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How does one answer this question? Years ago, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that until the 24th week after conception, usually about 26 weeks after the last menstrual period (LMP), every woman or girl who becomes pregnant through ignorance, naiveté, carelessness, poverty, or just plain bad luck, or who is considering whether or not to carry a pregnancy for any other reason, may decide for herself whether to continue a pregnancy or to abort. A majority of Americans believe that safe, legal abortion should be available as an option for those who choose to end a pregnancy. This freedom to choose whether, when and by whom you will have a baby is, however, in extreme jeopardy so long as Republicans (the platform of the national Republican Party has long been committed to reversing Roe v. Wade) and so-called “Pro-Life” politicians dominate our political process.
First, you must settle in your own mind how you feel about abortion. If you believe abortion to be wrong in your case, a sin or “against the will of God,” if you believe that in having an abortion that you are killing a baby, then for you, the answer is simple: You should not have an abortion. The guilt and psychological pain you may suffer from having an abortion may be far more damaging to your long-term well being than having a child, no matter what difficulties that may imply.
Most women, when considering abortion, have both positive and negative feelings and this is perfectly normal. On one side is the fear of pain from the abortion itself, the shame of being pregnant and not wanting to have a child at this particular time and circumstance or with this partner, or perhaps you have received the devastating news that you are carrying a child with terrible abnormalities. You may fear that friends and loved ones may know or find out what you’re considering and think less of you. And there is the fear of injury, infertility or even death. You may be concerned that the “baby” you are carrying will suffer pain or terror at being so treated by its mother. You may be angry toward and resent your sexual partner and feel disgusted with yourself. You may wonder at your own ignorance, carelessness or bad luck. On the other hand, there is the sense of relief that you don’t have to continue this pregnancy, that your plans, hopes and dreams will not be shattered by the misfortune of an unwanted child, that there is this birth control of last resort. For that is exactly what abortion is in the final analysis – a method of birth control. It prevents the birth of a child when you are not ready, for whatever reason, to raise one. Abortion is certainly not the best method of birth control, but since contraception has failed you at this time, or you may have discovered that your baby will have terrible anomalies, perhaps incompatible with life, you still have abortion as an option.
Those who are anti-abortion call themselves Pro-Life. Without exception, they oppose safe, legal abortion for sectarian religious reasons. (There is, by the way, no monolithic Christian, Muslim or Jewish “position” on abortion. Well-meaning and thoughtful persons of all faiths, on both sides of the issue, may differ with others in their own tradition.) Pro-Lifers have advanced certain ideas and notions that may have raised questions or doubts about your decision in the minds even of you who already consider yourselves “Pro-Choice” and think that abortion is your best course. What follows are answers to some of those questions. If you have others, we will be happy to try to answer them.
There are no medical or surgical procedures without risk. What you have to do when considering abortion’s risks is to compare these with the risk of carrying the baby to term and delivering. You have no other options once you are pregnant. If you choose to abort before the 10th week after your last menstrual period (LMP), the risk of your dying from an abortion is about 1 in 200,000. If you choose to carry the pregnancy to term and deliver, your risk of dying from complications of that is about 1 in 10,000, or possibly significantly greater depending on your age, health and social status. A second thing that you may be worried about is the possibility of infertility or sterility caused by having an abortion. Abortion done by a qualified and experienced physician carries no greater risk of these complications than does carrying a baby to term and delivering, and in fact, the risks actually are considerably fewer. The risks of infection and injury during the abortion are minimal, but increase as your pregnancy advances while the risks of these complications in term pregnancy are very real. The risk of having to have major surgery following an abortion in the first ten weeks of pregnancy is probably considerably less than 1 in 10,000, while the risk of major surgery (usually cesarean section) with carrying a baby to term is about 1 in 5 at this time and destined to increase.
While there are a few studies which seem to suggest that there may be an association
between abortion and breast cancer, most of those who have carefully considered
this feel that there is no credible evidence which confirms such a relationship.
In fact, there is much more credible evidence that abstinence causes breast
cancer since the incidence of this disease is much, much higher in nuns than
any study has ever suggested might be the case among women who have had abortions.
For more information see the National Abortion Federation's Fact
Sheet on the subject.
If you choose to abort of your own free will, do not feel that family, spouse,
boyfriend or parent is forcing the choice on you, and if you don’t have
extremely strong religious feelings, or very strong moral prejudices against
abortion, then the answer for you is, No, you will not get “post abortion
syndrome.” There is no generally recognized psychological diagnosis associated
with freely chosen abortion. However, if you feel that abortion is not your
choice, but is being forced on you by others or if you feel that abortion is
wrong and sinful or that by having an abortion you are killing a baby, then
the answer for you might be that you may have significant sadness and regret
after an abortion, even severe depression. In this circumstance you should probably
not have an abortion without extensive legitimate counseling if you choose to
have the baby. Beware of So-called Christian counselors who too often have an
agenda that does not take into account your best interest and may do you great
harm. For more information about the myth of Post Abortion Syndrome please reference
the National Abortion Federation's Fact
Sheet on the subject.
No! Nor are we in the baby killing business! Every person begins as a chance
meeting between a living egg and a living sperm. Over the period of a few months,
the conceptus – that living thing which results from the joining of two
living things, the egg and sperm – should you decide to continue the pregnancy,
will develop all, or at least most, of those structures, functions and attributes
which we associate with a baby, a person. Scientists have divided the various
stages in the development of an adult human being, which flow one into the other
in a smooth continuum, into categories based on the conceptus’ anatomical
development and functional capacities. The fertilized egg has none of the functional
capacities or physical architecture that we identify as a baby. There obviously
does come a time when, unless it is electively or spontaneously aborted, the
conceptus becomes a baby. There is every good scientific reason to believe that
a less than 26 weeks LMP fetus should not be identified as a “baby.”
Prior to the 24th week of intrauterine life (26 weeks after the LMP) there is
very good evidence that the fetus cannot feel pain, that it has no thoughts,
no consciousness, no hopes, no fear, no sadness, no elation, love, hate or even
indifference. A baby has the capacity to do some minimum of these things. So
the answer is, No! You will not be killing a baby, and neither will we who do
your abortion.
Yes. There is always some pain with abortion, even if it may be no more than
the pain of the shots to dull the pain. During the abortion you will have the
choice of receiving an IVof Valium and Midazolam for relaxation and amnesia.
Most patients remember little or nothing about the procedure once the midazolam
is given.
Probably the safest time to have an abortion is between 6 and 8 weeks after
your LMP. However, with certain restrictions, we provide abortions here in the
clinic from the time you first discover the pregnancy (which is in rare instances
even before a woman has missed a period) and decide on abortion, and 18 weeks
after the gestation. As pregnancy progresses beyond 10 weeks, the risk of major
complications nearly doubles every two weeks. This continues up to 26 weeks
after which abortion is not generally available. We rarely provide abortions
in hospital after 18 weeks, but as Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita,
Kansas has had extensive experience with late second trimester abortions and
even some third trimester abortions for severe fetal anomalies, we almost always
refer the later patients to him. In-clinic abortion is available in Little Rock
up to 20 weeks and we also refer patients there to Dr. Jerry Edwards for those
more than 18 and less than 20 weeks.
At Fayetteville Women’s Clinic we usually see you a day or a few days
before the abortion (state law mandates that we provide you with certain information
at least one day prior to the abortion which sometimes may be done by phone
or you may receive this in person) for examination and discussion of your options,
concerns and fears, and then schedule the abortion at a mutually convenient
time. During this first visit, we will collect a medical history, do a limited
physical exam to determine if you really are pregnant, how far your pregnancy
has progressed and if you are physically fit for outpatient minor surgery or
if you have abnormalities of the reproductive organs that will make an in-office
abortion needlessly risky. We will also discuss with you the option of medical
abortion if you meet our guidelines for this procedure and are interested in
this route. You will be given this booklet, ABORTION! For me? which is as accurate
and truthful as we can make it, plus the state mandated information booklets
which we are required by law to provide you but which contain some minimal misinformation.
You may read or not read the state booklets, discard them or leave them here
for the next patient, as you decide. We will do an ultrasound examination to
determine approximately how far your pregnancy has advanced, the shape and position
of the uterus and any abnormalities of the pelvic structures that might affect
the technique of the abortion. Should you exhibit signs or symptoms of anemia,
we will obtain a hemoglobin and hematocrit level prior to the abortion and always
a blood typing unless you already have that available. If you are under 18 years
old, and a dependent, you are a minor in the eyes of this state, and Arkansas
law concerning parental notification must be obeyed. I, or your counselor, will
discuss this with you. Then, if all circumstances are appropriate, we will get
your informed consent signed after you have read and understood it, and we will
schedule the abortion.
Our experience here has been very good so far as significant complications are
concerned. In 1974, we had a patient who had a post-abortal infection that led
to infertility. Perhaps 1 in 100 patients will have to undergo a second D&C
because of excessive bleeding or cramping. There have been a few patients who
were discovered to have ectopic pregnancies (a pregnancy outside the uterus
that may require an abdominal operative procedure, either a full scale laprotomy
or a laproscopic procedure) before, during or after the abortion. We always
make every attempt to diagnose this before an abortion, but in rare instances
these efforts fail. About 1 in 30 patients has heavier bleeding or more pain
than anticipated requiring additional visits to ensure that no significant complications
are developing. The cost of these visits to the clinic is included in your payment
for the abortion. There may, however, be additional lab work necessary, which
is not included in the original fee. In our practice so far, our only major
complications have been the post operative infection in 1974, and in 2002 we
had a patient with an abnormal placentation called a placenta accreta which
required a visit to the hospital operating room for safe removal under a general
anesthesia by minor surgery. In 2003 we also had a minor perforation of the
body of the uterus that required no treatment. This does not mean that other
complications may never happen. The other most probable major and minor complications
are listed on the informed consent form and we will be happy to discuss them
with you during your signing of this document.
If you never have intercourse again, you will never again get pregnant. However,
once you have become sexually active, this is not a very realistic and may not
be even a desirable goal. Nearly every young woman who tells us, “Oh,
I won’t need anything for birth control because I’m not going to
have sex again,” we see for a second and even sometimes a third abortion.
It is much better to be prepared with contraceptive knowledge and methods and
not need them, than to need them and not be prepared. However, when you have
intercourse without proper preparation, you still can use the morning after
pill, also called emergency contraception (emergency contraception, or EC, is
not an emergency and I will be very grumpy if I am waked in the middle of the
night for a non-emergency) if you get in touch with us within 72 hours after
exposure. This can also be used if a condom slips off or breaks, but it is important
that you call as soon as possible during clinic hours. EC is not a substitute
for the regular use of an effective method of contraception and should not be
used as such.
Our clinic has at times been picketed in the past by persons who oppose reproductive freedom. It is important that if demonstrators should be here when you come, that you be aware that there is no way that these people can know why you are here. We usually see anywhere from 20 to 40 or more patients a day here and only a small number of you will be here for an abortion. If you feel that you are harassed, intimidated, or had your entry into the clinic blocked by these people, please notify us, the Fayetteville police, the prosecuting attorney and the local office of the FBI. There are local and federal laws that protect your unhindered entry into this clinic, but both you and we must make the complaint.
We are here to serve you, to make what is probably a very bad time better,
and as easy and as painless as possible. Every person who works here is on your
side, here to help you make the right choice for you.
Yes. Dr. William Harrison takes care of all phases of women’s health care except Obstetrics.
Yes, we accept new patients.
No, if you follow all of our after care, you should not have a problem getting pregnant in the future.
Most of the abortions we do, from the earliest time you know you are pregnant to 18 weeks, we do by surgical abortion as a D&C. Should you meet our requirements for these drugs, we also provide medical abortions using methotrexate or mefipristone, and cytotec. For surgical abortions we use a combination of Valium and Versed intravenously which makes you forget the entire procedure after you receive these. Then we give you a paracervical block which numbs the mouth of the womb and remove the pregnant tissue. We have enclosed a booklet, Abortion! For me? which is included in some of the essays we have enclosed with this material, and that explains how we perform surgical abortions at FWC. We have also included an essay, Why I Do Abortions, which Dr. Harrison wrote his patients and school children several years ago. We think most questions are addressed for abortion patients in these two essays.
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