Abortion

I've been reluctant to write about this topic, but I think I should. We had a great lecture on medical and surgical abortion earlier this week. Abortion is a hotly contested topic, but I am not an expert and this is not a forum for political controversy. Instead, I want to write about what I learned. Nearly half of pregnancies are unintended, and in the majority of those, some form of birth control was used. Abortions are the most common surgery in the U.S. for women of reproductive age, and nearly a third of women will have had an abortion by age 45. Those statistics were fairly surprising to me.

It is also important to know that most (~90%) of abortions are first trimester abortions, not the second trimester abortions that are often the heat of debate. First trimester abortions are far safer than giving birth. The lecture also covered reasons why women get abortions (including why they get second trimester abortions). We learned about the different medicines and surgical maneuvers used in abortion.

I think all physicians need to know about this. So many patients consider it, undergo it, have questions about it, etc. that a physician would be derelict in his duty if he did not learn the medical side of abortion. But a physician should not be required to perform one if it is against his conscience. Indeed, I'm not sure how I would feel about performing an abortion (especially a second trimester one). But I did learn a lot from the lecture this week.