Essay:Rebuttal to LA Times Abortion Article

The L.A. Times Describes an Overcrowded Abortion Clinic, But Opposes a Missouri Law to Improve It

Monday the L.A. Times reported that "Planned Parenthood's clinic here in central Missouri performs about 600 first-trimester abortions a year, drawing patients from areas several hours away. Surgical abortions take place in two small exam rooms as the patient, often sedated with a Valium, lies on a padded table, her feet in stirrups. The recovery room, painted blue, is crowded, the vinyl recliners positioned so close to one another, patients could hold hands."

Its inhumane to subject mothers to over-crowded post-abortion facilities like that. Planned Parenthood enjoys an annual profit of over $50 million as the United States' largest abortion provider, but a clinic pleads poverty in complying with a new Missouri law requiring the same conditions for abortion patients as other surgical patients.

Missouri merely extended a law that already exists for outpatient (ambulatory) surgical centers to abortion. Missouri's Ambulatory Surgical Center Licensing Law ("the Act") was amended effective August 28, 2007. Prior to the amendment the Act defined an ambulatory surgical center as any "establishment operated primarily for the purpose of performing surgical procedures or primarily for the purpose of performing childbirths and which does not provide ... accommodations for patients to stay more than twenty-three hours ...." The amendment expands the definition to include any establishment that performs five or more first trimester abortions per month or any second or third trimester abortions.

Though the L.A. Times article admits to overcrowding, it misleads the public in several ways. The article conceals how the Missouri law applies to all abortions equally, and the judge's invalidation of the law would permit second and third trimester abortions to be performed at these overcrowded clinics. The article quotes three individuals who profit from abortion and oppose the law before quoting a defense of this law: "We're applying the same standards of healthcare to abortion clinics as we are to other medical facilities," said Pam Fichter, development director of Missouri Right to Life.

Point-by-Point Rebuttal

Point 1: "A first-trimester surgical abortion takes about two minutes."

False. It takes many times longer than that, even if there are no complications. If there are complications, then it has to be repeated. Many are done under general anesthesia, which of course takes far longer still.

Tonsillectomies and colonoscopies are subject to this regulation, and they do not require any more time than abortion does.

Point 2: "After, patients at the Planned Parenthood clinic here walk down a dimly lighted hall to a small, spare recovery room, where they rest in recliners, a box of tissues by each chair. Most are cleared to go home after 15 minutes."

Misleading: Obviously patients "are cleared to go home" so quickly because the clinic is overcrowded, and early departure is needed to ease the crowding. No one who undergoes other surgery is told to go home so quickly, and it is inhumane to treat mothers this way after abortions.

Point 3: "They have enacted the most far-reaching regulations in the nation -- dictating the physical layout, staffing and record-keeping policies of any facility that performs five or more abortions a month, including private doctors' offices that regularly prescribe the abortion pill."

Misleading: These regulations are no different from what is required for other outpatient surgery centers. The Planned Parenthood clinic that is complaining does surgery, so the point about the abortion pill does not apply to it. As to doctors' offices, very few prescribe this dangerous abortion pill, which causes bleeding, pain and higher complications. It is reasonable to require proper facilities for the victim from providers enjoying substantial profits from it.

Point 4: "The law would put providers of five or more abortions a month in the same regulatory category as outpatient surgical centers that perform a wide range of procedures, some under general anesthesia, including tonsillectomies, cardiac catheterization, hernia repair, cataract removal and colonoscopy."

Misleading: Abortion is often done under general anesthesia, and the above procedures are often done without general anesthesia. There is no reason why abortionists should get by with facilities less adequate than facilities for tonsillectomies or colonoscopies.

Point 5: "'This is really a case to watch,' said Belinda Bulger, deputy legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America. 'The anti-choice movement has discovered that this is a good tactic for them. ... It certainly has us concerned.'"

Misleading: This quote does not disclose how this organization benefits financially from abortions. The more that are performed, the more revenue this organization likely receives and the more that its employees can make. The article should have qualified the quote by noting this financial interest.