Her name is Michelle

As I listened to her story, I was stunned. I kept asking myself, why are you surprised? I’ve heard it before, the routine that a woman or girl goes through when she goes in, how the procedure works, the forms, the fees… why, then, was this story so shocking?

As she talked, I fought back feelings of rage that no one was there to protect her, that the people who wanted to protect her were kept away, that in fear of what her father might do, she went through with something she didn’t want to protect others. But she couldn’t protect the ones most vulnerable, herself and the 24-week-old child she carried. Just minutes before she testified, another witness had been answering questions and a legislator had asked him if he knew anyone who had been coerced into having an abortion. He said no. And now a young mother was standing there saying her family, by their actions and threats and physically escorting her to the clinic, had forced her to have an abortion she didn’t want. No one had planned the earlier question and this woman had not even been in the room at the time and her name kept confidential until the moment she walked to the podium.

The room was silent as she talked. She knew how far along she was, she wanted the baby, she had plans to marry and go to school, her fiancé’s family was supportive… but then her parents found out. All their dreams for her future seemed shattered. They were upset that she was too far along to have an abortion. But facing that reality, her father was slowly coming around… until her mother found Dr. Tiller on the Internet. Her mother made her call the clinic. A secretary, who also apparently doubles as a phone counselor, asked her how far along she was, and sent her a packet. It came, with answers to every concern. It’s okay, God will forgive you, this will fix all your problems and you can go on with your life. Still, the young woman, just barely 18 years old, days away from graduating from high school, didn’t want to do it. Her parents insisted and offered bribes in the way of school financing, a car, and money. Finally, fearing for her fiancé’s family’s safety, she agreed. Her mother took her, her grandmother paid the bill. They arrived late, while a video was playing, explaining how Dr. Tiller’s father had provided abortions privately for his patients before Roe v Wade and now Dr. Tiller continues this legacy, “helping” women who “need” his services. Later that day the committee would hear of tragic stories of non-viable babies who’s parents used Dr. Tiller, but those stories didn’t change the impact of the story this young mother was telling us…

Up to this point she had seen no doctors. She was healthy, took good care of herself, and had no reason to think her baby wasn’t healthy as well. At the clinic she was given a sonogram but not allowed to see. The baby was measured and given a gestational age of 23 weeks 6 days. On her chart was written the notation: non-viable fetus. Why? No reason given. One doctor, the first she had seen or talked to in her pregnancy, then injected her baby with a drug that stopped his heart.

Kansas Law says:
excerpts from Kansas’ late-term abortion law:
No person shall perform or induce an abortion when the fetus is viable unless such person is a physician and has a documented referral from another physician not legally or financially affiliated with the physician performing or inducing the abortion and both physicians determine that:
(1) The abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or
(2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. …
… If the physician determines the gestational age of the fetus is 22 or more weeks, prior to performing an abortion upon the woman the physician shall determine if the fetus is viable by using and exercising that degree of care, skill and proficiency commonly exercised by the ordinary skillful, careful and prudent physician in the same or similar circumstances. …
——
Source: Kansas Statute 65-6703. (provided by Kansas Associated Press)

When she finished speaking, one legislator asked her some questions: when did you find out your baby was listed as non-viable, have you seen the sonogram from your records, how do they compare to ones you saw with your later children. She answered that it wasn’t until she requested her records and received them this summer (four years after the abortion) that she found out the doctor justified her abortion by categorizing her fetus as non-viable. Looking at the sonogram, she saw no evidence of anything but a perfectly healthy fetus.

How can this be? Why do we have laws prohibiting late term abortions that aren’t being enforced? Who is at fault, the Board of Healing Arts? Every time they review a complaint about Dr. Tiller, they wash their hands and say, we see no problem. It probably won’t surprise you to know they are all appointees of “pro-choice” Governors. Could it be they are biased to agree with whatever justification is given for late-term abortions, even if it doesn’t meet the accepted standard of care among a majority of board certified obstetricians?

What about the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, are they charged with passing on the forms that don’t show adequate justification? They claim they just create the forms and make sure they are filled in; it’s not up to them to make sure they are filled in with justifiable information. It probably won’t surprise you to know an appointee who answers directly to our “pro-choice” Governor heads up the KDHE.

So, what about the Attorney General? The last AG who tried to investigate was met with a hostile Kansas Supreme Court (appointed by those same Governor’s mentioned above), hostile press, and thousands upon thousands of campaign dollars used to defeat him last November. Dollars provide by Dr. Tiller through his PAC, run by a woman who tried to convince the committee that without him, women would have to give birth to babies who would suffer and die. And our current AG? He’s said he’s not willing to make evaluations of whether or not something was medically justified.

Most Kansans presume that if someone is breaking the law, they will be caught and punished. They assume that if a doctor is not practicing good medicine, the Board of Healing Arts will discipline that doctor and take away their medical license if the offense is grave enough. If these things aren’t happening, are the laws actually putting people in more danger, since they trust they are protected by the law and aren’t? If Michelle was at 22 weeks or later (and she was, as her records show) and neither her life nor health was in imminent danger (and it wasn’t) and her baby was viable (and it appears the baby was likely viable), was she not harmed by the lack of enforcement of our laws? She should have been turned away, told there was no reason for an abortion. Instead, they took her money, killed the fetus, and sent her home. How is that providing good, compassionate medical care?

We live in an imperfect world. Sometimes babies who are perfectly healthy die. Sometimes babies have no chance at survival and die before or shortly after birth, and are mourned by the parents and families. Does speeding up the day they die really help? Is our society so afraid of dealing with pain and suffering that we would choose to end someone’s life for them rather than help them cope as best we can? And what about the babies who are said to have no hope, who defy the odds and not only survive longer than expected but sometimes go on to live healthy lives? Should we not be erring on the side of caution, protecting life, rather than protecting ourselves from the pain of seeing a loved one coping with pain or disabilities?

I know it’s not a popular thing to say in some circles, but perhaps the very children who some say shouldn’t have to live are here to change us, make us more compassionate and tolerant people. Maybe their short lives, even if they didn’t make it past birth, will inspire someone to solve the disease that took them too early. And maybe, just maybe, some of them are miracles waiting to happen. How will we know when a doctor in Wichita, claiming he’s doing the compassionate thing, is ending their lives too soon?

After listening to doctors and lawyers and lobbyists and parents over 3 days of testimony, I found myself trying to get my head around everything we had heard and realized it is actually rather simple. There are those who say quality of life is how we should determine who lives and who dies. If someone is a burden to you and serves no apparent purpose in society, it is okay to end their life. There are those who say (I heard it just this week) that if there is the possibility that someone could develop attachment disorder and later go on to murder someone, we should err on the side of “caution” and end their life before it begins, as if we can predict how an individual will respond to what they face in life. At the other end, there are those who believe all humans, whether still developing before birth or living their last moments on earth, have value because it is what makes us human.

We have the capacity to value life, unlike the animals and nature around us. The day society forgets that - and I fear we heading down that road - we are a society doomed to self-destruct.