In a move sure to anger pro-life advocates across the nation, a new California law now sits on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. AB 154 will open the door for a variety of non-physician healthcare workers, such as nurses and midwives, to perform early medical and surgical abortions. Pro-choice groups and Planned Parenthood of California have sponsored the legislation, despite polls showing that two-thirds of Californians oppose the measure. It is almost certain that the governor will sign it.
In pushing through this aggressive agenda, Planned Parenthood and its allies are ignoring a number of significant facts that make this a very bad idea:
- Abortion clinics have fewer regulations than for any other type of minor surgical procedure.
- Complications from abortion are serious, and can be fatal if not recognized and treated early by a physician. These include infection, bleeding, and perforation of the uterus.
- The training available to non-physicians in California is not even established by physicians; it is set up by the Board of Registered Nursing.
- Physician supervision is very limited — The new law does not require a doctor to be present, or even available on site.
All of this, according to Brian Johnston, Executive Director of the California Pro-Life Council, means that women’s rights are trivialized:
The California Business and Professions Code prohibits abortions being done on animals unless the abortionist is a trained and certified veterinary surgeon. If 154 is made law, a mother dog will have more dignity in the eyes of California law than a vulnerable young mother talked into an abortion by a Planned Parenthood staffer.
Tags: abortion, commentary
Posted in: Clinical ethics, commentary, General, Reproductive ethics