In the past, I\u2019ve never before thought about whether my healthcare provider was anti-abortion or pro-choice. When I was newly pregnant and looking for a doctor, it\u2019s not something I really considered.<\/p>\n
That is, until I was laying back on the bed in my doctor\u2019s office with my shirt up and the ultrasound stick on my belly and was taken completely by surprise by the doctor and nurse going off on a pro-life tangent.<\/p>\n
Now to be fair, it started with a joke. I said I wanted to put one of the images on facebook, and the doctor joked that that would be illegal because it would be child porn, and I pointed out that it wasn\u2019t legally a child yet, and that\u2019s when things got funny. Or rather, not so funny.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, there\u2019s some disagreement about that,\u201d the doctor told me. No there\u2019s not,<\/em> I said in my mind. The fact that it\u2019s not a \u201cchild\u201d according to the law we have today is not something that\u2019s relative.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt has a heartbeat,\u201d the nurse explained. Is this seriously happening? <\/em>I asked myself incredulously. What kind of alternate universe did I just step into? <\/em><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t respond. I almost wish I had, but I was taken by surprise and I didn\u2019t want to cause a scene. I just didn\u2019t expect to get a mini anti-abortion lecture at my doctor\u2019s office, in the middle of a routine ultrasound.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t go to my doctor to hear his opinion on abortion, or any religious or political issue. All I ask of my doctor is for him to see me through a healthy pregnancy. I really don\u2019t want to know his religious views or what he thinks of the ethics or morality of a legal procedure like abortion. That shouldn\u2019t matter. Similarly, all I want of my pharmacist is to get the drugs I need and all I want of my health insurance provider is to have my doctor bills covered.<\/p>\n After this experience, though, I do kind of wonder. In the future, should I ask up front and make sure I get a doctor who is pro-choice? I\u2019d like to think that a doctor\u2019s political and religious views are irrelevant to his practice as a doctor, but the reality is that in today\u2019s climate they aren\u2019t, and the reality is that I\u2019d simply feel more comfortable with a doctor I know supports my right to choose. Something to bear in mind in the future, I guess.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past, I\u2019ve never before thought about whether my healthcare provider was anti-abortion or pro-choice. When I was newly pregnant and looking for a doctor, it\u2019s not something I really considered. That is, until I was laying back on the bed in my doctor\u2019s office with my shirt up and the ultrasound stick on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[104,118],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism","tag-abortion-2","tag-healthcare"],"yoast_head":"\n