Letters

I have decided to share two personal stories, with permission from my daughters, because we must understand the real and harmful consequences of banning abortion and IVF.

One of my daughters was recently diagnosed with leukemia. She found out during routine blood tests when she was 10 weeks pregnant. She tried to delay starting chemo, but after several weeks she became so sick that her doctor feared she might have a stroke.

Although she and her husband desperately wanted another child, she had no choice but to terminate the pregnancy and start chemo. My daughter’s health demanded it.

I thank God every day that she lives in New York, where abortion is legal. Otherwise, her choice would have been to forego chemo until the fetus was viable, putting her own life at risk, or start chemo immediately, only to lose the fetus to fatal abnormalities in utero. If the miscarriage was incomplete, she would not be able to get a D&C, which is considered abortion, and would then risk sepsis infection that also could kill her.

Another daughter was diagnosed with a different cancer two years ago, right after the birth of her first child. Fortunately, her doctor felt it was safe for her to wait a month before starting treatment so she could harvest her eggs before chemo made her sterile.

Just recently, this daughter and her husband welcomed a beautiful healthy second child through IVF and surrogacy.

Recently, a majority of House Republicans backed a bill declaring that “life begins at conception,” and that any fertilized embryo has the full rights of a legal person under the 14th Amendment. That would, of course, lead to a national ban on abortion based upon one religious view that many Americans do not share. It would also make IVF clinics impossible to operate.

And it would require that every miscarriage be investigated as a possible homicide. Doctors could go to jail for performing an abortion that politicians, not doctors, have determined is not medically necessary.

New York women cannot be complacent. We may be safe now but could lose our fundamental rights of privacy and choice after the next election.

Don’t believe me? Read the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” that will be implemented if Donald Trump and Republicans control the government. This chilling document brags that “Dobbs was just the beginning” and that abortion will be outlawed in every jurisdiction in America — regardless of the reason.

Vote like your life — or the life of someone you love — depends upon it. Because it just might.

Vote on November 5 for John Avlon for Congress, Joe Biden for president, and the New York Equal Rights Amendment to preserve women’s reproductive freedom.

Andrea Klausner

Vice-Chair

Southampton Democratic Committee