I’d like to sneak in and point out that a ruptured uterus is, indeed life-threatening. The uterus is very heavy in blood supply, especially during pregnancy, and not readily accessible without abdominal surgery. A rupture puts a woman at fairly high risk of bleeding out.
I really don’t want to partake in the debate - I don’t have all the cites and facts to support my position at my fingertips.
However, to answer your question beagledave, the only instance I can think of is my sister-in-law.
When she was 5 months pregnant with her first baby, it died. There was no medical or genetic reason, it just died.
Doctors had to perform a D&E on her. My understanding is that once the fetus is dead, the body won’t necessarily expel it right away. The mother can get a severe infection leading to future infertility.
Fortunatly, my SIL was able to have the procedure, which was a picnic for everyone involved. :rolleyes:, and I now have a lovely niece, and a nephew on the way.
As far as a cite. Well, I could post a photo of my niece if you like, but I’m sure my SIL would prefer I not post her actual medical records.
I’m sorry to hear about the experience of your SIL.
Of course that’s quite a bit different from the hypothetical posed by DtheC…
In your SILs case…the fetus was dead at 5 months…the D&E performed to extract the dead fetus is not really comparable (in terms of the abortion debate) with my question…I can’t honestly think that anyone pro life or otherwise who could see a shred of controversy in the extraction of a dead fetus from a uterus.
DtheC was proposing a hypothetical about a woman with a LIVE fetus who (at 19 weeks) learns about some condition that the docs are sure will prevent the fetus from surviving until term…and are sure will cause uterine rupture.
I’m not a big fan of hypothetical arguments in general (just my style I guess)…I’m even less of a fan of these kinds of things in an abortion debate. Before I would even venture to spend time thinking about it…I’d like to know if that sort of thing has verifiably happened.
I believe Barbara Eden (tv’s “I Dream of Jeanie”) had to give birth to a dead child. There was no way for some reason to extract the dead fetus and she had to go through with it. From what I’ve heard, it was horrible.
sniff sniif
Oh, that’s BULLSHIT.
Calling the language used in pro-choice information weakening langauge and not using plain clear language and then referring to yourself as pro-life makes you a hypocrite.
The term pro-life is as loaded and manipulative as any you mentioned if not MORESO.
Do you think that you are some virtuous crusader, protecting the unborn, as so many of your ilk who define themselves by the same term seem to?
To paraphrase George Carlin: It is interesting that the pro-lifers seem to care a lot about the kid until they come out of the womb, and then you are ON YOUR OWN.
Mockingbird, I’m actually not at all invested in the term “pro-life”, it just seemed to be the most common one in use for that side of the fence. I’ll say anti-abortion if you wish, or would it have to be “anti-choice” to please you? Seems a strange thing to get worked up about; this battle took place 20 years ago.
And no, I’m not a virtuous crusader at all, I don’t quite see where you’re getting that, unless that’s how you conceive of the entire (ahem) pro-life side of the debate.
Your last sentence appears to be a non-sequitur. What were we talking about here?
I always understood that partial birth abortions only took place if a medical condition existed that threatened the existence of both mother and unborn child,and that only by an abortion would one (the mother) of them survive. I understood that legislation had been passed that limited them to situations like that.
Example:A pregnant woman is in a coma after a terrible car wreck. The pregnancy is too late for a regular abortion,but too early for the fetus to survive outside the womb. The woman will NOT survive if the pregancy is allowed to continue. The relatives,given the choice of losing mother and fetus,or the fetus alone,decide they want to give the woman a chance to recover and possibly try for another pregnancy. This has been my understanding of how such a procedure was allowed,it could not by law be done on a whim,but only if there was a medical condition that necissated it for the woman’s survival.
Humm. I wasn’t particularly clear.
The fetus had no heart-beat, or it’s heart had failed to develop properly, effectively leaving it without one, but it would have continued to develop had it been left alone, potentially causing infection, rupture, etc.
I belive that there are quite a few people (and I’m not saying you’re one of them) that would have wanted my SIL to carry the fetus to term, any sort of intervention being deemed “Against God’s will” or something.
She had a D&E. It was yucky for all involved. No one was happy about it. We’re all glad that she had it done, was healthy and has now had a daughter and a son on the way.
The problem is when you demonize a medical procedure, regardless of how horrific it appears at first blush, it’s impossible to imagine every scenario in which it could potentially be used.
The idea of an elective D&E very late in a pregnancy gives me the creeps in a big, big way, and I am enphatically pro-choice. However, there are cases where it is medically necessary, even if woman is not in immediate danger.
Obviously, the fetus had no chance to live
Humm - my post was kind of out of wack. If anyone needs clarification as to what the heck I’m talking about, please feel free to ask.
What exactly happens if one has a ruptured uterus?
Well, nothing good, for sure.
From this site:
Of course the patient in question is a dog; however, it was the clearest description I could find.
Well among other possibilities, the most immediate threat is bleeding to death. As I mentioned before, the pregnant uterus is a highly vascularized structure with a hell of a lot of blood flow. If your uterus ruptured in the hospital, they could probably save you, and might even save the uterus. If it happened, say, while grocery shopping, or working, or the other trivial things pregnant women tend to waste their time doing, the outlook’s not nearly so good.
There’s also the possibility of amniotic fluid and such setting up peritonitis and eventually septicemia, as alice mentioned.
There are almost certainly other risks, but those are enough to convince me that a dead or dying fetus isn’t worth it.