Since the initiation of this investigation, the validity of Maryland's current abortion law has been questioned. The fact that it is less restrictive than those of nearly states - for example, New Jersey's law mandates that pregnancies after 14 weeks cannot be ended at a doctor's office - explains the large number of abortion patients that showed up at Brigham's clinic. The issues that arise from this incident exceed that of just the morality behind abortion - many are also looking into the efficacy of state medical regulations or even the validity of medical licenses. What are your thoughts on the consequences or concerns that should be addressed? Is this a matter of pro-life vs. pro-choice or does this call into question the regulations regarding medical practices?
Friday, December 30, 2011
Two Maryland abortion doctors charged with murder
On August 13, 2010, doctors Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley brought a woman into an Elkton hospital due to a "complication resulting from a medical procedure," which turned out to be a botched operation on the abortion of a late-term fetus. After further investigation, Maryland police discovered nearly three dozen aborted fetuses "in a freezer" in Brigham's Elkton clinic. Since then, the two have been imprisoned and were recently indicted on Friday with identical murder charges - five counts each of first-degree murder, five of second-degree murder, and one of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. This appears to the first time that the Maryland fetal homicide law - involving medical professionals performing surgery - has been put to use.
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4 comments:
I personally think that abortion should be allowed before the end of the first trimester and under other special circumstances pertaining to a mother's health, but freezing fetuses is definitely disgusting and should be properly prosecuted by the law. In these cases, I believe that stricter laws for abortion should be put to use because these doctors are obviously not respecting what could have been a life. I should hope that other abortion doctors would not do something as inhumane as this.
Ok, I'm gonna sound like a HUGE evil arse hole for about a few seconds. In defense of the doctors, they COULD have frozen the babies (I don't even know why I'm saying this but can be a possibility) to preserve the embryos so that they can try and remove the embryonic stem cells that are present in well, embryos. It sounds nasty. It sounds disgusting. It sounds horrifying. But this could be a possibility because I see no other reason as to why these two doctors would hold onto THAT many dead babies. If they did however keep those aborted fetuses for inhumane or sick reasons then well yes persecute them. However, if they kept the fetuses for a more scientific purpose THAT IS WITHIN REASONABLE SENSE, they might have been trying make some good out of the death of those fetuses. Personal opinion however, that's disgusting and horrifying please tell me they were trying to do something good with those thirty six dead babies.
Back to the actual discussion, it seems like there was some kind of faliure in medical procedure. "complication resulting from a medical procedure" just smells of "a doctor got lazy or screwed up somehow and failed to follow regulations". Everything related to medicine and medical procedures are all dictated already. Every action is dictated by a procedure and the reason for that is because it saves lives. However it may or may not be on the fault of the doctors but to happen multiple times seems fishy and smells of mal-practice.
The issue of pro-life vs. pro-choice could go on for days and still isn't settled throughout America. However, when looked at, in this case, is that those doctors broke the law. It was the state law that abortion was not allowed and therefore any practice or type of performance would be breaking the law. So whether you believe they did do the right thing or they didn't they broke the law. In addition if there is any question of the "validity" of Mayland's law then reinforcement of excellent medical practices needs to increase.
I agree with Reiko that the doctors did break the law and should be punished, however I believe that abortion is much more of a personal issue than a governmental one. Right now we have an extreme heath care crisis - what if that mother or family can not afford to pay for their child's security? What if the child would be growing up in an unsafe, unhealthy environment? No child should be raised insufficiently and if the parents of the child do not have the ability to provide and protect for their child I feel as though the doctors should not be severely punished since it was the patient’s choice to continue with the abortion – not the doctors.
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