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Re: Stem CellsFrom: Robert J. Carpenter, Jr. MD (zygote@icsi.net)Sat Sep 25 14:38:00 2004
<?xml version="1.0" ?><html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Below is an article that demonstrates what has occurred in Texas and will likely occur in the future, assuming Bush has the opportunity to appoint replacements for Stevens and O'Connor. FYI I don't really expect replies. Since I am prochoice and I don't try to force my opinion on others, please no flamming remarks. If you don't like the article, remember there are many Texas women who have neither the resources or the support to go elsewhere!</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Abortion Law Refugees</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Women needing late-term procedures can no longer get them in Texas.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>BY JOYCE TSAI</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Julia takes part in a Washington, D.C., abortion rights march, in memory</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>of her unborn son.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Julia had already decorated her unborn son's nursery, when an ultrasound</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>at 22 weeks revealed that he was a tiny body of suffering. Severe,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>permanent muscle contractions had swelled his skull and joints and</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>deformed his legs and his hands and feet were clubbed. His muscle tissue</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>had deteriorated to only a quarter of normal size. By the time the shadowy</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>image on the ultrasound was deciphered, she realized she was facing the</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>unthinkable.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"He would have never been able to walk, sit upright, hold a pen ... run,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>or crawl. He would never even be able to hold himself up in a wheelchair,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>let alone push himself around in it," Julia said. But most haunting in her</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>mind was the image of her son unable to suck his own thumb. "It seemed</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>like such a travesty to withhold from a child even the ability to console</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>itself," said the Austin woman, who asked that her full name not be used.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>With only a few days in which to make a decision, Julia and her husband,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>after much soul searching, determined that the best outcome was not a</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>brief life filled with suffering and surgery. "Our son would not have</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>lived longer than a year or so, and he would have required surgery after</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>surgery just to achieve one year," Julia said. "We decided that</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>termination of the pregnancy was the only caring option." She recalls how</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>the couple spent time saying their final goodbyes. "My husband held my</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>hand as I prayed and handed Thomas over to heaven," Julia said.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>A year and a half and two miscarriages later, Julia is pregnant for the</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>fourth time. But she is concerned about a new law in Texas that it</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>virtually impossible for women to terminate their pregnancies from 16</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>weeks onward. "My husband and I deserve to be able to save this child</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>[from suffering] just as we saved Thomas, should we be faced with the</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>horrible choice again," Julia said, "It is a decision that no mortal</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>should ever have to face, but one that I would gladly make again to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>prevent any of my children from suffering."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Elective abortions are still legal in Texas until the third trimester, or</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>about 24 weeks. But since Jan. 1, because of the new law, there's</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>practically no place in the state that a woman can get one after 16 weeks.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Texas women are being forced to travel to Louisiana, Arkansas, and Kansas</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>to have the procedures done.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Before January, Fort Worth's West Side Clinic, for instance, saw five to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>15 women each week seeking abortions beyond the 16-week stage. It was one</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>of only two clinics providing that service to West Texas. Changes that</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>would allow the clinic to perform such abortions, under the new law, would</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>cost about $2 million, without increasing patient safety, said clinic</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>official Bob Gross.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"We are seeing a lot of reproductive refugees of the system," said Bethany</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Herrera, patient relations supervisor at Routh Street Clinic in Dallas.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"They come to the clinic looking to get help, but we have no choice but to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>send them away with referrals out of state."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>In spring 2003, a bill called the Woman's Right to Know Act whipped up a</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>storm of controversy in the Texas Legislature because of three provisions:</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>It instituted a 24-hour waiting period between when a woman seeks an</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortion and when it can be performed, directed that a 20-page so-called</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"Woman's Right to Know" booklet be given to prospective patients, and</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>required abortion providers to keep the identities of all their patients</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>in their records. The booklet, along with vivid pictures of fetuses, lists</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>alternatives to abortion and gives what many have called inaccurate</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>information on health risks associated with the procedure.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>But the bill as passed also includes another requirement that managed to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>escape the floodlights of controversy and debate: Abortions from 16 weeks</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>onward now can be performed only in hospitals and ambulatory surgical</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>centers.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>The clause is a major Catch-22. Very few Texas hospitals perform elective</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortions, and the few that do charge extremely high fees and require that</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>the patients go through complicated ethics reviews. And of the state's</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>hundreds of surgical centers, none performs abortions.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Abortion rights supporters and providers say that -- while the provision</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>was ostensibly aimed at protecting the health of pregnant women -- it</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>actually endangers them. They say the law makes follow-up care more</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>difficult to obtain and denies the procedure to mothers who late in their</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>pregnancies discover that the fetuses they are carrying have serious and</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>often irreversible deformities. In fact, abortion rights supporters</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>believe the provision was intentionally designed to make such abortions</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>unobtainable in Texas.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>A videotape of floor debate on the bill shows the sponsor, staunch</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortion opponent Frank Corte Jr. of San Antonio, using a map to show the</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>locations of more than 250 ambulatory surgery centers around the state,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>where abortions could be performed. Herrera, of the Routh Street Clinic,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>said Rep. Corte denied during debate on the bill that the provision would</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>limit access to abortion. "I'm surprised his nose didn't grow longer than</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Pinocchio's," she said.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Kathi Seay, the Republican legislator's policy advisor, denied the charge.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"I can assure you that he did not misrepresent the implications; he was</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>not dishonest in any way -- shape, form, or fashion," she said. "He was</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>very upfront with the number of ambulatory surgical centers in the state,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>and the fact that -- if there are physicians that choose to do those in</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>those settings -- there should not be a lack of access at all." Which, in</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>a way, is the point Corte's opponents make: The centers don't do</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortions, so access is denied.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Gross, vice president of Fort Worth's West Side Clinic, said the new law</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>greatly increases the already-heavy burden for women seeking such</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>procedures. Such women must now spend much more time and money in</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>obtaining abortions, the cost of which usually increases for every week it</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>is delayed.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"Most often, women seeking abortion after 16 weeks are women who wanted to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>have a baby but discover late in their term that they have fetal anomalies</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>incompatible with life," said Sarah Wheat, director of public affairs for</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Fetal tests such</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>as amniocentesis routinely are not performed before 16 weeks gestation,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>and results don't come in until after 20 weeks. "If the physician</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>recommends that she terminate the pregnancy, what can she do if there are</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>no places for her to go in Texas?" Wheat asked.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Kyleen Wright, president of the Texans for Life Coalition, disagreed. She</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>said that "just a tiny percentage of women" seek abortions for reasons</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>related to the mother's health or fetal abnormalities. "You don't make</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>policy on two percent [of the population]; you make policy on the 98</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>percent," she said. "Far more are protected by that law than the small</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>number that are inconvenienced."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Another group affected are teen-agers, who make up a third of the women</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>obtaining second trimester abortions nationally, said Diana Philip,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>executive director of Jane's Due Process, which promotes fair and equal</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>access to reproductive choice for Texas teen-agers. Young women often wait</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>until the second trimester, she said, because of lack of medical care,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>trauma from rape or incest, or fear of an abusive household. In one case,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>she said, a first-generation Mexican-American teen-ager's family told her</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>"she'd be hurt, disowned, and thrown out of the house if she ever came</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>home pregnant," Philip said. She hasn't heard of a single teen- ager making</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>it out of state on her own. "The patient just doesn't make it there," she</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>said.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>No agency or group tracks the number of women leaving the state for</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortions because of the new law. But a North Louisiana clinic director,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>who asked not to be named, said about 20 Texas women a week now make the</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>trip to her facility to seek abortions after 16 weeks. "But we get phone</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>calls from a whole lot more," she said. "We've gotten women from all over</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Texas -- McAllen, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Abilene. ... They are surprised</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>to find so many restrictions in place. They seem to think it's been done</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>secretly so that they just didn't know what was going on."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>In Mississippi, lawmakers in March passed an even more restrictive law,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>restricting abortions from 13 weeks on. But according to news reports, a</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the Mississippi law on</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>July 23, stating that it "did nothing new to protect patient health." The</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>decision could spur a court test of the Texas law. Janet Creps, a staff</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>attorney for the national Center for Reproductive Rights, said her group</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>might challenge the 16-week provision in Texas if the Mississippi ruling</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>becomes final and is upheld by appellate courts.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Creps believes that the new Texas law does little to make abortion safer</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>but definitely makes it more expensive, because of the requirements it</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>imposes on providers. In order to be considered a surgical center, an</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortion clinic would have to meet requirements regulating air flow,</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>firewalls, corridor width and room size, staffing, and even the number of</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>parking spaces needed for physicians and staff, Creps said. "These</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>structural requirements are big-ticket items that would require closing</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>down the clinics and doing a lot of physical plant changes," she said.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>In the end, said Herrera, of the Routh Street clinic, "It's the same</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>procedure that doctors in clinics have performed in clinics for the past</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>30 years with an enviable record of safety."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>However, abortion opponent Wright said that safety record is not so</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>enviable, because reporting of complications from abortions has been "very</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>deceptive." Often when patients are taken to a hospital, "physicians will</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>report the complication as being a result of pregnancy rather than</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortion," she said. "They [abortion providers] have been very successful</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>at masking their safety record."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Kae McLaughlin, TARAL's executive director, said that such allegations are</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>irresponsible because they imply that clinic physicians are criminally</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>negligent. Anti-abortion activists' strategy, she said, "is to ... level</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>charges against things we cannot prove, because they know the state does</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>not keep statistics" on complications other than those leading to death.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>The Texas Department of Health reported that about 6.6 percent of</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortions in 2002 were performed after 15 weeks and that, out of all</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>abortions in Texas, only one patient died from complications.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>When a Dallas physician wrote to surgical centers around the state, he</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>found only one whose operators said they'd consider performing abortions</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>and none that actually do so now. That could change, however -- by a total</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>of one.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Wheat said that a new Planned Parenthood clinic under construction in</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Austin should be able to meet surgical center specifications, although its</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>construction has been slowed by threats and protests. It's due to open</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>this fall. "It'll be the one place in the state where women could go to</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>get the procedure done from 16 weeks," she said "Still, it's a long ride</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>from El Paso to Austin."</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>You can reach Joyce Tsai at </b></span></font><font face="Arial" color="#008000" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b><u>joyce.tsai@fwweekly.com</u></b></span></font><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>.</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Robert J. Carpenter, Jr. MD</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>6624 Fannin, #2720</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>St. Luke's Medical Tower</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>Houston,TX 77030-2339</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b>713-795-4600</b></span></font></div> <div align="left"></div> </body> |