whole thing over the best way possible.