In a 1997 article from Salon magazine, one abortionist is reported as saying:
What makes me angry is people who aren’t being careful about birth control, who don’t make an effort to get a birth control system in place for themselves and have had several abortions. But it’s usually those people who also make me think, “Oh great! They’re not having a child” — even though I think it’s an awful way to do your birth control. I firmly believe that I cannot use my own value judgments in deciding when it’s right for a person to make this decision or not, however. Ultimately it really is the woman’s decision and she is the person who has to carry all the consequences.
These comments from a practicing abortionist reveal a great deal. What is it about abortion that makes her angry at women who come in for repeat abortions? Pro-choicers have been arguing for years that abortion is just a simple operation, no more morally problematic than having one’s tonsils removed. But if abortion is so benign, why is it bad for women to have multiple abortions? If there’s nothing wrong with abortion, why shouldn’t a woman have two, or five, or ten? Why would abortion be “an awful way to do your birth control”?
Keep in mind that this abortionist sees pieces of aborted babies daily. At seven to eight weeks after conception, the baby has arms and legs complete with fingers and toes. The abortionist has no doubt seen the remains of many aborted children. Therefore, she knows the gruesome reality of abortion.
Abortion is “an awful way to do your birth control” because it violently kills a baby. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be awful. This abortionist quoted in Salon is not the only one to have expressed frustration at abortion “repeaters,” as some providers call them. You can read more quotes from abortionists and clinic workers commenting on those who use abortion as birth control here.
One might also wonder what the abortionist means by “all the consequences.” Is she admitting abortion can hurt women emotionally and physically?
Source: “Birth Doctor, Mother, Abortionist: An Intimate Conversation with a Woman on the Front Lines of America’s Most Emotionally Charged Debate,” Salon Magazine, June 1997
