Saturday, August 18, 2012

18 August 2012 What price incubation?



Pregnant teen dies after abortion ban delays her chemo treatment for leukemia
From Rafael Romo, Senior Latin American Affairs Editor
updated 1:20 AM EDT, Sat August 18, 2012

            “CNN) -- The mother of a pregnant leukemia patient who died after her chemotherapy was delayed over anti- abortion laws is accusing doctors of not putting her daughter's health first.
The 16-year-old's plight attracted worldwide attention after she had to wait for chemotherapy because of an abortion ban in the Dominican Republic.
Doctors were hesitant to give her chemotherapy because such treatment could terminate the pregnancy -- a violation of the Dominican Constitution, which bans abortion. Some 20 days after she was admitted to the hospital, she finally started receiving treatment.
She died Friday, a hospital official said….”

Cassi Creek:  This death in the Dominican Republic is the shadow of things to come, if we allow the election of Romney/Ryan to take place.  The social calendar will be rolled back to the days of theocracies and oligarchies.  Medical care, particularly for women, will be controlled by religious dictates. 
          There is no assurance that Rosa Hernandez would have survived leukemia had she been allowed to undergo chemotherapy.  Chemotherapy might have induced a spontaneous abortion, terminating her 13 weeks pregnancy.  However, the dictates of a theocracy condemned her to an ugly, painful, and futile death caused by a treatable disease.  Apparently, the concerns of the young woman and her mother had no weight in the matter.
          To the Dominican Republic, the Roman Catholic Church, and to Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, Ms. Hernandez had less worth than a fetus.  She was, in their view, little more than a biological incubator. 
          This is the rollback point for women’s health care that Romney, Ryan, and the teavangelists want force upon the women of the United States.  Can we wind up with women reluctant to serve as incubators being forced to carry unwanted fetuses?  Will some be confined to padded cells, chained to their beds from conception to delivery?  It sounds extreme, to be sure.  So does denying chemotherapy to a 16 year old. 

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