Abortion Might Outgrow Need for Roe (rich to California, Cytotec for poor)

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Abortion Might Outgrow Its Need for Roe v. Wade
By JOHN LELAND
Published: October 2, 2005

WITH the confirmation last week of John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States, eyes turned to President Bush's next judicial nominee, who, on a closely divided court, may determine the fate of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized a woman's right to an abortion. But such speculation overlooks a paradox in the abortion wars: while combatants focus on the law, technology is already changing the future of abortion, with or without the Supreme Court.

Even if the court restricts or eliminates the right to an abortion, the often-raised specter of a return to back-alley abortions is not likely to be realized, said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Health Services, a nonprofit group that supports access to abortion. "The conditions that existed before 1973 were much different than what they are in 2005," she said. "We have better antibiotics now and better surgical treatments."

But no change is bigger than the advent of an inexpensive drug called misoprostol, which the federal Food and Drug Administration approved for treatment of ulcers in 1988, but which has been used in millions of self-administered abortions worldwide. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, freeing states to ban abortion, this common prescription drug, often known by the brand name Cytotec, could emerge as a cheap, relatively safe alternative to the practices that proliferated before Roe.

"We won't go back to the days of coat hangers and knitting needles," said Dr. Jerry Edwards, an abortion provider in Little Rock, Ark. "Rich women will fly to California; poor women will use Cytotec."

Because it was never intended for use in abortions, it has not been widely tested for safety and effectiveness....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/weekinreview/02leland.html

[supernova]

1. Just goes to show, women will always find a way

to terminate a pregnancy they don't feel they can safely have.

The law, should RvW be overturned, will not deter women one bit.

[eallen]

2. The battle is over a wide range of reproductive & health technologies.

We are on the verge of cellular engineering. This will herald a wide range of technologies: a patient's own cells will be cloned into replacement organs, a couple who carries a heriditary disease will be able to bear a child that as an embryo was genetically modified to exclude the disease, embryos will be produced using the genes of multiple parents, immune cells will be engineered to treat cancer, brain prostheses will be engineered to correct the losses of senility or disease, or even to augment natural intelligence, etc.

The fundamentalist nuts will oppose all of this, because the technology bears on how life starts and on what they consider the "soul." In their mind, quite literally, it is "man playing god."

Abortion is just the first of many issues that will pit their fantasies against the rational world. Their religion says that its god injects a soul into the developing embryo, during the process of fertilization. There's no telling how their superstition will interpret any of these other technologies. But neither can we afford to have such superstition determine policy. It's just plain nuts.

[hobbit709]

3. My 74-year old mother says

that there were always herbs and other things used in Austria where she grew up and that everyone knew about them.

[TalkingDog]

5. The same thing is true for America

There are a number of herbs, used singly or in combination, that can produce an abortion. In the old advertisements they used to claim the herbs and concoctions were for "menstrual irregularities" which was code for: you aren't having your period, you are probably pregnant.

Even vitamin C in high enough doses for the right amount of time will do the same thing.


That said, do not try this at home, without trained supervision. A number of young women have died using the most effective of these herbs incorrectly. (which is why I'm not naming it outright)

[HockeyMom]

4. The religious zealots already know

overturning Roe won't stop abortions, but revert it back to the states. Something like 15 states had already legalized abortion before Roe. However, if you read any of the religious right's statements, you will see that overturning Roe is just the first step. They will try to pass FEDERAL laws banning it on the states that don't want to "cooperate" with the anti choice movement. Congress has already tried to pass Federal Parental Notification Law, 24 hour waiting periods, Partial Birth Ban, etc. This is how they will try to force their agenda on everyone.

Just another reason why we need to take back control of CONGRESS.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. That was my fear reading this article also --

that they would find other ways.