(Dec.
28, 2009) Responding to a new Arizona law providing women with informed consent
before an abortion, two Phoenix abortion clinics list many risks of the
procedure, including post abortion syndrome and infection of the uterus.The new law, signed July 13, 2009, states that women seeking an abortion must undergo counseling 24 hours in advance of the procedure, and that parental consent for minors be obtained. (A 1995 Illinois law affecting Chicago, Cicero, Berwyn and all other areas in Illinois that required parental notification, was halted when a Cook County Circuit Court judge issued a temporary restraining order Nov. 4, 2009.)
The CamelBack Family Planning Center of Arizona posts an online informed consent form which lists these possible complications during the abortion: laceration of the cervix, perforation or injury to the uterus, hemorrhage, reaction to anesthesia and/or medications resulting in shock, convulsions, and death.
It also lists as possible after-effects: post-abortion syndrome, incomplete abortion, continuing pregnancy, infection of the uterus, hemorrhage after the abortion, and emotional problems.
Stages of Fetus Listed
Another consent form on the website bullet-points the developing fetus at six stages, from week 5 after conception to 16 weeks after. Week 6 states in part, "The head has formed and buds begin to grow at the limbs for legs and arms. The heart and lungs are the first organs to form, and by the 25th day the heart will have electrical activity."
Another abortion clinic in Phoenix, Family Planning Associates, carries various consent forms as well.
Thirty-four states require that women receive counseling before an abortion is performed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood. Twenty-three of these states detail the information a woman must be given.
Arizona was one of the first of five states who, beginning in 1999, required providers to perform an ultrasound on at least some women seeking an abortion and then offer them the option to view the image, according to Guttmacher.
Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, Forest Park, Maywood and other nearby suburbs in the western Chicago, IL area who need more information about abortion procedures and the short and long-term effects should call WomanCare Services, at 708-795-6000.
See also
Summary of Arizona laws concerning abortion at NARAL Pro Choice America.