Newsweek Reporter “Felt Uneasy” As She Witnessed an Abortion

Aug. 27, 2009 - PRLog -- A Newsweek reporter who recently witnessed an abortion and wrote a calm and detached article about her experience said she was nevertheless emotionally moved and disturbed.

Sarah Kliff, who has covered abortion for the magazine for two years, said that she was “hesitant to step” into the operating room of an abortion doctor in Omaha, NE. She said she “felt uneasy” at the prospect of watching the abortion, even though she had seen more graphic operations on Grey’s Anatomy.

Emotions in the Waiting Room

She noted in the Aug. 15 issue of Newsweek that she considered the abortion she witnessed to be a straightforward procedure. Talking to women in the waiting room, however, was more emotionally moving. Ms. Kliff met a single mom with a 10-year-old daughter, who “started crying when we talked about abortion.” The mother said, “I think it's OK, but it's hard to see everyone doing it, there’s so many. I'm not mad at them at all. It's just like, wow, there are so many people."

She also met a few patients for whom the abortion was not a difficulty, “but they were not the majority.” The reporter added that she later told friends about her experience, and that although many Americans today support Roe v. Wade's legalization of abortion, “my experience (among an admittedly small, largely pro-choice sample set) found a general discomfort when confronted with abortion as a physical reality, not a political idea.”

Ms. Kliff concludes at the end of her article: “Abortion may be a simple procedure medically, but it is not cancer surgery. It's an elective procedure that no one—neither its defenders nor its detractors — expects to elect for themselves.”

Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, Forest Park and other Chicago-area suburbs in Illinois can better prepare themselves to make a decision with regard to abortion by calling WomanCare Services in Berwyn at 708-795-6000. Or go to http://www.womancare.org.

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WomanCare Services, of Berwyn, IL provides help to women with unexpected pregnancies. Our consultations are confidential. Call 708-795-6000. Or go to http://www.womancare.org.