Before a Suction D&E procedure can be performed, the cervix must first be sufficiently dilated. In my practice, this was accomplished with serial placement of laminaria. Laminaria is a type of sterilized seaweed that absorbs water over several hours and swells to several times its original diameter. Multiple placements of several laminaria at a time are absolutely required prior to attempting a suction D&E.
In the mid second trimester, this requires approximately 36 hours to accomplish. When utilizing the D&X abortion procedure, popularly known as Partial-Birth Abortion, this process requires three days as explained by Dr. Martin Haskell in his 1992 paper that first described this type of abortion.
In cases where a mother’s life is seriously threatened by her pregnancy,
a doctor more often than not doesn’t have 36 hours,
much less 72 hours, to resolve the problem.
Let me illustrate with a real -life case that I managed
while at the Albany Medical Center.
A patient arrived one night at 28 weeks gestation with severe pre-eclampsia or toxemia. Her blood pressure on admission was 220/160. As you are probably aware, a normal blood pressure is approximately 120/80. This patient’s pregnancy was a threat to her life and the life of her unborn child. She could very well be minutes or hours away from a major stroke. This case was managed successfully by rapidly stabilizing the patient’s blood pressure and “terminating” her pregnancy by Cesarean section. She and her baby did well.
This is a typical case in the world of high-risk obstetrics.
In most such cases, any attempt to perform an abortion
“to save the mother’s life”
would entail undue and dangerous delay
in providing appropriate, truly life-saving care.
During my time at Albany Medical Center I managed hundreds of such cases by “terminating”pregnancies to save mother’s lives. In all those hundreds of cases, the number of unborn children that I had to deliberately kill was zero.
May 25, 2013
Categories: Books & Publications, Events, history, Human Rights, Politics, Scandals . Tags: abortion, congress, Dr. Anthony Levatino, life-threatening, medical risk, never necessary, pain, testimony . Author: Hosted by Doug Lawrence . Comments: Leave a comment
Redeemed – certainly. Justified – perhaps, someday.
Pope Francis says atheists who do good are redeemed too.
The Vatican issued an “explanatory note on the meaning of “salvation,” on Thursday, May 23, after media reports circulated indicating that Pope Francis” promised heaven for everyone engaged in good works, including atheists.
In response to the media attention, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that people who know about the Catholic church “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.”
Rosica also said that Francis had “no intention of provoking a theological debate on the nature of salvation,” during his homily on Wednesday.
May 26, 2013
Categories: Books & Publications, Catholic Q & A, Events, Human Rights, Inspirational, Politics, Religious Ed . Tags: atheists, comments, Jesus Christ, Pope Francis, redemption . Author: Hosted by Doug Lawrence . Comments: 1 Comment