mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (01/12/89)
With the upcoming Supreme Court review of the abortion issue, and the possibility of a future return to illegality, I am wondering if there is a safe method to perform an abortion using easily-obtained materials and equipment. For example, I can get 12-gauge, solid-core copper wire with Teflon insulation If I put it in my pressure cooker for an hour, it will be totally sterile. I'll bet I could shove it all the way up a woman's Fallopian tubes without danger of infection, if had some way of knowing where it was going. Does anyone have any tips on low-technology abortion procedures along these lines? By "low-technology", I mean stuff you could get at a Safeway, like isopropanol, sterile cotton, or a turkey baster. If necessary, more specialized stuff like Teflon-insulated wire or fishing hooks can be included in that definition.
turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) (01/13/89)
In article <13433@cup.portal.com>, mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes: > With the upcoming Supreme Court review of the abortion issue, and the > possibility of a future return to illegality, I am wondering if there is > a safe method to perform an abortion using easily-obtained materials and > equipment. > > For example, I can get 12-gauge, solid-core copper wire with Teflon > insulation ... I'll bet I could shove it all the way up a woman's > Fallopian tubes without danger of infection, if had some way of > knowing where it was going. The larger problem here is not the tools, but the skills required. You are not qualified to practice medicine. That perfectly sterile wire of yours will nevertheless cause infection and perhaps death if you break through the uterine wall. You certainly don't want to try pushing it through the Fallopian tubes! Do yourself and any women who would be foolish enough to risk this a favor: forget it, don't even think about doing this. If abortions become illegal, they will also become more risky. This is not solely because the necessary equipment will be less available (though that may be part of it), but rather because most doctors would rather practice inside the law than outside it. Those that are willing to practice illegally will frequently be those who could not or did not succeed in legal practice. Russell
jwalsh@bbn.com (Jamie Walsh) (01/13/89)
Holy Coathanger, Batman! I hope that was supposed to be a joke! It should
have been posted to rec.sicko.humor!
If it wasn't a joke I'm liable to sic the entire readership of soc.women
on him.
I remember all the marches when abortion was illegal where we carried a
cardboard coffin signifying the thousands of women who died each year from
backroom "operations" like those he suggested. Most of the deaths were due
to infection from incomplete removal of the fetus or infection from
perforating the uterus.
Geezum crow, kid, don't start slaughtering innocent pregnant women with
your ignorant quackery, especially since you don't even know where you're
going! An implanted embryo or fetus generally resides in the uterus, not
the fallopian tubes. A tubal pregnancy (not exactly rare, but not very
common) would require REAL surgery, and would not be considered an
abortion.
And lest you find out that a primary method of first trimester abortion is
a type of vacuum method, I'd like to mention that PLENTY women died trying
to use a vacuum cleaner for an abortion when it sucked the uterus out of
the abdominal cavity.
-- jamie (jwalsh@cc6.bbn.com
!harvard!bbn!jwalsh)
"There's a seeker born every minute."
A waste is a terrible thing to mind. -- The Treatmentlarry@pdn.UUCP (Larry Swift) (01/13/89)
In article <4555@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >In article <13433@cup.portal.com>, mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes: >> For example, I can get 12-gauge, solid-core copper wire with Teflon >> insulation ... I'll bet I could shove it all the way up a woman's >> Fallopian tubes without danger of infection, if had some way of >> knowing where it was going. > >The larger problem here is not the tools, but the skills >required. You are not qualified to practice medicine. That >perfectly sterile wire of yours will nevertheless cause infection >and perhaps death if you break through the uterine wall. You >certainly don't want to try pushing it through the Fallopian >tubes! Do yourself and any women who would be foolish enough to >risk this a favor: forget it, don't even think about doing this. Obviously people ARE going to think about it, and DO it. I'm sure, however, that Mark was making a tongue-in-cheek comment to the same point. And very nicely done, too. Larry Swift UUCP: {peora,uunet}!pdn!larry Paradyne Corp., LG-129 Phone: (813) 530-8605 P. O. Box 2826 Largo, FL, 34649-9981 She's old and she's creaky, but she holds!
mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (01/20/89)
On the CBS Morning show (1/19), surgeon-general C. Everett Koop was asked about the consequences of overturning Roe vs. Wade, the judicial decision which is the basis of legal abortion in the United States. Koop said that before abortion was considered legal, the most number of women to die of "back-alley" abortions during one year was 373. He said the campaign in favor of abortion have quoted numbers up to a hundredfold greater. He said he expects that if Roe vs. Wade were overturned, which would let the states create their own abortion laws, the annual mortality due to "back-alley" abortions would be about 50. He said "improved techniques" would result in the lower number. I wonder what he meant by "improved techniques"? He might mean that there is now a large body of medical professionals experienced in abortion procedures, which did not exist before Roe vs. Wade. He might mean new technological breakthroughs, such as the RU486 abortion pill might be used to perform some illegal abortions. He might mean that improvements can be expected in the amateur procedures used prior to Roe vs. Wade. A related question: are there any traditional, native cultures who practice any form of abortion? By the way, Koop's term of office runs for another ten months.