I just found out a from a German friend of mine, that women who have an abortion are required to look at the aborted fetus. Apparently, they are also required to have a 'counseling session' before the abortion, in which they show how horrible a decision it is. (I don't know if this is an actual law, local practice or what, just that my German friend understands it to be widespread.)
I'm not opposed to having a counseling session, if the information is provided in a 'just the facts' way to let the woman know what potential health and psychological risks are. It's also OK to let her know what various social implications might be. However, such a session should not be aimed at convincing the woman to decide one way or the other.
I think that bombarding the woman with images of ripped apart fetuses does nothing but attack her mental well-being. I don't believe that she should be forced to not only make the difficult decision but also be tortured with having to see what remains of the fetus.
All that said, I can understand why they force women to see the fetus. It is reminiscent of the American policy at the end of WWII to march locals through the concentration camps to make them see what they allowed to happen.
I don't know. I guess it all comes down to whether you consider a fetus a living, thinking being or not. For me, I guess the line really does come down to when it becomes aware of its surroundings.
I don't think that I would personally feel comfortable with an abortion, but I wouldn't deny a woman the right to make that decision for herself.
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8 comments:
Bollocks. No woman was ever forced to look at the aborted fetus. There is a mandatory counselling, but they certainly do not try to convince you not to abort. Your german friend should inform himself before he states this ridiculous nonsense.
It happened to her friend. She's going to ask her mom about it, though. She thinks that it's the law, but maybe it is just the culture of the hospital there.
It could be the personal efforts of a hospital staff person. Since there are whole groups who advocate just these tactics and try to imposee them politically here in the U.S. (unsucessfully) then I would'nt be surprised.
The person subjected to this treatment should complain and make a stink about it.
Anonymous sounds like he has a lot of personal investment in beleiveing that it couldn't happen.
If this did indeed happen, I doubt it's standard practice and it's probably illegal. Actually, it must be illegal. If you just stop to think about it for a second, does it make any sense? The woman has already aborted the fetus, you can't undo that. I think I'd file this under 'urban legend' or something.
Also, altho the theoretical tie to post-WWII practices is interesting, it's not defensible as a theory: the practice was never an official policy, never involved all members of a town, etc. It happened, this is certain, but not on such a scale that the word 'policy' might conjure up. Also, it was mainly the Americans who did this, I doubt the Germans would have kept up such a horrifying practice, especially when the two events aren't related (does abortion = holocaust? I think not.)
anonymous,
Unfortunately, for you, this has become a matter of "a friend of a friend" and therefore suspect as a variety of urban legend, however my friend who told it to me had been told about it by the woman it happened to. The only reason that it came up, was that my friend had lost a baby through miscarriage, and was talking to her friend about it.
Does abortion = holocaust? Probably not. However, I've seen anti-abortion propaganda that suggests just that. (For a link to such an argument, see here: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/abortion_nazi_connection.htm)
Is that the reason why whatever medical staff made the woman look at the aborted fetus? Maybe. Maybe not. It's just a thought.
Forcing a woman to view an aborted fetus sounds sadistic. I agree that a complaint should be made if that did happen. It's certainly possible it could have been done by a staff with strong anti-abortion views.
I saw recently that abortions recently became available in Mexico City. The authories were "pleasantly surprised" that there weren't a huge number of women taking advantage of it. I think most women who don't want a child try to be responsible and avoid pregnancy in the first place (although there are some circumstances that come about during the pregnancy).
I wouldn't know what there would be to see; most women who choose to abort do so rather early on (myself included). One couldn't see much if the tissue is smaller than a pinky-fingernail. One of the doctors on staff mentioned that really, very few abortions are performed later than 8 weeks.
Living in Germany I can attest to the fact that mandatory pre-abortion counseling does exist. Prior to a change in the law about 10 years ago, abortion was completely illegal. Now it is allowed after counseling.
As a matter of fact, there was a major battle about the fact that a Catholic lay group Opus Dei wanted to continue doing the counseling; the Catholic church said no.
That said, I can't imagine forcing the woman to look at the fetus. This would not match German sensibilities. I could however imagine, that in a Catholic hospital, of which here are many, might do something of that kind. Not officially, just because some people are sick. Just think of what Operation Rescue does.
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