Mifegymiso... Women be damned
Health Canada is holding up a standard of care in its directive to physicians regarding the abortion pill: Mifegymiso. Again the discussion around abortion reveals the radical position of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and others. Their cavalier regard for the health and well-being of women is maintained in ways that treatments for breast cancer, cervical cancer, uterine cancer never would be. In the end, a powerful hormonal drug is being given to women who will have to tolerate side effects not to cure a life-threatening illness, rather to kill their unborn child. Abortion remains the fulcrum in a mad dash for ‘freedom’ so now women be damned.
Requiring that a doctor be trained to prescribe Mifegymiso and also requiring that a doctor witness the patient take the first dose of this powerful drug, are just responsible medical practice. Tight controls may affect access but access without tight controls can lead to death. Women in rural Canada, whether small town or northern communities cannot be betrayed by a healthcare just because they have come to represent a cause.
Abortion whether chemical or ‘surgical’ remains a desperate final answer to a temporary situation. A woman is never the same again. An unborn child dies. But with Mifegymiso, the death of that child is not guaranteed. It does not always occur. Women can have to undergo surgical procedures in spite taking the drug. Women experience heavy bleeding after using Mifegymiso. How many? Well more than one woman per month according to numbers provided by U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Once again in defending the right to life of the unborn child, the anti-abortion movement also defends the well-being of women. The pro-abortion movement would claim that a young woman alone in her bathroom is the apex of abortion services. The anti-abortion movement would state that a woman is not to be left to navigate difficult times. In fact it’s the pro-life movement that has historically offered help to pregnant women or helped them to offer the gift of their child in adoption. Facing a crisis pregnancy or an unplanned pregnancy is not easy. No one claims it is. But it is also not about a cause celebre. To be pro-life is to be pro-woman. That should be the fulcrum of medical practice too.