Karen Santorum's 20 week abortion

[Rosa]

This story just gives me the shivers, the original angle is that Rick Santorum would like to make the choice he made for his wife illegal, but the overall denial of autonomy is striking - he chose to have the hospital give Karen drugs to progress labor (to save her life) when she was unconscious, when she woke up she demanded they stop because she felt the treatment was an abortion, but they refused. I have no idea if Karen Santorum now supports her husband's decision because she's come to think he was right, or if they believe in wifely submission, but he did have the option to support her refusal of treatment when she was unconscious, if he really supported her convictions.

Also, if you read to the bottom, they took the dead fetus home so their older kids could meet it, just like crazy Emma (except at a later, less gory gestational age.).

http://oursilverribbon.org/blog/?p=188

[Rachel333]

Interesting.

I don't like Santorum, but I don't think taking the fetus home was anything like what Emma did. It would have actually looked like a baby, not just a lump of bloody stuff, and I'm assuming they didn't have their kids try to pray it back to life.

[treemom]

Interesting.

I don't like Santorum, but I don't think taking the fetus home was anything like what Emma did. It would have actually looked like a baby, not just a lump of bloody stuff, and I'm assuming they didn't have their kids try to pray it back to life.

Well precisely.

And to be fair, they didn't terminate. They induced the pregnancy. There is a difference. The baby could have been born alive.

I don't like Santorum either. But I can't snark on this, even with their blazing hypocrisy.

[Rosa]

The thing that really gets me is the complete disregarding of what Karen Santorum wanted. I don't post this snarkily - the story is just a complete disregard of every pregnant woman's wishes, from the anti-abortion Karen Santorum to any other woman in her same position, who the Santorums have been campaigning to take away the choice from.

And it was considered by the medical professionals and the couple as an abortion at the time, according to the interview they gave. If that poor woman in Iowa could be charged with possibly throwing herself down the stairs to induce abortion, I am 100% sure that in a state that didn't allow 20 week abortions this case would have been considered an abortion.

[treemom]

The thing that really gets me is the complete disregarding of what Karen Santorum wanted. I don't post this snarkily - the story is just a complete disregard of every pregnant woman's wishes, from the anti-abortion Karen Santorum to any other woman in her same position, who the Santorums have been campaigning to take away the choice from.

And it was considered by the medical professionals and the couple as an abortion at the time, according to the interview they gave. If that poor woman in Iowa could be charged with possibly throwing herself down the stairs to induce abortion, I am 100% sure that in a state that didn't allow 20 week abortions this case would have been considered an abortion.

Really? Medical professionals? Because in general I have always heard another term which escapes me...MuseMama...can you help me out here?

[Soldier of the One]

Emma taking home the 'fetus' to the kids and praying it back to life (not) was the ultimate 'This Makes My Head Explode' moment at FJ.

I clicked on the link unknowingly and I instantly regretted it... *shudders*

[Rowan]

I don't understand how the fetus was the source of the infection.

If it had died previously - yes.

But how could things go from doing this rare surgery (which they would not have done if the fetus was already in distress, I would think) to deadly infection in almost no time at all?

You would think that it was the fact that the uterus was compromised that would be the source of the infection, not the fetus itself.

But that requires thinking. :naughty:

[Kitchen Princess]

They operated on the fetus, so if the incision in the fetus was infected, then it is obviously endangering the mother.

(eta: My husband had surgery last summer and his incision went from fine to horribly infected in a matter of hours, which required 2 more surgeries and 6 weeks of antibiotics self-administered at home via PIC-line after that. Infection is the shit and you gotta deal with it immediately.)

[Rosa]

It's totally possible that since the whole story was condensed into a news article, a lot is missing. Including the medical terminology treemom mentioned. But there are a lot of problems with pregnancy that are only cured through not being pregnant anymore. It did sound like the surgery was a real long shot done just because there were no other options that would end up with a live baby.

[kb2]

They didn't induce the delivery, Karen went into premature labor. They called induction of labor at 20 weeks an abortion. If they had induced labor, their baby could have been born alive, but they would have considered it an abortion. To induce delivery would be actively giving up on the baby's life, to accept 100% that the baby wasn't going to make it. That would be heartbreaking, and I can understand their perception that inducing would be tantamount to abortion. But then they say they would have induced if Karen's life were in immediate danger, and then write laws that try to make that illegal.

It doesn't really matter what the situation is called, their stance is hypocritical.

[SamuraiKatz]

wow....just wow. I'm speechless. Rick Santorum is beyond the pale...