‘Why I No Longer Do Abortions’

Dr. Flesh and I practice in the same community, at the same hospital and draw our patients from the same population base. I’ve been performing abortions for 11 years. Not once have I been asked to perform one because someone was remodeling her house, had planned a trip to Europe or wanted a baby to be born in June instead of February.

I perform abortions for pregnant teenagers who are emotionally incapable of being parents, for mothers of small children who are so stressed and exhausted caring for the family they already have that another child would decompensate them, for women whose marriages are on the rocks and who know better than to believe that having a baby will make a bad marriage any better. I spend considerable time talking to my patients before scheduling them for abortions to be certain that they feel they’ve made the right decision. I have never seen a woman make that decision without considerable thought and a great deal of pain and ambivalence.

Like Dr. Flesh I too am a parent. Why do I continue to perform abortions? Because I believe firmly in a woman’s right to reproductive choice and because I feel grateful to be able to provide a compassionate and safe abortion for my patients when they need me.

PAULA BERNSTEIN Ph.D., MD, Los Angeles