Picking an Abortionist: How will your daughter know?

"Safe, legal and rare" has become so cliche that no one bothers to stop and ask whether that abortionist listed in the Yellow Pages or on the internet can even complete the job without seriously damaging a woman's heath. It's legal so it must be safe, right?

Tell that to these teens killed by abortion.

Tell that to Christin Gilbert who was killed during a legal abortion in 2005.

Tell that to the citizens of New Jersey where last week state health officials shut down one of New Jersey's largest abortion centers after finding violations at an Englewood clinic that posed "immediate and serious risk of harm to patients."

Or maybe your local abortionist is just a pervert.

Take, for example this public complaint (link to .pdf file) against Tacoma abortionist Dr. Attig. Would you want your daughter or friend or relative going to this man for medical care? A pregnant teen who is scared, isolated and in a panic is not going to be in a state of mind to start researching the background of potential abortion doctors. Wouldn't parental notification help teens get quality abortion care and avoid people like Dr. Attig?

The state of Washington Department of Health and the abortion lobby aren't going to help her. They might even be the ones telling her that abortion is one of her "options". The Washington Deptartment of Health revoked, then reinstated the license for Dr. Attig in October of 2006.

The media? Don't even get me started. Women could be bleeding on the streets of Seattle and we'd still get Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times reminding us that the "right to choose" is as necessary as "oxygen."

The abortion lobby is no help. They care more about the financial health of the abortion industry and their paychecks than they do about women's health. If Dr. Attig is out of business he can't very well make political contributions to NARAL.

Dr. Attig is by no means the only abortionist to have such charges filed against him in Washington. Sadly it is more often the case that when harm does come to a woman she is too scared and ashamed to tell anyone and the crime goes unreported. This problem is compounded even more among those populations -- immigrant, minority, non-English speaking, minors, those in poverty -- who feel alienated from society and unable to access the legal system.

Furthermore, where are all the good people of our state who claim to be pro-choice but not pro-abortion? It is time for all those who truly care about women and their health to join together in this state to bring it out of the back alley and into the light by enacting more oversight of our state's abortion industry. It is time to start warning women and our teens of the risks of abortion to their health, not coddling the abortion industry. It is time to get the caring professions and state agencies who are charged with overseeing the health of Washingtonians to do their job. If they won't do it at least give parents the power to help and protect their children from the harm of abortion.