Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Woman Dies During Minor Elective Medical Procedure

A New York woman who went in for an elective procedure has died after one of her arteries was severed.

Alexandra Nuñez died of cardiac arrest after being rushed from the "A1 Medicine" clinic to the Elmhurst Hospital Center.

Did I mention the elective procedure was an abortion?

I'm not going to use this post to argue abortion or throw stones at this woman. She is dead, and her four children are motherless.

I am going to use this an an opportunity to blast the constant challenges to parental consent/notification when it comes to abortion. Pro-choice groups are always battling to make it easier for young girls to get abortions without their parents' permission - or even knowledge in some cases. Planned Parenthood has handy tips for avoiding parental involvement right on their website.

If you want to get an abortion and you feel that you cannot tell a parent, don't panic — help is available. Your first step is to contact an abortion provider near you.

This incident only underscores the reality that abortion is a surgical procedure, with all the risks surgery involves - from anesthesia reactions, to infections, to accidents like this one.

A hospital or clinic wouldn't perform any other surgical procedure on a child without the consent (and requisite signing of CYA paperwork) of a parent. It's time to bring the idea of abortion without parental involvement to a screeching halt.

2 comments:

Lemmy Caution said...

If you want to get an abortion and you feel that you cannot tell a parent, don't panic — help is available. Your first step is to contact an abortion provider near you.
.

I can think of plenty of scenarios where this is completely understandable. It does say "can't tell", not "don't want to tell".

This incident only underscores the reality that abortion is a surgical procedure.

Not always.

It's time to bring the idea of abortion without parental involvement to a screeching halt.
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In theory, I would agree with you....in a perfect world parents should be informed and involved in such an enourmously important issue....but there are also plenty of situations I could think of where the opposite would hold true. Just doesn't seem so black and white an issue to me. JMHO.

ScratcherMMBI said...

Not always.

You're right. But even the abortion pill (NOT the morning after pill, to my knowledge) carries the very real risk of hemorrhage and infection. These are legitimate medical risks that a parent should be advised of ahead of time.

there are also plenty of situations I could think of where the opposite would hold true.

I grant you, there are cases of abuse, neglect, incest, etc. where a judge might be inclined to agree with the child... However, in such a case shouldn't the judge be compelled to intervene in the home in matters OTHER than just the abortion? If a child is abused or the victim of incest, the court needs to do more on the child's behalf than help them get an abortion and send them back home, no?

I think that a parent should be involved... and if the parent is unfit to be involved, the judge owes the child more than just a permission slip for Planned Parenthood services.