In the abortion debate two opposite positions continue to collapse into each other

March 27, 2022

Millions of women get pregnant each year around the world. Some feel joy and illusion; others feel fear and uncertainty because it is something they had not planned. As in other countries, in the United States, a debate continues that has been open for many years; abortion.

In Tennessee abortion is legal although with restrictions. A patient must receive state-mandated information, and then wait at least 48 hours before the abortion is provided. The use of telemedicine to administer medication abortion is prohibited, a minor seeking abortion must obtain the consent of a parent, no Medicaid funding is available except in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest and a patient must undergo an ultrasound before.

Choices is a non-profit reproductive health clinic in Memphis that offers the abortion option. “We are the only full spectrum nonprofit clinic in the country to do everything ranging from abortion to birth under one roof,” said Holly Calvasina, the development director.

Choices Center, by Calvasina

They provide medication abortion and procedural abortion. The first is a combination of two pills, mifepristone, and misoprostol that women can take up to 11 weeks of pregnancy. Calvasina explained that it is a safe way to end a pregnancy in early gestation. The second method is procedural abortion, previously called surgical abortion. In the sector they no longer use that term because as Calvasina said, “there's nothing surgical about it and it sort of implies that it is a more dangerous and invasive procedure that it is.” In this procedure the doctor will dilate the cervix and use different tools to remove the content of the uterus. All their patients who are in for procedural abortion will have someone in the room with them. Their job is to comfort them, be there for them, limit their anxiety, make sure their needs are being met.

In 2021 they provided 3893 abortions. At the clinic, most patients are between 25 and 34 years old. If a woman cannot afford an abortion, Choices has financial aid. In 2021 they worked with seven external patient assistance funds and their own internal assistance funds. They dispensed $563,686 assistance funds to 3,610 patients.

Calvasina said there are different reasons why a person needs an abortion. Most people are there because it is an unintended pregnancy are on birth control, but their birth control method fails. They also see many people who, because of religion or abuse in their relationships, are prohibited from not only using birth control, but saying no to sex with their partner. Other people didn't think they could get pregnant. They have been told by a provider that they were infertile, and it turns out that that's not the case. Some people wanted pregnancy and then circumstances in their lives changed afterward.

Calvasina said she will never forget one woman who came to their clinic about five years ago whose partner and she had been trying to conceive for years. And when she finally did, he was in a terrible auto accident and lost all brain function and she became her primary caregiver. Despite everything, she said it's not their job to interrogate those reasons or to put a value judgment.

The fear that some women have is about their safety. But she assures that it is an extremely safe procedure. She said the only time that they have ever had and emergency in their building was related to someone who had a type one diabetes and hadn't eaten or tested the blood sugar before she came in for the procedure.

Calvasina said that people should have the right to an abortion because women's rights matter. “I think for me, it comes down to the fact that women, people with uteruses are human beings who are living and breathing in here on this planet. And for me, the rights of living, breathing human beings sort of trumps the rights of potential human beings,” she said.

One of the patients, by Calvasina

One of the reasons she believes there is so much opposition to abortion is ignorance. She believes that the anti-choice movement has put out a lot of lies. “There are people who believe that a fetus has a heartbeat. It's six weeks gestation, which it does not. It is actually a cardiac whole. Heart doesn't even exist at that point,” she said. “They spread a lot of lies about the mental health impacts of abortion on women. The data overwhelmingly says even in long term studies, that people who have had abortion do not regret that decision and see a positive impact on their life.”

She assures that abortion bans in places like Texas have caused clinics in Tennessee and other states to collapse, because people who have sufficient financial resources must move out of state to have an abortion. In 2021 they served 200 women from Texas.

A Texas-style abortion bill was recently introduced at the House Health Subcommittee and will be heard at some point soon in the General House committee. If in Texas there is a six-week ban, in Tennessee abortion would not be allowed in any case. For Calvasina, this would mean a catastrophic impact.

She said at the beginning of the pandemic, Republican governors tried to shut down abortion clinics because it wasn't considered an essential service, but a judge overturned it about three weeks in.

Clinic exam room by Calvasina

For them their goal is to create a world where sexual and reproductive health care is recognized as an essential human right. They work to integrate abortion services into full spectrum health care right, because she said “it's not some sort of separate, dirty, shameful procedure. It's just a normal part of someone's reproductive health journey.”

We have talked about the pro-choice movement. However, there is another part of the story, the pro-life movement. Life Choices is a free pregnancy help medical center in Memphis. Unlike Choices center, they do not provide abortions, and their goal is to help pregnant mothers decide.

Rachel Davis, the Community Outreach Coordinator said that every person who walks through their door is a “divine appointment”, whether they're a client or a person wanting to learn. The age range goes from mid-college girls to women in their thirties. She explained some women are happy when they find out they are pregnant, but others are not. But they love those women too because “Christ love those women too.”

Life Choices Clinic

Davis explained that they want to meet medical, physical and spiritual needs. “We think that if we fulfill all the needs you have on this plane and we don't tell you about the love of Christ, then we have done you a huge disservice because we know that God creates life with purpose, for purpose, on purpose,” Davis said. She said they don't water down the truth, but they have a non-judgmental, loving and accepting way to say it.

When a woman has concerns about her pregnancy, the first thing they do is to talk with her in the counseling room. Denise Howard, the client advocate, handles that. Howard listens to them, their problems, and concerns to find out where they are emotionally. Then they share their resources, like a list of doctors, the classes they offer (empowerment and baby prep), how they can get necessities for the baby… Until the baby is born, they keep in touch with their clients to see if everything goes well, and after the childbirth, they provide a basket of goodies. Last year they had 889 babies born into the Life Choices family.

Baby clothes volunteers and churches provided, by Davis

Howard also said that sometimes their clients still choose abortion, which is a hard and sad moment for her. If a person comes in and she's minded on doing abortion, Howard said they share with them as the client advocates the risk involved from the emotional standpoint and the nurses share the physical aspects of abortion and how that can affect them, and the risks involved in that decision.

“I just had a client that just texted me; she's abortion-minded, considering it very strongly. And I asked her if she'd been able to read any of the material that I gave her. And so, she's very much wanting to know. And those are we're so thankful to hear that because we're giving that to you to help you make your decision and to help you to be informed. Because a lot of times I've had clients sit here and say, nobody told me the emotional side effects that I've had to deal with.” She said that she wants the person to understand that she could be bringing a lot more into her life if she aborts.

In that room talking, they can be hours. “Our mission statement is we seek to educate and empower women to choose and cherish life,” said Howard. They first see if religion plays a role in the decision to abort. If not, even if they are Christian, then they begin to wonder if it is for educational reasons, and that is when they said, they informed the women so “she makes the right decision.”

Davis emphasized that what they do is health care, and for them, abortion is not health care. “Health care seeks to always save and preserve life. That's what you do when you become a medical provider. Abortion always seeks to end life. If you have assessed success, a successful procedure, then that has resulted in the death of a human being,” Davis said. However, they said they don't try to convince anybody to choose life, but they think that women are smart and capable of making good decisions when presented with the right information.

When asked about cases of abortion due to rape or incest, Davis assures that the percentage is very low, and that even if they made the exception in those cases, what would happen to the rest of the women? She also said rape is a very physically violating crime and going through an abortion procedure is also a very physically violating situation. So, they're not taking away any problems, all they're doing is compounding trauma. A better option for these women, Davis said, would be to put the baby up for adoption. They're also a licensed adoption agency in Tennessee, so within their services, they provide confidential adoption planning.

After the counseling room, nurse Maranatha Mauer explained how women are taken to the nursing room. There, if they are six weeks, they can do the ultrasound. She said many women change their minds when they see the baby for the first time. Mauer showed a six-week fetus on a screen, “looks really small, doesn't look like a baby, but this actually does have a heartbeat.” She also showed a baby 13 weeks in, “everything is there, heart, brain, kidneys, lung, liver. It just has to grow. But that is the end of the first trimester, so technically, that would be under that first trimester for abortion.”

Ultrasound room, by Davis

She said she is not there to convince anyone, but to show the truth, and they choose what to do with the truth. Davis supported Mauer's words and said that there are two heartbeats in a pregnancy, and a unique human being is being formed.

In addition, she mentioned how in an abortion, there are risks that they do not tell them about. “You have to sign off on paperwork in case something happens because there are risks to every medical procedure under the sun. And I'm not sure how we're able to tell women under the umbrella of health care that there are no risks involved with this because that's simply a law and it's not true and it's not health care,” said Davis.

Because they don't think abortion is health care, Davis said they are looking forward to hear about the Texas-style law.

During covid, they were closed a few weeks, but after that, they went back to normal, taking precautions.

As we can see, they are two completely opposite positions in every way. I leave the debate open, should abortion be legal?