My sister deserves better than Serrin Foster

Serrin Foster believes “women deserve better than abortion”™. I believe my sister deserves better than Serrin Foster. Why? Because my sister has been ill since birth. She was born before term and had a malformed esophagus. It quite literally ended not far below the area where it splits off into the lungs. Quick thinking doctors saved her life by inserting a tube to connect it with the rest of her digestive system. Over the course of her life she has cheated death more than a few times. A few years ago an astute doctor caught something else. Her heart didn’t beat quite like it was supposed to beat.

A couple of tests later and the verdict came down. My sister had the same heart condition that delivered the killing blow to our mother during an epileptic seizure when we were children. I forget the technical name, but it’s caused by genetics and results in a heart valve that doesn’t do it’s job very well. It, combined with her other health problems over the years, was slowly killing her, literally suffocating her to death.

After an ill advised pacemaker failed to improve her health, she was fitted with an internal defibrillator. Though her health has improved drastically, we all know that one day she will be probably require a heart transplant because there is no drug in the world that can fix her heart. She’s also been recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

She’s 29 years old, is the mother of two young daughters and is about two months into her third pregnancy due in large part to a doctor who refused to give her birth control (you can do that to poor people apparently). We aren’t kidding ourselves. The next several months are going to be hell. Her obstetrician hasn’t given a due date because the goal is to keep “it in there”as long as possible.

My sister has turned down an abortion at this time. She’s not stupid nor silly and realizes it may get to the point where there is no other option but to abort. Ever the optimist, she hopes that she can carry it long enough that should serious problems arise, it’ll just be premature.

But, if problems do arise and she must abort – Serrin Foster supports a ban on what could be a life saving procedure for her. Anti-choicers like Serrin Foster call it “partial birth abortion”. Those of us looking reality in the eye call it “a manner in which to terminate a pregnancy that while not a pretty thing to imagine, should be available in order to lower any threats to the woman’s health, which should always be our primary goal in these situations”.

Serrin Foster thinks that should my sister reach that point, she should have to go through a procedure that requires the in-utero dismemberment of the fetus which is then removed piece by piece. Of course, that’s dependent upon if Serrin Foster would even allow an abortion to begin with.

The fact that such a procedure will probably wreak more havoc on my sister’s mind than the abortion itself? Not important. The fact that such a procedure could seriously jeopardize my sister’s very life? Not important. Why anyone would want to force someone to take that route, I really don’t know. But, I know one thing for sure.