Resurrection Medical Center, located in Chicago, Illinois, is the first Roman Catholic hospital in the country to begin the practice of interrupting abortion procedures midway through the process at the request of the mother.
Abortions for second trimester pregnancies are a 2 to 3 day process, and women who change their minds midway through the procedure are visiting doctors at Resurrection Medical Center in hopes of preserving the pregnancy.
Late-term abortions involve the insertion of dried seaweed called laminaria into the women’s’ cervix. The seaweed softens, expands, and dilates the cervix, and women return to the clinic within 12 to 24 hours, sometimes longer, for the abortion doctors to determine if she is physically ready to have an abortion.
Under the new protocol, doctors at the Resurrection Medical Center remove the laminaria, with the hopes that the cervix will return to its normal state, preserving the life of the unborn child.
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According to Fox News, the practice is new and was instituted after pro-life activists began bringing in patients who visited clinics for the purposes of an abortion but have since changed their minds.
Corrina Gura, a “sidewalk counselor” for the Pro Life Action League, is one of the pro-life activists who brought a woman to the medical center after the pregnant woman changed her mind about completing her second semester abortion:
“She was six-and-a-half months pregnant and during her pregnancy her boyfriend had been pestering her (to get an abortion)…and she had finally given in,” explained Gura.
Thus far, the hospital has managed to halt four abortions, though one of the women has since changed her mind again and elected to go through with the abortion.
Resurrection CEO Sister Donna Marie Wolowicki explains how the hospital treats the women that come to the medical center to stop the abortion process:
We have our staff prepared to walk her into a private area to make sure that she has the opportunity to share what she really wants us to do or how to help her and what she understands. The first thing we want to make sure is that she understands what’s happened to her thus far … we want her to understand about her pregnancy…how far she is along with the pregnancy and what we can do to help her if she really wants us to stop this abortive process…We want it to be a free decision by her.
Dr. Chan of Resurrection Medical Center admits that the hospital’s efforts do not guarantee that the pregnancy will be preserved:
There is no guarantee that the woman will indeed stop the abortion procedure and there is actually a fairly good chance that the woman will still proceed to go on and have that spontaneous abortion even if she did not go on to that second stage.
Strangely, critics of Resurrection’s efforts to save the unborn child contend that it may cause medical problems which could result in a miscarriage. The irony of this criticism, of course, is that without removing the laminaria, the fetus is sure to die.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has stated its support for the procedure, so long as the pregnant women are not being coerced into the procedure.
According to Wolowicki, Catholic hospitals around the country have indicated an interest in the new protocol, and have asserted that they want to do the same.
