I originally wrote this diary after John McCain's comments during the 2008 election debates. After reading and watching the commentary on the "rape insurance" Michigan law, I thought my diary should be revisited. Join me over the orange ovaries:
John McCain said during one of the 2008 debates that the "health of the mother [air quotes] ... is the extreme pro-abortion position." Really? I went through an abortion due to a cornual pregnancy. I was ridiculed and obstructed by my doctor for wanting 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? I had one before this pregnancy and it blew up and required major emergency surgery. It turned out that scar tissue from an IUD caused this.
I became pregnant a few months later, and my new doctor (I had just changed my insurance to Kaiser) 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 will 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, after gasping at this response, I want to live. She said, stop crying in my office. I said, I want a D&C RIGHT NOW or we are finding your supervisor She backed off and said ok.
When I got to the hospital, I told the nurses prepping me about the doctor's response. They were horrified and said they would make sure I was ok, and that I should report the doctor (pretty rare, I know).
Afterwards, the doctor called my husband and admitted that I needed the operation. She never called me again or admitted this to me. This happened in 1991. What could have happened to me if abortions were illegal?
The fact that John McCain ridiculed women who need 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 still decided to write this. 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 the Republicans in charge?? I shudder to think.
Although this happened 22 years ago, the pain is still there. Losing a wanted pregnancy, facing possible death, and attempted obstruction by a physician was very difficult. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.