Posted on 05/16/2005 1:39:14 PM PDT by Mark in the Old South
Contraceptives were simply not available in Soviet Russia -- consumer goods of any kind were not a priority for the Soviet government. I lived in Moscow for a couple of years, at the height of the Cold War, and periodically a huge line would appear somewhere in the city, stretching for blocks -- when you asked people in the line what it was for, it would be for some rarely seen consumer item that had suddenly appeared in a store (towels and razor blades, were two that I specifically recall).
There's a big difference between a Soviet woman who used abortion as routine birth control because it was the only form of birth control available, and a woman in the UK today, who uses abortion as routine birth control, despite the ready availability of a wide variety of effective contraceptives.
Eyebrows??? That must have been a VERY late abortion, and those are certainly prone to complications (unlike first trimester abortions, which are statistically safer than carrying a pregnancy to term). A serious infection in one fallopian tube could well have caused a less serious infection in the other, and tubal infections of any origin increase the risk of ectopic pregnancies.
This is somewhat reminiscent of the latter-day Soviet Union, where it was not uncommon for a woman to have 40 abortions in a lifetime. (But at least the USSR had the excuse that there was no available contraception.)
For a glimpse at where this will lead, Britain should take a look at the collapse of the birthrate in post-USSR Russia.
What the doctor literally said of the cyst was that it had formed around "pieces of skin, and hair - like eyebrows." I can not explain it to you: because I was in denial, because Planned Parenthood does not keep medical records (not even checking my blood type), because the doctor who removed the ovarian cyst and later misdiagnosed my eptopic pregnancy (which he described, completely without emotion, as looking "like a sausage,") fled the state, and because it is extremely painful to go over the details of all of this, I have not investigated further. I hope you understand.
As TigersEye made plain, to the best of his understanding of the specifics, I am completely barren as the result of one abortion. Mother's Day was very hard for me this year. I'm one of the lucky ones - I did not die because of septic shock or by bleeding to death or by despair leading to suicide (all documented results of abortion), and I now know the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Was this statute for abortion or against it?
I would rather see them pay for it on death row.
Against
Thank goodness. You never know even here on Free Republic. Some of the attitudes of even long term posters is a fright. The culture of death is alive and well nearly everywhere.
So their "right" to sex trumps a baby's right to life. Sickening.
I'm sorry to hear of all the pain you've been through. Infertility is painful, regardless of the cause. But I think you're exacerbating your pain by believing things happened which really didn't happen. It really aggravates me that anti-abortion activists run around trying to convince women who've had abortions that every medical problem they have must have been caused by the abortion. It's lying, and its causing pain to the women who believe the tales.
Anyone who told you that the cyst on your ovary grew around pieces of your former fetus, was either deliberately lying or awesomely ignorant. You have been incorrectly led to believe that the pieces of skin and hair found in the cysts were leftover parts of a fetus that had matured enough to be growing eyebrows. No such thing happened.
Ovarian cysts are not caused by abortions -- not by "parts left behind" or anything else connected to an abortion. In fact, they arise from the ovary alone, with no connection to any fertilization process, and frequently occur in girls/women who have never been pregnant, or are even virgins. In some cases, they are even present in a baby girl at birth (generally not large enough to be noticed at that point). What you describe sounds like a teratoma, also called a "dermoid cyst" -- a very specific type of cyst, which, like any other type of cyst, can arise without the woman ever having been pregnant, much less having had an abortion.
From http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_ovarian_cancer_33.asp?sitearea=cri
"Teratoma: This germ cell tumor has a benign form called mature teratoma and a cancerous form called immature teratoma. The mature teratoma is by far the most common ovarian germ cell tumor and usually affects women of reproductive age (teens through forties). It is often called a dermoid cyst because its lining resembles skin. These tumors or cysts also contain a variety of other benign tissues that may resemble adult respiratory passages, bone, nervous tissue, teeth, and other tissues. The patient is cured by surgically removing the cyst. "
From http://www.pdrhealth.com/content/women_health/chapters/fgwh09.shtml
Dermoid cysts are also ovarian neoplasms. They are so named because they contain skin or related tissue such as hair, teeth, or bone. They are also known as benign cystic teratomas, teratoma meaning a tumor consisting of skin and hair tissue. Dermoid cysts contain this unusual type of tissue because they develop from the ovary's germ cells, the cells that normally produce the egg and contain the forerunner of all human tissues. Dermoid cysts may be present from birth, but rarely grow large enough to be noticed until adulthood.
Dermoid cysts are quite common, and although they can occur in women of any age, they most frequently affect women between the ages of 20 and 40. They generally measure between 2 and 4 inches in diameter, and usually cause no symptoms unless they become so large that they press on the intestines, bladder, or rectum. While these growths are almost always benign, there is about a 1 percent chance that a malignancy could develop. As is true of most types of cysts, the dermoid may be prone to bleeding, rupture, or twisting on its stem."
Likewise, ectopic pregnancies can occur for a variety of reasons, and often no known reason. Smoking is actually a major risk factor for ectopic pregnancy. It is theoretically possible that the abortion or a subsequent infection, contributed to your ectopic pregnancy, but it's very unlikely, especially given that you already had some abnormal growths in your reproductive tract -- your underlying tendency toward such problems would be a risk factor for ectopic pregnancy. An infection prior to any pregnancy or abortion can also cause tubal problems that increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy.
It wasn't clear from the post that you linked to, whether your second ovary was removed, along with the tube from your ectopic pregnancy. If one ovary is still present, and your uterus is still present, you can almost certainly get pregnant via IVF, if you aren't beyond your mid-30s (and have a good chance of pregnancy via IVF if you are in your late 30s).
Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 18:35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.
Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 11:4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Hogue, Cates and Tietze, "Impact of Vacuum Aspiration Abortion on Future Childbearing: A Review", Family Planning Perspectives (May-June 1983),vol.15, no.3.
Daling,et.al., "Ectopic Pregnancy in Relation to Previous Induced Abortion", JAMA, 253(7):1005-1008 (Feb. 15, 1985); Levin, et.al., "Ectopic Pregnancy and Prior Induced Abortion", American Journal of Public Health (1982), vol.72,p253; C.S. Chung, "Induced Abortion and Ectopic Pregnancy in Subsequent Pregnancies," American Journal of Epidemiology 115(6):879-887 (1982)
Attempting to diagnose my medical condition online immediately makes you suspect.
It really aggravates me that anti-abortion activists run around trying to convince women who've had abortions that every medical problem they have must have been caused by the abortion. It's lying, and its causing pain to the women who believe the tales.
I feel sorry for people who deny (suppress) the truth that abortion kills babies and hurts women; that children are a gift from God; that human fetuses in human wombs are human beings; that in an attempt to defend a twisted worldview - denial of what is clearly evident - one will actively promote the practice of abortion. Sin is bound to come into the world, but woe to the one through whom it comes.
In the same way that choosing to murder my own child was a decision against the clearly self-evident design (command) of my Creator, choosing to be impregnated by IVF would be to deny that I know the One who made me, that He has a divine plan for my life and will work everything - past, present and future - together for my good. I want HIS will, not MINE in my life; I've experienced the consequences of trying to live outside His perfect design. IVF also denies the life of and further growth to the multiple human zygotes that are created in the process yet never implanted in the uterus God designed for their care and nurture.
In His mercy He allowed my particular consequences subsequent to my abortion. Without them I might never have turned to Him, away from the darkness I was living in. Others may never experience the just consequences for their sins in this life (only in the next): but God is just. I feel sorry for women who never have cause to examine their abortions, because knowing that abortion is murder and murder is sin, that the wages of sin is death led me toward the Light, and I have been set free of sin and death, forgiven, and justified by the Justifier of those who believe. I hope you come to know this truth - the gift of God is eternal life and this life is in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Light of the world - and to embrace it with all the joy that comes with receiving complete (perfect: both just and merciful) love.
The ethics of abortion, and the scientific facts surrounding a teratoma are separate issues. You do not have to believe that elective abortion is morally okay, in order to understand that the teratoma which caused the loss of one of your ovaries and one of your fallopian tubes, had nothing whatsoever to do with your abortion. It is possible, but by no means likely, that the ectopic pregnancy that caused the loss of your other fallopian tube was the result of abortion-related scarring or infection. But even if that were the case, you wouldn't have been left infertile, had it not been for the totally unrelated teratoma.
You can implant all fertilized eggs/embryos during an IVF procedure, and many people choose to do so for religious reasons. If the ovarian stimulation cycle produces more eggs than it would be safe to fertilize and transfer back in, then the patient can elect to only a have a limited number fertilized, and then have all of those that successfully fertilize and begin dividing transferred back in. This reduces the chances of success per cycle, which is why most people don't do it, but it is definitely an option.
Another alternative that doesn't involve discarding any embryos, and is more efficient in terms of cost and effort, is to fertilize all eggs retrieved, and transfer only a safe number back the first time, while freezing the rest for future use. If you believe that it is important to give all the embryos you created a chance to be transferred back into your uterus and hopefully develop into babies, then you won't just leave them in the freezer forever, or instruct the clinic to discard them or donate them research. They are yours, and what is done with them is up to you.
I would rather see them outlaw the practice of killing innocent children myself
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