Letters to the Editor: Shame on ‘pro-life’ states for scaring doctors and endangering patients

To the editor: First, let’s distinguish what an abortion is and isn’t. An abortion is the termination of a viable pregnancy for medical or personal reasons. Proper management of an ectopic pregnancy is not an abortion, because the embryo is not viable. (“Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, being turned away from ERs despite federal law,” Aug. 12)

Yes, the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy, which can have devastating consequences for the patient, is not always clear. Inserting a needle into the abdominal cavity (easily done in an emergency room) can determine if there is blood, which would constitute a surgical emergency. I remember one woman whose doctor delayed her surgery; she died from internal bleeding as she was finally being put on the operating room table.

I find it unconscionable that an ER doctor would send away a patient suspected of having an ectopic pregnancy because the physician is scared of possibly receiving jail time.

Texas law shields doctors from prosecution for terminating an ectopic pregnancy, even if the diagnosis is incorrect. Still, I fault Texas and other states for putting this fear into doctors because of their zeal to stop all abortions, despite the lawmakers’ lack of medical knowledge of the repercussions of their edicts.

Do we want the fate of these women and girls to be in the hands of these ideological politicians and antiabortion zealots? Or do we want it in the hands of doctors who know the realities here and how to save their patients’ lives?

J. Kelly Mantis, M.D., Manhattan Beach

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To the editor: The Associated Press article about women being sent home from emergency rooms while suffering miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies ran on Page A4 of the print edition. It should have been on the front page.

This religious-based idiocy perpetrated in red states by the supposed pro-family party has resulted in women possibly losing their ability to have children because doctors and hospitals are afraid to run afoul of these antiabortion laws.

Please, think twice before you vote Republican.

Janet Cerswell, Rancho Cucamonga