Reply #39: A friend nearly died

[Liberty Belle]

When I was 18 and working a minimum wage job, a young woman who had escaped a battering husband came to work at our store. A week later, she found out she was pregnant. She was torn over what to do, since she didn't have a dime to her name and had borrowed money from the store's manager just to get an empty apartment with no furniture. Then things got worse. She collapsed at work and we had to call an ambulance. Turns out she had an ectopic pregnancy. That's where the fertilized egg implants itself in the Fallopian tube or somewhere else outside the womb. If you don't terminate the pregnancy right away, the tube bursts and you die.

I've done some research and was shocked to learn that 1 in every 50 pregnancies is ectopic! Also, the rate is going up, since birth control pills, IUDs, or a prior abortion all raise the risk of an ectopic pregnancy.

My friend was lucky, because she miscarried before the doctors could perform an abortion. I was on the verge of helping her pay for one, and I'd considered myself anti-abortion before then. I've since come to realize that there are many women in difficult circumstances, and it's up to God to judge them, not me, and certainly not the government! I've known women who lost a spouse, had other children and no money, or found out that the child they are carrying had severe deformities or devleopmental problems (such as no brain stem or organs outside the body. What if the mother has Ovarian cancer? Or sustains internal injuries in a car accident? I don't think it's right to deny her treatment becuase the treatment could cause her to lose the baby, or damage it. I believe that she should have the ultimate decision in these cases, or if she is not conscious to make them, her doctor,husband or parents should have the authority to do what they believe is best--not Big Brother.