Friend told by ob/gyn to abort

[gmarie21]

A friend was told by her ob/gyn that her child was showing no vital signs in the womb and wanted her to abort. She was upset and went to the Catholic center and they sent her to a doctor who performed an ultrasound and pointed to her where her baby was and the very clear heart that was beating. She’s almost 40, do doctors really try to avoid “high risk” pregnancies for first time moms and lie just to avoid a very unlikely malpractice lawsuit? Or do some really have a pro-abortion agenda that gets in the way of them doing their job? Either way, please pray for her and her ex-ob/gyn.

 

[jmcrae]

Boy, it was certainly by God’s grace that she went for a second opinion!

If the baby had really been dead, then there wouldn’t have been an abortion, as such - it would just have been the removal of the dead body from her womb - if the baby was actually dead, then this would have to be done, in order to prevent harm to the mother. There would be no murder, since the baby had already died naturally.

But it’s certainly a good thing she double-checked, and found out that the baby is, in fact, alive, because who knows what might have happened if she hadn’t double-checked.

It is impossible to know why the other ob-gyn didn’t know that the baby was actually alive - maybe there was something the matter with his equipment. She should let him know that his diagnosis was incorrect, so that he can correct the problem.

 

[LilyM]

Well abortions in themselves do pose a lot of risks, though possibly less than births in the case of older women. I don’t imagine most ob/gyns advise them lightly in any event.

Clearly the first doctor, even on the most charitable interpretation of events, was seriously mistaken about the status of the fetus.

Without knowing the circumstances better, it’s hard to judge whether it was an honest and understandable (but nonetheless unfortunate) mistake, or amounted to negligence, or even was an outright lie driven by an agenda. Clearly more investigation and a consultation with a lawyer experienced in the area of medical malpractice is indicated here.