Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Apparently, Politicians are Doctors in Disguise...

SecretMethod70 · 04-19-2007, 03:53 PM

willravel: If I may be so lazy as to directly quote from another statement on the subject:

Quote:

90% of abortions occur in the first trimester.
Intact dilation and extraction (also known as IDX, or sometimes just D&X) is used in approximately .17% of all abortions.
It is probable (though definitive data do not exist) that the majority of IDX procedures are performed because of fetal abnormalities.
IDX, because it delivers a fetus whole, creates less risk of uterine perforation from bone fragments than other forms of late-term abortion.
IDX has less risk of infection than other forms of late-term abortion, because it takes less time and requires the insertion of fewer instruments into the uterus.
IDX (like other late-term abortion procedures) can prevent a woman who has found that her fetus is dead or not viable from having to undergo labor and delivery of a dead fetus.
IDX can allow women whose fetuses are not viable to view and hold their dead babies after delivery.
Most IDX procedures are performed between 20-24 weeks gestation--that is, within the second trimester, and before fetal viability.
In cases where a fetus has severe hydrocephalus (water on the brain, which can cause a fetuses head to be grotesquely enlarged), the options to a woman may be IDX or a Cesarean section--that is, a three-day outpatient procedure or major surgery, with attendant potential complications.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists explicitly opposed the ban.

The law allows for IDX to be performed to save a woman's life--but not to save, say, her uterus. Because there are other surgical options for late-term abortions, it is highly unlikely that banning IDX will prevent a single abortion. It may, however, prevent some women from having the safest procedure for their particular circumstances.

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