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By Sherryl Anne G. Quito, Senior Reporter
First of three parts
The fetus moves in the womb, sucking its thumb
at times. His heartbeat of 140 a minute speeds up to 200 as the
abortionist’s suction tip begins to invade his mother’s womb. He
senses aggression. He moves violently to avoid the instrument. His
mouth is visibly open in a cry for help.
The above is a scene from the 1980 pro-life
documentary, The Silent Scream. It shows how a helpless human being
is attacked during abortion. It also shows that a fetus, often
referred to as “just a blob of tissue or blood,” already has an
instinct for survival.
In the Philippines, there are no reliable
statistics available since abortion is illegal. No woman, doctor or
hospital will admit to having committed the crime for fear of legal
sanctions. It is estimated, however, that 1 of 4 pregnancies ends up
in abortion. Researches show that 17 percent of women in Metro
Manila alone undergo an induced abortion owing to unwanted
pregnancy. Women resort to various abortion methods ranging from
taking drugs or herbal preparations, to consulting doctors, nurses,
midwives and even approaching a hilot (quack doctor).
Myrna Sanchez of the Center for Family
Ministries explains that abortion refers to the process of
terminating the life of an unborn child not only through mechanical
means that are usually done in dark, discreet and dangerous alleys,
but includes taking abortifacient pills, herbal concoctions being
sold in Quiapo district, Manila, or even doing strenuous physical
activities to discontinue a pregnancy. The pro-life website
www.silentscream.org defines abortion as “the willful killing of
the fetus in the uterus; the violent expulsion of the fetus from the
maternal womb, resulting in its death.”
Living with guilt
The documentary, SONDA: buhay.bata. aborsyon,
done by a group of University of Santo Tomas (UST) nursing students
presents a first-hand account of the lives of an abortionist and an
abortionee.
The research was conducted in the streets of
Quiapo, considered an abortionist hub and where there is a reported
rampant selling of abortifacient drugs. Police officers roam the
vicinity but none of them seems to be alarmed by the number of
vendors selling Cytotec (generic name Misoprostol), a drug used to
prevent gastric ulcers among people who have to take nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs. The Bureau of Food and Drugs banned its
sale and distribution in the Philippines in the late nineties after
receiving reports that the drug was being misused as an
abortifacient. Despite this, the selling and usage of Cytotec has
increasingly become an epidemic.
The Manila Times sources disclose that Cytotec
vendors can easily dispose of 50 boxes at P60 to P100 each in Quiapo
alone. Their customers range from 17- to 28-year olds and come from
various walks of life—students, married couples, prostitutes. A
customer is supposed to buy at least six pills that are sold with an
instruction manual on how to use Cytotec as an abortifacient.
Aside from taking abortifacient pills, women
also undergo certain procedures using instruments such as the “sonda.”
Sonda, a urinary catheter to health-care professionals, is the
instrument that a 60-year-old woman abortionist has been using for
the past 18 years. She declines to give her real name. She said,
“The use of sonda, Methergine [which promotes uterine contractions
and allows expulsion of the fetal fragments] and an antibiotic
[which prevents the occurrence of infection] are all it takes to
complete an abortion procedure.”
The society refers to abortionists as silent
killers. Abortion is easily done by the likes of the 60-year-old
woman abortionist and those who have become used to doing it,
especially that they consider it an “out-patient” procedure.
After sterilizing the sonda in hot water, it is inserted in a
woman’s vagina and left inside her system for 24 hours. While the
instrument is inside the uterus, the abortionist prescribes an
antibiotic to prevent infection.
When contractions begin, the abortionist said,
she makes the pregnant woman take methergine to start the abortion.
Women who approach her claim to be 18-year old
or older but she thinks otherwise. She believes some of the women
are younger. She quickly asserts, though, that she does not do the
procedure on everyone who comes to her.
The woman said she doesn’t perform abortions
on all those who see her, adding that she turns away minors. The
abortionist also makes sure the woman looks physically fit and
certain about the procedure. The abortionist also chooses those who
are only in the first trimester of their pregnancy.
The same woman admits that guilt has haunted her
for years. But she needed the money. Money is the reason why she
never stopped from doing abortions.
One abortion procedure costs a four-digit
amount, enough to sustain her and her family’s day-to-day life.
Induced and surgical abortions
While induced abortion requires only taking
abortifacient drugs, submitting to strenuous exercises and other
fairly simple activities, there are a number of procedures used in
surgical abortion. The website www.pro-life.org enumerates the
following as the most common procedures used in surgical abortion:
Dilation and curettage (D&C). The cervix, or
the mouth of the womb, is first stretched open. A curette, or sharp,
loop-shaped knife, is then inserted, cutting the fetus into small
pieces. His head is crushed with the forceps to remove the fetus.
The womb is then scraped out completely.
Suction-curettage. A tube is inserted into the
uterus; the suction breaks and crushes the body parts of the fetus,
drawing them out into a jar. With this and previous methods, the
resulting tissue is clearly identifiable as small pieces of a baby.
The cause of death is the physical dismemberment of the body.
Saline injection. This method is used when the
child is too small for the D&C and suction-curettage. A long
needle is injected through the mother’s abdomen to extract a
certain amount of amniotic fluid. A portion of the fluids is
replaced with a toxic salt (strong salt poisoning solution), which
burns the outer layers of the child’s skin. An increase in
movement is noted as the baby inhales and swallows the solution. The
baby often convulses, goes into a coma, and dies an hour or two
later.
Hormone drug injection. Prostaglandin drug is
injected into the amniotic sac, producing labor and premature birth.
The baby, in most cases, is born alive with a heartbeat, then put
aside to die.
Hysterectomy. It is generally used when saline
injection is impractical. The baby is delivered as it would be in a
caesarean section. Almost all babies delivered by hysterectomy are
born alive. Within a few minutes, the baby dies from willful
neglect.
RU486, Mifepristone (an abortion pill). This
drug is approved only for use in women up to the 49th day of their
last menstrual period. This is a potentially life-threatening
condition in which the embryo lodges outside the uterus, usually in
the fallopian tube. This pill will not work in ectopic pregnancy
cases. If an ectopic pregnancy is not diagnosed early, the tube may
burst, causing internal bleeding and, in some cases, the death of
the woman.
In the Philippines, studies indicate that the
methods most frequently used outside the hospitals are inserting a
catheter (sonda), followed by deep abdominal massage, and the use of
drugs, herbs and other medicinal concoctions.
(To be continued)
Editor’s note: The stories by Sherryl Anne
Quito are based on a report by the bioethics class taught by
professor Rowena Escolar-Chua of the University of Santo Tomas’
College of Nursing. The graduating students who prepared the report
are Justin Siy, Christopher So, Jaymee Sosa, Aeron Suarez, Shanelyn
Sudario, Maryjane Sulit, Bernadette Sunga, Clarice Susmiran and
Tiffany Sy Tu.
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