Karen Thurman: “I want to ask in this forum what one of the women who has had this procedure has been asking for weeks: Who are we to…”

“I want to ask in this forum what one of the women who has had this procedure has been asking for weeks: Who are we to judge her and her family's heartache? I want this body to know that I listened closely to Vikki Stella's story of her family tragedy. I saw the anguish in her eyes, but I marveled at her willingness to retell the story of her heartache, of learning in the third trimester of fatal fetal abnormalities and the tremendous threat her diabetes presented if she were to deliver such a child. The Stella family's decision was not easy, and it has not been easy for her to spend the last year fighting against this legislation, but she has done it. She told me and she has told others so families faced with this personal tragedy have options. I want my colleagues to think about us who have had critical family health emergencies. We know that it is important that the medical community has the opportunity to tell us what will best preserve and protect the health and safety of our families. Intact D&E gave the Stella family the chance to protect Vikki's health so she could continue to be a good healthy mother for her two daughters. It also allowed Vikki and her husband, Archer, to have a beautiful son, Nicholas, who is now 8 months old. I do not support third trimester abortions except for in severe health situations.”