Nora Sullivan, a writer at The Heritage Foundation, has described how, recently, a close friend was repeatedly pressured to abort her son after a prenatal scan revealed a potentially challenging pregnancy. Her friend refused.
Contributing to The Daily Signal, writer Nora Sullivan highlighted the case of a close friend, who, when five months pregnant, underwent a prenatal scan that revealed the possibility of her son being born premature or being disabled.
“While she was still on the examination table, partially clothed, abdomen still covered in ultrasound jelly, her doctor brusquely began pressuring her to abort”, writes Sullivan.
Despite refusing to have an abortion, the doctor continued to pressure her.
“We later marvelled that, in a post-#MeToo era, a medical professional who primarily serves women could refuse to believe that no means no.
“The doctor proceeded to explain it could potentially cost upwards of a million dollars to keep a sick or premature baby in the neonatal intensive care unit for three months. When this argument failed to sway her, he dismissively asked if she were religious.”
Sullivan writes that she wishes she could say that such a case “is an aberration among doctors treating expectant mothers, but sadly, it is not. Since this incident, many friends and family have reached out with similar stories about how they (or a sister or a colleague) were pressured to abort when confronted with a challenging pregnancy.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “As Nora Sullivan observes, the numerous, though often ignored, cases of women being pressured by doctors to abort their children when faced with a potentially difficult pregnancy, or when a scan reveals a chance of disability, is shocking.
“In an era when modern society claims to respect the autonomy of women, a woman’s refusal to kill her unborn child is in many cases ignored.”
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