Proud of Two Abortions

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 6, 2007 | Dan Neil

[Scotswife]

The abortion debate brought home He and his wife have always been pro-choice; recently, they were forced to make the Choice. By Dan Neil May 6, 2007

MY WIFE AND I just had an abortion. Two, actually. We walked into a doctor's office in downtown Los Angeles with four thriving fetuses — two girls and two boys — and walked out an hour later with just the girls, whom we will name, if we're lucky enough to keep them, Rosalind and Vivian. Rosalind is my mother's name.

We didn't want to. We didn't mean to. We didn't do anything wrong, which is to say, we did everything right. Four years ago, when Tina and I set out on this journey to have children, such a circumstance was unimaginable. And yet there I was, holding her hand, watching the ultrasound as a needle with potassium chloride found its mark, stopping the heart of one male fetus, then the other, hidden in my wife's suffering belly....

[CharlesWayneCT]

Then you know also that the only reason for planting 4 at once was money. They could have planted only 2, and if those didn’t work spent money to implant another 2, and then another 2. It just costs a lot each time.

They essentially implanted more than they wanted to save money, knowing they could kill some if too many “took”.

[Celerity]

His reasoning is now clear:

“Some studies show offspring of older fathers (I’m 47) run a higher risk of autism, and males are four times as likely to be autistic.”

HE is such a worm, such a piece of lowly crap, such a snivelling grotesque pissant, that he chose to abort the males because of statistics of Autism.

Surely, I hope there is a place in hell for this level of evil.

[Guenevere]

My precious, precious beautiful & smart 2-1/2 yr old granddaughter was born at 28 weeks, but gestationally was smaller....only 2lb.9oz.

This was my daughter's first pregnancy and everything seemed well until she suddenly developed pre-eclampsia.

Her blood pressure shot up, her legs were swollen and the baby was in peril.

When they did the emergency C-section, we rejoiced at our tiny but perfectly formed sweetie.

Really, all she needed was fluff!...She had hardly any fat.

But thanks be to God and the wonderful NICU she began thriving from the very first.

You would never know, by looking at her or being around her, that she was such a tiny newborn.

Xsmommy, you're right....there are some folks who can justify anything!...

May God have mercy on their souls.

If this story is true, these folks killed 2 babies.......they discarded them....threw them away.

[Scotswife]

“My wife had to be hospitalized at 20 weeks and again at 24. My son made it fine. Pregnancies are often difficult, assuming the sky is falling every time there’s something wrong is being hysterical.”

exactly.
Could you imagine the number of “reductions” if every difficult pregnancy were treated this way?

[Scotswife]

maybe someday they’ll isolate the gene that makes people annoying, arrogant, or selfish and they can be targeted too.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Very fitting quote.

[metmom]

Good for her. Sounds like the marriage is not going to last long, though.

[NYer]

Just why are medical advances that help a Pope OK but not medical advances to avoid pregnancies altogether, or help infertile couple have children? This seems to incongruous to me.

You're comparing apples with oranges. A heart valve or hip replacement has nothing to do with progeneration of life. Now take a close look at the post immediately following yours on this thread. This is a good example of what the Magisterium is referring to by the dangers of new technology that allows procreation apart from sexual relations.

---

I have a friend who implanted 4 embryos and 3 took. Her husband demanded that they go with "reduction." She held her ground and refused. She is now the proud mother of two boys and one girl --- all perfect and beautiful children. I often look at them and then scowl at her husband wondering which beautiful child would not be here if he had won.

Now they fight over the disposition of the 2 remaining frozen embryos.

---

As for infertility, I've been there. The world is filled with parentless children and childless couples. Adoption is another way of forming a family. What difference does it make how a child comes into one's life? All children are gifts from God.

And, lastly, if you are not yet familiar with it, I would recommend you look into JPII's Theology of the Body

The 'Theology of the Body' is Pope John Paul II's integrated vision of the human person - body, soul, and spirit. As he explains, the physical human body has a specific meaning and is capable of revealing answers regarding fundamental questions about us and our lives:

• Is there a real purpose to life and if so, what is it?
• Why were we created male and female? Does it really matter if we are one sex or another?
• Why were man and woman called to communion from the beginning? What does the marital union of a man and woman say to us about God and his plan for our lives?
• What is the purpose of the married and celibate vocations?
• What exactly is "Love"?
• Is it truly possible to be pure of heart?

All of these questions and many more are answered in Pope John Paul II's 129 Wednesday audiences, which were given between the years 1979 and 1984. His reflections are based on Scripture (especially the Gospels, St. Paul and the Book of Genesis), and contain a vision of the human person truly worthy of man. John Paul II discusses who man was in the beginning, who he is now (after original sin), and who he will be in the age to come. He then applies this message to the vocations of marriage and celibacy, in preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven.

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

[Scotswife]

“So I humbly submit that, by his own justification, this man didn’t go far enough to “protect” his wife from the dangers involved.”

good point.
I would guess that his response would be that the point of having the ivf was to have children - just not that many.

[keepitreal]

There is also the “success rate” of the doctor IMO. Implant 4, the doc has a better chance of claiming success. Better to kill a couple if too many “take”, than sacrifice the success rate. I do believe that this taints the doctor’s advice. Our doc was advocating implanting 5. I asked the inevitable question and got the horrifying answer. I discussed with him implanting only enough that could safely be carried and I could in sanity handle. He was not as keen on that. Thus my walking out the door. My attitude was that it was better to spend our money on a truly sure thing in adoption. I have never looked back.

[Tax-chick]

Maybe it’s the time of day ... who knows?

[secret garden]

That’s how many IVF clinics work. People can always say no. I’ve had several friends go through the process who requested no more than 3 implantations because they valued all life and did what they thought could reasonably be carried to term.

[Scotswife]

“So they say. And they never said what they were and whether or not this procedure took care of those complications. It could have been something as simple as dehydration from morning sickness which would not change with the slaughter of two babies. I simply don’t see how the number of babies makes a difference in a pregnancy at that stage of development.”

good point.
Whatever problem there was could have been the same whether there were one baby or seven.

If there was only one, would they have aborted?
No - because they didn’t get rid of all of them.

I wonder what medical condition exists at 15 weeks gestation where it would necessary to eliminate 2 incredibly small fetuses while retaining 2?

[Scotswife]

I think they’re adorable...but I’m biased :)

You would think they would be begging to go out on such a beautiful day, but no.
I have to unplug the tv, stop their fighting and shoo them outside to reintroduce them to the sun.

[Neidermeyer]

As soon as we found out at about four weeks that we had too many fetuses, we wanted to undergo the reduction procedure.

[Ignatz]

So the Eliot Spitzer piece is satire?
Wow. While satire typically contains a grain of truth, it is generally humorous, and when done well it is sublime. I found nothing even remotely funny in that piece.
Yes, by all means it needs its own thread. With "SATIRE" in the heading in big, bold letters.

[tioga]

I have a friend pregnant with two right now........they implanted three....only two took. They are due in the fall.

[Scotswife]

The Church isn’t against ivf because it is artificial.
It is against ivf because it separates the unitive from the procreative - much like it is against artificial contraception because it separates the procreative from the unitive.

[Eaker]

The nation is at war, the U.S.Army is the place to act on emotions like that.

The muslims are no worse than these two scumbags who are simply practicing a different cult of murder.

[tioga]

I’ve spied them a time or two.....your’s ARE adorble!