Right to Privacy?

In the New York Times, there was an article titled “For Privacy’s Sake, Taking Risks to End Pregnancy” by Jennifer Lee and Cara Buckley. It addressed the issue of women terminating their pregnancies with misoprostol. However, the article fails to recognize that the majority of women that resort to using this drug do not do so because they want to. They feel they have no other choice. It focuses on the dangers of using this drug, and of its alternatives, such as homemade potions, etc, and solely advises women to go to a clinic and get a proper abortion. The first example they use is of an 18-year-old girl that flushed her 4-month-old fetus down the toilet after inducing abortion with misoprostol. But what else was she supposed to do? If having the baby was not an option for her, that is. The average 18-year-old doesn’t have few hundred dollars to use in a clinic (whereas misoprostol costs about $30), assuming she has the appropriate health insurance, and is a legal resident of the United States. The authors focus on the Dominican populations, and how the use of this drug is most common among them. It’s no secret that there are many thousands of illegal immigrants in this country. Abortion is an issue I’ll neither defend nor oppose in this blog; I merely want to discuss the shortcomings of the authors in this particular article. They talk about how it’s dangerous to use this drug. Of course it’s dangerous. Abortion of any kind is dangerous. And if the women that have used misoprostol had the option to have a safer abortion, why wouldn’t they? So the authors speak out against this drug’s abuse. Okay. What are the alternatives for underprivileged or illegal women? Yes, it’s a horrible thing to not be done with medical attention. Perhaps the problem isn’t the community, but the health care system. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/nyregion/05abortion.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&fta=y