If Palin is so anti-abortion....

College Confidential Community
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<p>If Palin is so anti-abortion, than why did she have an amniocentesis when she was 13 weeks pregnant? Afterall, for the sake of finding out what chromosomal disorders your fetus has, there is a 1/200 chance that the fetus will die as a result of the procedure.</p>

<p>Interview w/Palin:

[quote]
Gov. Palin, when you were 13 weeks pregnant, last December, you had an amniocentesis that determined Trig had Down syndrome.</p>

<p>SARAH: I was grateful to have all those months to prepare. I can't imagine the moms that are surprised at the end. I think they have it a lot harder.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Palin: is it really worth finding out that your child has a chromosomal disorder in return for a 1/200 (source: my mom's OBGYN 3 years ago when my mom contemplated having an amnio with my sister) chance that you will in turn have a dead fetus? How would you feel if all mothers-to-be had amnios completed on them, and as a result, an additional 1 out of every 200 fetuses died?</p>

<p>Why is finding out the sex and chromosomal disorders of your fetus worth the possibility that your fetus will die, especially considering that REGARDLESS of the amnio results, you would have kept the baby ANYWAY (unlike the estimated 90% of mothers, who, when they find out that their fetus has a disorder, they abort the fetus--hence, that is WHY they have the procedure done, to FIND OUT for THAT reason)?</p>

<p>A few people have mentioned to me the possibility that Alaska required Amnios for mothers over a certain age (either 30 or 40) but I cannot find any evidence of this law anywhere. If you can find this info, I would appreciate it. </p>

<hr>

<p>what are your thoughts?</p>

<p>Personally, I support the right to choose: both an amnio, and an abortion. But if she's going to play this game of being pro-life, than I'm sure as hell going to throw this in her face!</p>

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<p>I hate Palin just as much as you do, but this thread is pretty pointless. </p>

<p>As much as I despise having to defend this woman, a 1/200 chance of death is practically meaningless. It's less than 1%. She had a better chance of accidentally killing her baby falling down the stairs to get a midnight snack...</p>

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<p>^definitely true. However, I still don't get why she'd take that chance if she's such a pro-life nut. The woman flat out said that if her own daughter was raped she wouldn't even let her get an abortion (source: HuffPo)!</p>

<p>In addition, pro-lifers always like to say "what if that aborted baby was you?" Well, what if that unneededly (*sp) miscarried baby was baby Trig??</p>

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<p>I was going to say the same thing as Hippo724 but if what you said about the being raped thing is true, ASC, then it's more reason to dislike her and McCain.</p>

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<p>Regardless of what anyone thinks of Palin's politics or qualifications for this nomination, it's just flat-out ignorant to think that the only reason for prenatal testing is because one might abort a pregnancy based on any given result.</p>

<p>Put very simply, there are numerous ways in which parents would want to prepare, should they discover that a child has special needs (physical or mental) anywhere along the spectrum of those that can be discovered through prenatal testing. </p>

<p>Included among these ways, depending on the private and personal beliefs and practices of the family, might be contacting medical specialists, lining up additional help, receiving counseling from their clergy, preparing their home, and so on.</p>

<p>Suppose for example, ASC, a mother decided that the risks of amnio were too great, and gave birth to a child with a heart defect that could have been repaired in utero or at birth if the specialists had been on hand, but since no one was prepared, the child died? That's just one example. There are many, many other possibilities.</p>

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<p>Flat out ignorant, eh?
<a href="http://www.fractaldomains.com/devpsych/gentest.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fractaldomains.com/devpsych/gentest.htm&lt;/a>

[quote]
most people have [amnios] because they do not want a child with a disability and are going to abort the fetus if it is determined to be defective. Van der Zanden (1993) in his book Human Development cites a study that examined 3,000 prenatal diagnoses and found that in the 113 cases that an abnormal fetus was identified, 106 were aborted at the parents' request.

[/quote]
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<p>and btw, amnios only test for chromosomal disorders and the sex of the baby. There are other blood tests--as well as the old fashioned ultrasound--that can show defects outside of chromosomal disorders (for example, my mom found out that my sis had a heart murmur via an ultrasound). In fact, many times even down syndrome is visible via ultrasound. YES, babies with down syndrome are prone to having heart defects if that is what you're trying to say. </p>

<p>You can read about chromosomal disorders here: Human</a> Chromosomal Disorders</p>

<p>But once again, once you have that amnio, REGARDLESS of the results, you can't go back.</p>

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<p>Titan: Yes, it is TRUE!! </p>

<p>Palin</a> On Abortion: I'd Oppose Even If My Own Daughter Was Raped < the source to that article (link provided there) links to this: adn.com</a> | governor race : All three candidates support gas line lawsuit</p>

<p>
[quote]
The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant.</p>

<p>Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, "I would choose life."

[/quote]
</p>

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<p>Oh you dems. Heh.</p>

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<p>ASC, I'm just offering you food for thought. I do actually know a fair amount about this - I have had a post-forty pregnancy and took the opportunity to learn as much as I could about the testing procedures. </p>

<p>It's interesting that although there are non-invasive tests with high degrees of accuracy, Palin chose amnio. </p>

<p>Nevertheless: Amnio carries a very, very small risk. Abortion terminates a pregnancy. They're very, very different procedures, carried out for very different reasons. The point of my post stands: The idea that a woman who's anti-choice (I personally can't use the term pro-life) shouldn't have amnio is ignorant.</p>

<p>Your own pro-choice arguments will be stronger if you support them with better reasoning. (And/or with studies more current than 1993.) Ultrasound carries certain risks, too. So do the blood tests that must accompany numerous ultrasounds to verify the nuchal fold measurements you're alluding to - do you want to get down to parsing tiny percentages that you think make Palin more or less of a hypocrite? I'm basically in your corner, here - I just think you're wasting energy in a direction that won't do anyone any good. </p>

<p>If you'd rather just go on, that's your choice. :) And I'm all in favor of choice.</p>

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<p>Maybe she wanted to know if she was having a boy or girl?</p>

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<p>^again, at the risk of..........?!?!</p>

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<p>^^^ I edited my post with the source where I got the 90% figure from. It wasn't "pure ignorance."</p>

<p>
[quote]
They're very, very different procedures, carried out for very different reasons.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm not disputing that. I know that her intent was NOT to possibly kill her fetus. However, that possibility was a DIRECT CONSEQUENCE of the procedure. It is an AVOIDABLE risk; she can't deny that. In fact, there was a better chance that the procedure would have killed her fetus (1/200) than there was that the baby would have downs (1/300 over age 35)!!</p>

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<p>This could be an offensive comment to some people, but if people love a dog a cat dearly, then someone who knows she has a Down S child can find love with her child as much, or even more. Having a handicapped child is not a bad choice to some people. Sometimes it fullfills the need of giving, caring, and loving of "others" of human being's nature. "Others" can be a dog a cat or a handicapped person.</p>

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<p>I'd be concerned that if she were so against abortion that she would risk her 44 year old life and that of her 36 week old fetus flying from Texas to Wasila Alaska once her membranes have ruptured without a face to face visit with a medical provider. That sounds like she was inviting a late term abortion.</p>

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<p>^^^I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're saying (feel free to refine if you want), but I'm not at ALL suggesting that she should or should not have aborted the fetus, disorders or not. That is entirely, entirely, entirely, entirely up to her! And yes, I appreciate the love that someone could have for a disabled child. I was one; I was born with brain cancer. </p>

<p>I'm simply questioning why she decided that finding out what sex and what chromosomal disorders her fetus may have had was worth more than the possibility that her fetus would die as a result, especially considering that her pro-life stance wouldn't have allowed her to terminate her pregnancy even in the result that her fetus had a disorder--which it did.</p>

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<p>^LOL I'm not even gonna touch that yet!</p>

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<p>HarrietMWelsch: believe me, I'm still looking into this.The idea just occured to me last night, and I didn't start looking into it until this morning. I'm definitely hoping that I can come up with even better sources :)</p>

<p>We'll see where it goes....</p>

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<p>Well to be honest with that 1/200 it is a .5% chance the baby would die, and she could have found out about disorders that can be fixed before the baby is born or that can recieve immediate treatment after birth. So she took a .5% chance (which is a 99.5% chance her baby will not die) to see if she could find out information about her baby. This really does not matter, the baby did not die and she found out the baby had Down's so she can prepare for it.</p>

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<p>^but again, once she had the amnio she could NOT go back. There was a better chance that the fetus would be miscarried than there was that it would have had downs! Chromosomal disorders can't be fixed, as far as I know, :( and physical defects (often including downs in itself) are usually visible by ultrasound so that they can be treated. There are blood tests, too, that could have tested for some of these disorders. </p>

<p>Palin: "what if that aborted fetus was you?"
Me: "what if that unintended, CONSEQUENTIAL miscarriage was baby Trig?"</p>

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<p>How is this even an issue?</p>

<p>I don't like Palin, but come on, giving her a hard time for a relatively safe practical procedure? I could understand if the chances of miscarriage were 2-5%+ but really... 0.5%? ...</p>