The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 15, 2001, Image 5

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    ; d;iy, February 15 ’»
Thursday, February 15, 2001
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THE BATTALION
, Tk fads ofle and cMces
Beyond the debate of spirituality and aggression lie the facts about abortion and its effects
By Stuart ROTson
The Battalion
For more than 50 years, a war of words has been
might on the battleground of America’s dinner tables,
rospitals, churches and legislatures with a voracity that
:an be caused only by a clash of the ideological beliefs
held closest to people's hearts.
The name of that war is abortion.
Science has no definition that determines when “life”
begins. No experimental method can give conclusive res
ults that declare the difference between human and pre-
luman. Defining life is a quandary that is instead left to
he personal beliefs of each individual.
But when discussing abortion, the question of when
life begins for the child is not the only issue that is con
sidered. The methodology of the procedure, the potential
isks and potential benefits are imperative pieces of the
uz/.le that displays the full picture of abortion.
□
Two techniques are used to end a preg-
tancy. Surgical abortions are performed by
physically removing the fetus with tools, {
nd medical abortions use drugs to induce 1
he uterus to shed the fetus.
Dr. Elizabeth C. Berigan, chief of the In-
|emal Medicine Department of Scott and White
ospital and associate clinical professor for
[Texas A&M’s Health Science Center, said near
ly all abortions performed in the United States use
■he surgical method because medicines are heavily
regulated.
There are three forms of surgical methods. Ac
cording to information from the Planned Parenthood
.Federation of America (PPFA), all prospective abor
tion recipients are required to have psychiatric coun-
: seling and a physical exam before an abortion may even
be considered.
Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) empties the uterus
Ivith suction from a manual syringe after the cervix has
|been stretched with dilators. This method is used during
1/ery early abortions up to 10 weeks after the woman’s
last period.
Dilation and silction curettage (D&C) uses a dilator to
Ktretch the cervix open and then a tube attached to a suc
tion device empties the uterus. A curette, a narrow metal
loop, is then used to scrape the inside of the uterus to in
ure that no fetal material is left.
The overall procedure is a little like a Pap smear,
here the woman puts her legs in the stirrups on the
able,” Berigan said. “She then usually receives cervical
blocks (painkillers), anti-inflammatories and maybe vel
lum to relax — depending on how she is doing.
“The suction device uses a tube that I can only relate
o an enlarged drinking straw. It even has a bendable part
hat helps the doctor not damage the wall of the uterus.
Eighty-eight percent of abortions are done within the
.. -r—-irst trimester, and 50 percent of those are during the first
job-seeb we eks.... There is usually just a white fluffy gesta
tional sack the size of a quarter and menstrual fluid. There
|iisually are not any formed body parts.”
D&C is usually performed six weeks to 14 weeks af-
:er the woman’s last period, Berigan said.
Dilation and evacuation (D&E) is a method that uses
a special dilator to slowly stretch the cervix open
«
Eighty-eight percent of abor
tions are done within the first
trimester, and SO percent of those
are during the first eight weeks....
There is usually just a white
fluffy gestational sack the size of
a quarter and menstrual fluid”
— Dr. Elizabeth C. Berigan
chief of the Internal Medicine Department of Scott and
White Hospital
overnight, allowing the fetus to be removed with suction
devices, medical instruments such as forceps and a
curette. A local anesthetic is injected near the cervix and
antibiotics are usually given to prevent infections.
This method is used for all abortions occurring after
14 weeks because the fetus is typically too large to be re
moved using conventional suction means.
According to the PPFA, the MVA and D&C take
about 10 minutes. A D&E takes between 10 and 20
minutes.
The abortion recipient is then required to rest for about
an hour before she is allowed to leave. This allows the
doctors time to determine if any immediate complications
arose from the abortion procedure.
According to information from the PPFA, one out of
every 500 surgical abortions fails to completely end the
pregnancy. This usually means that some fetal material
is left in the uterus.
“It is much like an incomplete miscarriage,” Berigan
.ING/Thf. Battai ’
Turner said, itij
till use many
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said. ‘There will not be any more development in the tis
sue that is left over, but any tissue that is left over is like
ly to be a source of infection.”
Medical abortions may be performed up to 49 days af
ter the woman’s last period.
The woman is first given a drug, either via injection
or in tablet form, that ends the pregnancy by making the
lining of the uterus break down.
Another drug is administered to make the uterus con
tract and empty.
According to the PPFA, this process can take from one
to 14 days to complete and is 90-95 percent effective. If
it is ineffective, surgical abortion must be used to end the
pregnancy.
Effectively, this method simulates an early miscarriage
and may cause the woman to experience strong cramps,
nausea, diarrhea, and excessive bleeding resulting from
the shedding of the uterus lining.
According to Berigan, information from PPFA and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
primary risk of an abortion is potential infections caused
by bacteria and viruses introduced during the abortion.
The percentage of abortion recipients who get in
fections after the procedure is highly debated.
Research printed in peer review journals estimates
these rates at anywhere from .5 to 17 percent‘of pa
tients. The PPFA and CDC estimate that approximate
ly 1 percent of abortions in 1999 resulted in infection.
“Infections from abortions are dangerous in pie
same ways that STDs and infections gotten from child
birth are,” Berigan said. “If they are severe enough,
they may lead to complications ranging from inflapi-
mation, a reduced chance to be able to conceive another
child, to death.”
According to the CDC, one in 100,000 abortions
will end in death of the mother.
Do alioilioiis cause tet cancer?
Although it has been the subject of extensive re
search, researchers still do not know if there is a corre
lation between breast cancer and abortions.
Research on the correlation has been plagued by a
wide variety of results rartging from no correlation to
a 90 percent increase in risk (found by a study pub
lished in the Journal of the
; National Cancer Insti
tute).
A recent study pub
lished in the August
2000 Journal of the Amer
ican Medical Association
(JAMA) found inconclusive
results.
Berigan said there are situations in
which the mother may choose to have an
abortion because of dangerous health risks
associated with carrying the fetus to terhi.
“These are very rare and almost never seen,”
she said. “But when they are, it is usually because
of a severe abnormality of the fetus or a severe
health condition of the mother.”
Abnormalities of the fetus may include conditions
such as hydrocephelus, where the child’s skull is filled
with liquid causing the skull to enlarge, or encepjielus,
which causes the child’s skull to be extremely enlarged
but empty.
“In most of these cases, the fetus isn’t going to be vi
able whether it is carried to term or not,” Berigan said.
Health conditions of the mother such as deteriora
tion of the cardiovascular system and advanced dj4-
betes also may endanger the mother’s life.
>2
According to a 1999 report published by the AM4,
the fetus’s brain centers that are necessary for pain per
ception develop early in the second trimester. Howev
er, the ability to feel pain throughout the fetus’s^b^y
develops as the fetus ages.
Researchers determined the development of neiif^l
centers by mapping the change in blood flow through
the brain.
They determined (by means of invasive surgery},
that the fetus can sense pain inside, the torso of its bodjy
at 18 weeks, and can feel pain on the exterior of its body
as early as 24 weeks.
According to information from the PPFA, anesthei-
ics for the fetus are rarely used in abortions.
However, residual effects from local anesthetics ap
plied near the cervix may numb the fetus to a degree?
ULTRASOUND AND GRAPHIC BABY COURTES
'A /TheBattalion
Post-abortion stress syndrome (PASS), or long-term
clinical depression after abortion, is a highly debated
issue among the pro-choice and pro-life camps.
Pro-choice organizations such as PPFA say that a
sense of relief after an abortion is more common than
depression, but pro-life organizations say that PASS af
fects as many as 80 percent of abortion recipients.
According to a study published in the August 200b
issue of JAMA, approximately 80 percent of women
studied showed no signs of depression two years aft^r
their abortions and only 1 percent reported having
PASS symptoms.
The study showed that dissatisfaction among the
women about their decisions to have abortions tended
to increase as time continued. Nineteen percent of the
women said that they regretted their decisions. ^