Sarah's Law

For those of you who can't watch the video (Hi Chief!), here's the transcript.

As a woman, as a mother, and as a daughter, I ask you to please vote NO on Proposition 4.

The government has no business in health care choices. The government has no business in the health care choices of women when it does not involve itself in the health care choices of men. The lines of communication between parents and their children cannot and should not be mandated by the government.

Who is Sarah?

In February 1994, 15-year-old "Sarah" visited abortionist Moshe Hachamovitch's "A to Z Women's Services" clinic in Houston, Texas. An abortion was performed on Sarah, tearing the right side of her cervix. Sarah suffered blood poisoning, fever, chills, abdominal pain, and nausea for four days before finally being admitted to a hospital. When hospital personnel discovered the tear and a post-abortion infection, they placed Sarah in the intensive care unit, but the infection was far too advanced and Sarah died on March 2, 1994. Hospital physicians reported that had Sarah received prompt medical care, she would still be alive today.1

1 From Defending Life 2007, published by Americans United for Life, Chicago

While a compelling argument, one has to wonder why "Sarah" didn't feel like she could tell her parents that she was pregnant or that she was seeking an abortion. One might also wonder why "Sarah" would suffer for four days before, finally, seeking medical attention. Finally, one should wonder what might have become of "Sarah" if her parents were notified by the physician before the abortion took place. Would "Sarah" have had a safe abortion and the appropriate follow-up medical care when she became ill?

I have to say that I doubt that's how her story would have ended under Sarah's Law.

Most of us aren't old enough to remember the time before Roe v. Wade. We don't remember what it was like for women who got pregnant unexpectedly and unwantedly. We can't understand the choices that they had to make or the danger they put themselves in.

One story, out of countless stories, is that of Gerri Twerdy Santoro (contains a picture that is not safe for work or for the faint of heart). A 28 year old mother of two who died alone and naked in a hotel room, not the result of a legal abortion, or even a back alley abortionist, but as the result of an attempted self-induced abortion. She was six and a half months pregnant.

When abortion becomes illegal or inaccessible, it does not remove the need for the procedure. It simply makes the obtaining of it that much more dangerous and life threatening.

Now let's imagine if "Sarah" had become pregnant under Sarah's Law. Imagine that, regardless of Sarah's Law, she could not or would not tell her parents she was pregnant or planning an abortion. Would she be able to go to a safe, sterile clinic and have the procedure performed by a trained physician? Or would she attempt to perform an abortion on herself?