from:sexyshock
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SOUTH DAKOTA'S ABORTION BAN IS A THREAT TO WOMEN'S
HEALTH
(Personal View: Abortion ban in South Dakota)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/333/7574/925
In this weekâs BMJ, a senior doctor raises serious
concerns over
abortion law in
the US state of South Dakota.
Earlier this year, South Dakota passed a bill which
bans virtually all
abortions
in the state except for circumstances in which the
procedure is
necessary to
âprevent the death of the mother.â? Under this new
legislation,
doctors face
prosecution for the termination of any pregnancy in
which maternal
death is not
clearly averted by its performance.
This law does great harm to women with complicated
pregnancies and must
be
opposed, argues, Dr Marvin Buehner, an obstetrician
and gynaecologist
who has
practiced in South Dakota since 1993.
Even then elective abortions were performed only in a
single clinic in
this state,
which was picketed for years, giving rise to the
notion that providing
abortion
services would be professional suicide for any private
practitioner, he
writes.
âThe environment of intimidation here is still so
pervasive that
neither I, nor my
colleagues, nor our state medical association spoke in
objection when
the
legislature proposed a sweeping abortion ban, vetoed
in 2004, or when
it was
reintroduced this year.â?
But despite the difficulties, he is determined to
continue to provide
termination
options for women with serious medical complications.
He has publicly testified that the law does great harm
to women with
complicated
pregnancies and has worked with the South Dakota State
Medical
Association and the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
to oppose the law
for its
âhorrific medical consequences.â?
As a result, he faces âa daily parade of
protestersâ? outside his
office, even
though neither he nor any of his partners perform
abortions at their
clinic.
Polling data show that 70% of physicians in the state
oppose the law,
and that the
public is poised to reverse this draconian bill in a
November
referendum,
primarily because there are no exceptions for victims
of rape or
incest, he says.
If the law is overturned, the battle over abortion
will continue to
rage on in the
United States. But perhaps the defeat will allow more
reasonable voices
to be
heard over the harsh rhetoric of extremists, he
concludes.
Contact:
Marvin Buehner, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Black
Hills Obstetrics
and
Gynaecology, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
Email: meb@???
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Check out the New Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.
(
http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta)
