Friday, April 07, 2006

Termination for Medical Reasons - The purpose of this blog

I have created this blog to be a clearinghouse of information for any and all media coverage given to pregnancy termination for medical reasons.

Most people who hear the word "abortion" think of the roughly 90% of abortions which are performed for non-medical reasons (meaning both the mother and baby are healthy) and usually in the first trimester. The other roughly 10% of abortions are had by women who have been told (usually well into the second trimester) that their baby has one or more serious medical issues. After hearing such devastating news (who ever thinks that such an awful thing will happen to THEM?) they make the heartbreaking decision to interrupt their pregnancy.

It is these women who are the other face of abortion. The face that no one wants to see when they are arguing for an end to all abortions. The face of a heartbroken and isolated mother who chose to set her baby free. The mother who selflessly took on a lifetime of grief and emotional pain so that her child wouldn't have to feel physical pain for even one moment. The mother who was willing to say goodbye to her much wanted, much planned and much loved baby before she even got a chance to say hello.

I am hoping that with this blog I can create a centralized location for people to read about termination for medical reasons in the news. It is a topic that isn't covered by the media very often. Abortion by itself is such a hot-button issue that when you throw into the mix the women who terminate for medical reasons it makes it hard for people to continue to think of abortion in such black-and-white terms.

Although I will allow comments on this blog (for now), I did NOT create this to be a debate forum for the topic of abortion. I am only using this blog as a place to share links to stories and articles related to termination for medical reasons with others who so rarely come across such items in the media.