To the editor: Arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on Idaho’s abortion ban imply that it is clear when a mother’s life is threatened by a pregnancy. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, I can tell you that is not always the case.
I recall two patients of mine with nonviable fetuses, a rupture of the amniotic membranes and infection of the fluid. Although the patients looked well, I recommended delivery of the fetus to clear the infection. The mothers chose to go home.
They developed sepsis and quickly returned to the hospital, and the fetuses were expeditiously extracted. Nonetheless, both patients died.
This scenario is not uncommon. Fortunately, mothers without objections to abortion opt to intervene before an irreversible infection develops.
The death of a woman who decides not to end a pregnancy after discussion of the risks to her is tragic. The government mandating that decision should be unacceptable to even the most fervent opponents of abortion.
Yvonne Gollin, M.D., Solana Beach, Calif.
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To the editor: In your article on Arizona abortion clinics, a pregnant student seeking an abortion states that she wants “a two-parent household in a stable home.”
If this is her ideal, why are she and her partner having sex when they are not married? Our society advocates discipline in many areas — can we not exercise discipline in how unmarried couples behave?
Judith Seki, San Gabriel
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To the editor: I was outraged as I read the article about so many emergency rooms in Republican-controlled states refusing to treat pregnant women who were in desperate need of medical care, often resulting in the loss of their babies.
In the print edition, this article should have been on the front page, as I worry that many people’s attention span won’t allow them to make it deeper into the newspaper.
This article illustrates how the Republican Party and our far-right U.S. Supreme Court justices are hurling this country backward in time. Voters need to see the path that our country is taking due to these so-called patriots and pro-lifers.
Tracey Pomerance-Poirier, Chatsworth
