Is the Mississippi "Anti-Abortion" Law Unfair?

Yesterday we saw that a Federal judge is blocking "a state law that threatens to shut down Mississippi'sonly abortion clinic and make it nearly impossible for women to get the procedure in the state."

As we have heard for a while, the abortion business is about women's health.  If that is really the case, then those supporting the abortion industry should be concerned about what happens to the woman having an abortion and something goes wrong with the procedure.  If one reads the entire article linked above, they will notice "(Clinic owner Diane) Derzis said that since she acquired Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2010, no woman has had to be taken from the clinic by ambulance."  That may be true, but that does not mean that no woman receiving treatment at the clinic needed to be taken to a hospital.

In this article from 2010, we see a variety of issues with clinics that perform abortions.  This includes botched abortions in Columbus, OH, "illegal abortions, unlicensed staff dispensing drugs and performing medical tasks for which they were not qualified" in Nebraska, a doctor "violating the terms of his probation by doing abortions without the required supervision of another physician" in California, and two "forced abortions" in Michigan.  These could very well be exceptions, but let's take a closer look at the issue in Columbus.

Looking deeper into the story of two botched abortions, we see disregard for the woman's health immediately following a botched abortion.  In the first instance "a pro-life sidewalk counselor saw a young woman leaving...an abortion clinic in Columbus, Ohio, after an abortion...the patient swooned, dropped to her knees, and began to vomit as she bled heavily through her clothing."  She was at the clinic for a total of two hours and felt "nauseated and lightheaded" during her visit and when she was discharged."  At the emergency room, she was treated for heavy bleeding, and given medication for her dizziness and nausea. It took emergency medical professionals six hours to stabilize her."  Where was the concern for the woman's health at the clinic?  Were they just trying to get rid of her because they thought something serious might happen to her?  Perhaps even death.  If they clinic staff is concerned about women's health, they would have kept her there or taken her to one of the hospitals at which the doctors have admitting rights.

The second case is a woman being "admitted to a Columbus hospital after suffering excessive bleeding and pelvic pain after her abortion...According to her transcripts, she suffered from a hematoma, or internal bleeding inside the tissues, and excessive clotting. Efforts by hospital staff to contact the clinic were unsuccessful."  Again we have a woman having to go to the hospital due to complications from an abortion.  The article is not clear on whether she was discharged from the clinic before going to the hospital.  Considering that the hospital was unsuccessful in contacting the clinic, I think it is safe to assume that they discharged her.  Furthermore, the fact that the clinic would not respond to the hospital regarding the treatment of one of their patient's tells me that this is yet another clinic that is not really concerned about the health of the woman.

It is possible that these are isolated cases in one city.  Some would even say that it is likely that these are isolated cases and I will give them that.  However, if you dig around you will see that problems like this are being uncovered across the country.

The fact of the matter with this law is that the State of Mississippi needs assurances that the women receiving abortions in Mississippi is given the proper and necessary care, especially in the events of complications.  While this law may have been drafted with the intent of shutting down the abortion industry in Mississippi, the law does bring abortion clinics to the same standard as all ambulatory surgical centers.  If this law were drafted with any other type of clinic in mind, it would likely be a non-issue.  If this law were really unfair, it would be holding abortion clinics to a higher standard, not bringing them up to the standard of other surgical centers.