OPINION | GWEN FORD FAULKENBERRY: Differences of opinion |
Democrat-Gazette online
In last week's column I tried to amplify the voice of Dr. Emily Waldorf, who barely survived a miscarriage at 17 weeks because she could not get the health care she needed in her home state of Arkansas. After a harrowing five days at Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville, with no hope of her baby's survival and in fear for her own life, she was driven 240 miles across the border into Kansas where she was humanely treated, rescued from sepsis, and given the opportunity to mourn her beloved, dead child.
Emily's hope--and mine--in telling her story is to save other women from such trauma; that by confiding her heartbreak to her fellow Arkansans we may be able to make it safer for women to live and thrive here without fear of dying for lack of reproductive health care.
I received a plethora of responses to the column. They ran the full range: flattery, appreciation, empathy, curiosity, reasonable disagreement, judgment, mockery, scorn.
My favorite one was this one:
"Being pro-life myself and a Southern Baptist minister, I am against abortion, but I also understand that there are gray areas that need to be addressed in the laws that are out there right now, including Arkansas. I thought your article was well written and well thought out. Thank you for that. I hope that it will stir some of our legislators to rework the law for the situation like Emily found herself in.
"I still think abortion is wrong, an abomination to our society, and a terrible thing to say it's a choice. But I see your point and hope that we see some adjustment to our laws and to the laws of other states.
"Thank you for your well thought........