Readers React: Evaluating the risk of abortions

To the editor: The Times says there is a 0.3% risk of a major complication following an abortion. According to the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute, there are an average of 3,322 abortions per day in the U.S. (per the group’s 2008 statistics). (“We don’t need underhanded attempts to obstruct access to abortion,” Editorial, Aug. 5)

Ergo, roughly 10 women per day are having a significant problem following an abortion, a number I do not find worthy of the adjective “rare.”

Early in their career, surgeons are taught that they should not undertake a procedure if they are unable to take care of any potential complication of that procedure. For you to make the rather glib remark that these women who have a post-abortion complication “can, of course, go to emergency rooms” is offensive and shows ignorance of how proper surgical care is rendered.

The operating surgeon should take care of his or her own post-operative complications.

Gregory Polito, MD, Whittier

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To the editor: It appears that U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson did a thorough job of researching the various laws, including reviewing a U.S. Supreme Court decision, before concluding that a new law in Alabama “would impose an undue burden on [women’s ]constitutional right to an abortion.”

As I believe that a woman’s freedom to decide how best to manage her health is morally and ethically defensible, I applaud this and other similar decisions. There are too many people in our society who use a variety of arguments, including their religious beliefs, to support their misogynistic views and behavior.

Karl Strandberg, Long Beach

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To the editor: So, you compare the killing of a child not yet born to a visit to the dentist?

Barb Rodriguez, La Verne