One more lie on Abortion laws exposed

One Doctor Exposes The Lie At The Heart Of Abortion Opponents' Strategy (Click here to read more)

By Tara Culp-Ressler June 2, 2014 at 11:34 am Updated: June 2, 2014 at 1:52 pm
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Abortion opponents have gained significant ground over the past several years, as harsh anti-choice laws have swept the nation and dozens of clinics have been forced to close their doors. One of the primary reasons that anti-choice activists have been so successful is because they have effectively framed these state-level restrictions in terms of "women's health and safety," claiming that abortion clinics need to be better regulated to ensure that women are getting the best quality care.
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But the individuals who spend their lives working to protect women's health - the doctors who specialize in reproductive issues - see right through that claim.
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Dr. Serdar Bulun, the chair of Northwestern University's department of obstetrics and gynecology, testified before a federal judge last week about an abortion restriction in Wisconsin that's purportedly about keeping women safer. Bulun was chosen by the judge as the "impartial expert" to comment on the state law, which requires abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges from local hospitals, as it's up for debate in court. And the doctor didn't have many good things to say.
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"I think it is an unacceptable experiment to see if you decrease access [to abortion clinics] and see if more women die," Bulun testifed, after he was asked if Wisconsin's new law could increase maternal mortality. "It is not acceptable. It is not ethical. People will resort to illegal abortions. Should we do any experiment for this? I don't think so."
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Bulun's comments speak to the fundamental contradiction at the heart of admitting privileges requirements, which are rapidly spreading across the country (just last month, Oklahoma and Louisiana became the latest states to approve this particular abortion restriction). Even though they're framed in terms of ensuring that women are safe, these laws actually do the direct opposite when they're put into practice.