Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

An open letter to tweeter Angie  via Jill Stanek  http://www.jillstanek.com from Monty Patterson, dad of Holly Patterson who died in 2003 from a  RU486 abortion…thank you Mr. Patterson..your family is in our prayers.

Dear Jill…

Angie
Jackson's attempt to "demystify" medication abortions with pills can
send the wrong message to women and young teens with respect to their
health and well being.

Her message, "It's not that bad, it's not that scary, you too can
have an abortion if you want one," approach is not always the case when
it comes to terminating an unplanned pregnancy.

There are serious risks with the so called "abortion pill" procedure
and those risks must be communicated in a clear, concise, and
responsible manner so women can make informed decisions. Most women may
hear about the rare possibility of death associated with medication
abortion but let's put a name and face on one such example.

Let's not forget about what happened to 18-year-old Holly Patterson
in 2003 and her experience with an early pregnancy termination using
the Mifeprex (RU486/misoprostol) regimen. She died a tragic death after
7 days into her procedure. She was in perfect health and a pinnacle of
fitness. Her story was well publicized throughout the news media and
the internet.

As her father, my experience at the hospital, where she eventually
died, was terrifying beyond any words that I could possibly describe.

Try to imagine the thoughts that went through Holly's mind during
the last few precious moments of her life. I'm positive all she could
think about was the basic instinct to survive her hopeless ordeal. I'm
sure it wasn't the information she had received from Planned Parenthood
that the procedure was "a safe option for ending pregnancy in the
privacy of your home and it comes in an easy-to-take pill form."

I hope that Angie realizes she may be sending an unrealistic message
and impression to other women and teenagers that a medication abortion
really is not that dangerous. I can personally tell you that it can be
a serious and life threatening procedure that can end in death.

Angie is an adult who made a conscious decision based on the
resources and information she obtained. To share her reality experience
with others is exercising her rights of freedom of speech and press.

However,
from a parent's perspective, she might be influencing teenagers, some
as young as 14 years old, that it is simply "no big deal." It is
a big deal, and I'm sure that if Holly were alive today she would tell
us that she made a poor and uniformed choice based upon her options at
the time. Teenagers may not have the experience or knowledge to make
these important life decisions on their own.

I am also very concerned that women between the ages of 20-30 years
old, who are most likely to have a medical abortion, will perceive it
as an extremely safe procedure with little risk to their safety, health
and welfare.

Social media, such as Twitter and YouTube,
has now made it possible for anyone to publish and broadcast their own
sensational news story. Let's be responsible and use it wisely as
someone's life may be depending on it.

Sincerely,

Monty Patterson