On May 18, 2005, at 12:03 PM, Dan Minette wrote:
From: "Warren Ockrassa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
A non-psychiatrist MD, furthermore, would not be able to make judgments
based on mental health -- or so I understand -- so Dr. Nick Riviera
can't just waltz in, say "Hi everybody," and prescribe an abortion
based on *anything* he pulls from a DSM.
That's not true. A non-psychiatrist MD certainly can make a diagnosis and
write a perscription for mental health reasons. I know that as a fact.
Ah. Very well, so if a woman can convince her MD that there's a DSM entry for what she's experiencing, she can get a chit for a third-trimester abortion. And this disturbs you, apparently, but I still don't know why given the 1:25,000 number for late-term terminations. (Or even without that stat; that is, I don't know why this idea seems so distressing to you.)
My
point is not that the MD can pull something out of his tush, it's that it
is a _legetimate_ mental health diagnosis.
So the problem is not that something faked can be put forth as a reason for abortion? Then what is the problem, exactly?
If you want to continue contending that a psychiatrist is likely to risk his license and professional future by trumping up a faked mental-health reason for a woman to have a late-term abortion, you certainly can, but it'll be an extremely tenuous argument, I think.
What's trumped up or faked?
Nothing, necessarily; you seem somewhat exercised over the idea that some DSM entries could conceivably be used to terminate a late fetus. Either you're concerned that such reasons would be faked or trumped-up, or you're concerned about something else, but you haven't named what it is (at least not that I've seen).
You think that a woman wanting a late term
abortion won't be extremely anxious? DSM4 is _the_ diagnostic tool for
mental health. This is _literally_ by the book...her mental health is in
danger if she is suffering anxiety disorder because she is pregnant.
With a few weeks to go to the natural termination of the pregnancy, do you really believe a doctor will prescribe an abortion in the name of ending anxiety? Wouldn't that be imprudent? How much more anxious would the woman be after the abortion?
All it takes is a quick visit to the right free clinic to get this out.
Even more odd. If it's a *free* clinic, what is the motivation to
perform an abortion on trumped-up grounds? Wouldn't that be more likely
with a bribable private practitioner?
Because they don't believe it's trumped up. Since the fetus isn't human,
the mental health of the mother is all that's needed to justify an
abortion.
Not necessarily. Blackman's decision is pretty clear about *medical* judgment, particularly *reasonable* medical judgment. "I'm upset so let's terminate this baby, due in three weeks" is hardly a reasonable request.
If the numbers are less than 1000/year, and some are needed to protect the
life of the mother, why not specify that third term abortions are legally
acceptable only when they are to protect the life of the mother. Most
Americans are in favor of this. Why do the promoters of "reproductive
rights" consider this such an affront to human rights?
I personally don't. Do you have cites to show that promoters of reproductive rights are actively opposed to "protecting life only" clauses?
Also, have you considered that the phrasing of the laws might still be in need of tuning by experience? After all there's a tenuous line between mental and physical health, and though I don't know of a case where a pregnancy might result in crippling a woman, if such a thing is possible I would be in favor of a termination, even in the third trimester, in the interest of protecting the woman's *health*.
Or consider the woman who, a couple years back, murdered all her children in a fir of postpartum depression. Wouldn't it have been arguable that termination of her latest pregnancy might have been a better course? It would not have protected her physical health; it would have been about her mental condition ... the ones physically protected would have been her other children, it seems to me.
Something is clearly bothering you here, but unless you're willing to state what it is, I can't see how it can be addressed in a rational discussion.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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