Well-being of patients most important in abortion cases, Parker argues
Jessica LiIt is a moral imperative to put the well-being of patients above personal concerns in abortion cases, Willie Parker, a physician in practice at the sole remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi, said in a lecture on Wednesday. Current social trajectories are unsettling, Parker said, noting that in a country where one in three women will pursue abortion during their lifetimes, restrictions against the procedure are becoming increasingly stringent. In Mississippi, recent laws have mandated women to receive counseling, accept ultrasound exams and, for minors, obtain parental consent before they can step into an abortion clinic. “Women don’t have the health care called abortion,” Parker said. Born in Birmingham, Ala., Parker grew up with five siblings all raised by a single mother.




