Must read: Best article on choice that I have ever read

[DesEtoiles]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/4/235113/8651

[TimeChaser]

1. Nominated

[bliss_eternal]

2. Ditto!

:thumbsup:

[Lady Effingbroke]

3. excellent article!

nominated!

[JDPriestly]

4. Food for thought!

[Pachamama]

5. Wow! That really is a great letter Dr. Hern wrote to Dr. Dean

His phrasing and description of why this issue is so critical and emphasis on the use of words and terms and what to avoid and why its critical for the Dems to pay attention is spot on.

It also gave me chills because it emphasizes what is at stake here...our future....our freedom...

[femrap]

6. We need to read more

of this type of article.....if it were not for women, the world would be gone by now.....And we are getting tired of keeping it together without the help of some cool gentlemen.......get it?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Posting a snip here:

<snip>

You are a physician, and you know something about this issue from a health perspective that most people don't know. You know very well that physicians like me who specialize in abortion services are not "pro-death" or "anti-life." But that is exactly what you imply when you use the anti-abortion propaganda term "pro-life" to describe people who are opposed to abortion. These are some of the same people who have assassinated physicians Bernard Slepian, David Gunn, and John Britton, who have assassinated other people working in abortion services, and who have attempted to assassinate yet other physicians and clinic workers.

<snip>

Let's get a few things straight:

* The principal reason for having abortion services legally available in the United States is for the health and safety of women. During the 1950's and 1960's, this was the main reason why physicians were on the forefront in advocating changes in the abortion laws. The Doe v. Bolton case, companion to Roe v. Wade, was brought by physicians and other health professionals from Atlanta.

* Abortion is a fundamental component of health care for women in the 21st century, just as it was in the last 25 years of the 20th century. You, as a physician, ought to be one of the strongest exponents of this fact in the public arena, and you have an exceptional opportunity to do that as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. So far, you have abandoned that idea in favor of fawning comments designed to satisfy the most radical right-wing religious and political opponents of abortion.

* The idea that abortion will ever be "rare" is ridiculous, and you should know that from basic education as a physician. Abortion has been practiced by women in every human society for as far back as anthropologists can determine (cf: Abortion in Primitive Society by George Devereaux). There have probably been not fewer than one million abortions per year in the United States for the past 60 or 70 years. The main difference between 1935 and 2005 is that abortions are now safely done by physicians (and, in a few cases, by physician assistants, as in Vermont) who can provide proper surgical and follow-up care.

* The idea that we can reduce the number of abortions by providing adequate contraceptive care for women and their partners is a superb and fundamental idea which the Democratic Party should (as it does) support at every opportunity, and which was eloquently stated by Senator Hillary Clinton earlier this year. But this is a position that is opposed by anti-abortion Democrats such as Robert Casey, Jr. That opposition doesn't make any medical, public health, logical, political or legal sense.

* There is no such thing as "abortion on demand." That is silly. There is "abortion on request," and why not? But any woman who walks into my office and "demands" an abortion as though I were an abortion-dispensing machine will not get one, at least from me. I am a person, not an ATM or pop machine.

[firefox]

8. It covered many important points as seen by a physician

It was good reading. If you mentioned that the core of the link was a letter from a physician to Howard Dean it might draw more attention. The bullet points the physician makes to Dean remind us that legal abortion is a health issue and not a political issue because less than one in three Americans are continually angered by the Rethuglicans needing their enablement to carry out the economic war on the masses for the benefit of the have-a-lots.

[DesEtoiles]

9. bookmark the dKos link, and start thinking of ways to spread the info

[Gelliebeans]

10. He wrote this letter in

May 2005, I wonder if he got any responses back from Dean or the other high profile democrats that received a copy. I don't want infighting within the party but I don't want someone to be mealy mouthed about choice either and the sooner they iron this out the better it will be.

This Dr. Warren Hern is a true gem. His dedication to his patients is exemplary.

[nicknameless]

11. Nominated

Thanks for posting this!

[Scout]

12. kick

excellent article ... emailing link to my list!

[mopinko]

13. no shit eom

[rucky]

14. And I know Dean is smart enough to take his advice.

As a self-confessed Dean worshipper, I got defensive when I started reading it, but it made perfect sense.

[davsand]

15. Great article.

I'm happy to see he issue laid out so clearly and cleanly. We need to get this one out far and wide.


Laura

[yellerpup]

16. Great essay.

We have to hold the line. The government has no business in deciding how women plan their families. Recommended.

[Mandate My Ass]

17. Kick

@

[CrispyQ]

18. The best part

snip...

Are you for freedom for women, or aren't you?

If women are not free to have safe abortions by physicians, they are not free.

If women are not free, none of us are free.

[Maraya1969]

19. I have always wondered what these Pro-Birth wing nuts would say

about my particular situation several years ago when I had an ectopic pregnancy. It was caught very early and monitored to see if it would dissolve on it's own. When it didn't I was given a shot of Methaltrexate, (sp) which is a cancer drug that kills cells. So it was an abortion and it was a treatment plan for me since an ectopic pregnancy can KILL a women if it is not terminated. (It is also interesting that the problem was listed originally as a "threatened abortion", meaning that a miscarriage is also considered an abortion.)

Do they think I should have left this fetus develop in my fallopian tube until it caused it to explode, (which is what happens when an ectopic pregnancy is not terminated)?

If they argue that the woman's health should not be a mitigating factor abortions then what do they say when it is most probably that the woman will die if the fetus is not removed? The fetus would certainly die in an ectopic pregnancy either way.

I bet there are some pro-birthers out there that think my doctor and I committed a sin when it was a necessary medical treatment. And THESE people think they know what is best. God help us all.

[Rainscents]

20. Great Article... Thank you for posting!!!

I will save the link for future use.

:kick:

[bliss_eternal]

21. Kicking

in hopes more will see and read this important article...