Just to remind all of what's at stake, I wrote this during the 2008 Presidental debates:
John McCain said during the debate that the “health of the mother [air quotes] ... is the extreme pro-abortion position.” Really? I've been through an abortion due to a cornual pregnancy. I was ridiculed by my Kaiser doctor for this. It was an utter nightmare. Let me explain what a cornual pregnancy is...
You've heard of an ectopic pregnancy? Where the egg implants itself in the fallopian tube? In my case, it blew up and required major emergency surgery. It turned out that scar tissue caused this. I became pregnant a few months later, and my doctor said, well, I think you have a cornual pregnancy. What is that, I said. She (!) said, your uterus is shaped like a triangle, with the fallopian tubes entering from the top corners. An cornual pregnancy is when the egg implants itself near the fallopian tube corners. If it grows there, it will explode your uterus, and you die immediately. I said, what should I do? She said, oh, wait a couple of weeks so we can see it on the sonogram. I said, what's the risk I could die? She said (being the right to lifer, I found out later) just trust in god that you will be OK. I said, I want to live. She said, stop crying in my office. I said, I want a D&C RIGHT NOW. She backed off and said ok. The nurses in the hospital were horrified when I told them this. Afterwards, the doctor called my husband and admitted that I needed the operation. She never admitted this to me. This happened in 1991. What could have happened here if abortions were illegal? The fact that John McCain, in the third debate, ridiculed women who want a health exemption for an abortion is utterly amazing. I would be dead now without one. I walked around the block after I heard this to compose myself. And I'm still furious. I have two daughters, one my miracle child [as I now know], born in 1986. I also have a stepdaughter, also born in 1986. What would happen to them with McCain in charge?? I shudder to think. Update: Thank you all for all your support. Although this happened 17 years ago, the pain is still raw. Losing a pregnancy, facing possible death, and attempted obstruction by a physician was very difficult. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy!