Medical Terror
Abortion is a subject that inflames people’s strong passions. It is an issue that is intertwined with legal, social, religious, ethical and political elements. Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe described the intensity of the debate– “A Clash of Absolutes.”
Recently I received a call from a medical doctor, an OB-GYN here in Oakland. She was quite upset about the reported comment made by a person protesting abortion. I urged the doctor to write a rebuttal opinion column for the Globe. I then told the doctor to give her name so that we could identify her in the article.
Two days later, the doctor called back and told me that she would like to express her opinion, but had some serious concerns for her safety and life. She had previously been identified and received numerous death threats that required police protection. The terror was so real that she resorted to wearing a bullet-proof vest. She feared for her and her family’s safety if she was publicly identified in the article. This is the doctor’s comments:
An article was published in San Francisco Chronicle giving attention to a man claiming that abortion is the “Darfur of America.” I am an African-American, board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who has been living and working in the Oakland-East Bay community for over 30 years. Having sat at segregated lunch counters, I can say in no uncertain terms that infinite injustices have been perpetrated against communities of color in this country, so I am appalled that anyone would deign to step in and wrongly accuse me of injustice in my own community. Access to healthcare is an area where inequality is most stark, but providing accessible reproductive healthcare serves to empower women of color, and is a direct response to a community need.
I have delivered thousands of babies of color, provided countless women with medical treatment and education, and helped to grow and nurture the community. I feel, as a medical doctor, that unhindered access to healthcare is a fundamental right, and never a privilege. Abortion cuts through color lines, and a doctor’s purpose is to respond to the needs of his or her community. It is not uncommon for us to see 14 year-olds who are already parents, and 12 year-olds pregnant from rape by a family member. To use racism as an excuse to prohibit safe, legal, and necessary medical care only damages and disrespects our community and its members. Anti-choicers offer no viable options once a child is born, and the disproportionate number of African-American children in foster care—1,789 (66%) in Alameda County alone—is heartbreaking.
The best way to nurture a community is to trust its members. It is unacceptable that anyone from outside of the Oakland-East Bay community would have the audacity to imply that African-American women are not capable of making choices that are best for them. Choosing abortion allows a woman to assume the rights to privacy and control of her body that are constitutionally and universally hers.
We face enough adversity and too many doors slammed shut without incendiary and antagonistic interference. We can name countless injustices in African-American history--access to education, disenfranchisement, access to healthcare, life expectancy, and the disproportionate persecution of people of color—but the provision of abortion services serves to empower and reaffirm fundamental human rights. It is time that we unite and stand behind our right to access safe and legal health care. By trusting the women of our community—our mothers, our sisters, our partners, and our daughters—and supporting their decisions, we reaffirm our belief in our community, its strength, and its promise.
Robust political social, moral, and ethical debates are vital our democratic society. The freedom to express oneself and assert a view point is the bedrock of our American legal system. Violence cannot be tolerated anywhere in Oakland. People providing or receiving safe and legal medical services should not live in fear. It crosses all human boundaries when a woman’s right to safe and legal medical services is threaten by violence.
This is why it is so vitally important for you to exercise your rights, express your opinions, and be heard at the ballot box. Acceptance of violence allows it to grow and take rights from large groups of our citizens. It happens in every neighborhood and must stop. We each have a duty to insure that everyone’s legal rights are protected for exercising their legal and human rights. This is the change for a better Oakland.
Clinton Killian is an attorney in downtown Oakland, an Oakland resident, a former Oakland Planning Commissioner and a candidate for Oakland City Council. He can be reached at: (510) 625-8823 or email: clintonkillian@yahoo.com. Website: www.clintonkillian.com
