Article Analysis: Dr. X. A Doctor 'Tells Why She Performed Abortions—And Still Would'

Abstract

Abortion is a serious issue for concern in the world and people tend to have a polarized opinion. It can be a solution to overpopulation, unwanted pregnancies due to contraception failure, child as a result of rape, poor financial conditions and other problems. The author is a physician at a Community health center and a faculty at medical school. She is concerned about the issues related with abortion. The primary aim of the author is to promote healthy lives for the people. She is trying to raise awareness about pregnancy and child birth. Abortion should be performed in a safe and legal way.

According to the article, Dr. X suggests the two types of abortion: “medical and surgical.” A medical one procedure is helpful until the ninth week of the pregnancy. In this, one pill is used to stop the pregnancy and then another pill is used to contract the uterus in order to vacate the uterus. In surgical abortion, the uterus is vacated by means of suction (manual or electric vacuum aspirator). This type of abortion is performed under local or general anesthetic.

According to the author, women opts for an abortion even though her life is at danger. The author reveals many incidents from her personal experience where she faced severe cases of abortion. According to the article, “A Doctor Tells Why She Performed Abortions—And Still Would,” during the author’s outpatient pediatrics rotation, one teenage daughter was accompanied with her mother due to severe vomiting daily. (Dr. X) The girl didn’t want to continue her pregnancy, but her parents decided to continue the pregnancy even at her teenage. Another experience of author from the article is that when she was doing her OB/GYN rotation, she came across with a pregnant, diabetic woman whose life was at risk due to pregnancy. She helped her by doing her abortion to save her life. The author helped many patients to prevent pregnancy by doing safe abortion and giving knowledge of contraceptives to the women. When the author visited Gabon, the people there believed in no use of contraceptives and abortions were considered as illegal.

The author experiences many health care-related issues of abortion. In the article, the Dr. X says that there are a smaller number of health providers. This makes patients to travel far in order to do abortion. Moreover, abortion is not considered a mandatory thing to study for the obstetrician and gynecologist. Due to other difficult courses, physicians were given option to take the training of performing an abortion. Another major issue is that teenager used abstinence as a birth control to prevent pregnancy. Also, the new generation providers are quite untrained in terms of abortion. There are severe issues like teenagers who cannot take care of the child, premature birth, compromise on the health of the mother and child, and threat to the mother’s life ends up having child rather than performing an abortion. Detecting of pregnancy after the ninth week makes abortion difficult and the mother is forced to give birth to the child.

At some places, abortions became legal only if the life of mother was in danger. Abortions are highly desired by the mothers whose pregnancy is unwanted. The author raises concern about unavailability of contraceptives and condoms to the people which is the root cause of the problem. Another issue is male partner not willing to use condoms while performing sexual activities. When the mother is not able to get access to abortion, she can damage her own life. For instance, the emergency department witnesses cases where pregnant women would insert needle in the uterus to kill the baby. This can kill the mother too. This is the agony and pain that women go through because of the lack of system to help them out.

This narrative helped me realize how important the issue of abortion is. Pregnancy is meant to bring new life on this earth, and it should be a good experience for the mother and the baby. Unwanted pregnancy is burdensome for the mother and the family. Also, the child born in such an environment will not get a good life. The medical training of all physicians should include the sessions on appropriate ways to use birth controls, precautions for sexually infectious diseases, and abortion. Therefore, as a society we should raise awareness on methods of birth control, appropriate age for motherhood and safe abortion for mothers who do not wish to continue their pregnancy.

Works Cited

1. Dr. X. “A Doctor Tells Why She Performed Abortions—And Still Would” Health Affairs, vol. 29, no.6. June 10, 2010. Accessed January 21, 2019. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0775