21st June 2008
About a dozen doctors attended the training for medics on medical abortion. It was a very interesting discussion since, although all the participants were in favor of therapeutic abortion, the participants ranged from doctors firmly in favor of abortion rights to doctors against abortion in all cases except for protecting the life of the mother, in case of severe genetic defects, or if an insane woman is raped. Even though therapeutic abortion is legal in Ecuador, it is very difficult to get good training on how to perform them. Therefore, some of the doctors had crossed half the country to come to the workshop, coming from a variety of regions of Ecuador.
Unfortunately, we have no photos from the workshop due to the wishes and needs of the doctors to remain anonymous.
The first part of the day involved a discussion about the experiences of the medics around abortion and how miscarriages in progress are treated in the hospitals where they work, and concrete situations they had treated. At first, the participants seemed reluctant to talk about even the situations in which abortion is legal in Ecuador.
Following this introduction, Dr. Gunilla Kleiverda from Women on Waves gave a talk about the ethical and medical responsibilities of health professionals, and asked if they would like more and current information on medical abortion, as a way to perform therapeutic abortions and treat miscarriages in progress in their hospitals. Instantly, their reluctance to talk about the subject all but disappeared and they were eager to become better trained to be able to perform these functions more effectively in their workplaces.
Gunilla then talked about how to use Misoprostol, and its many uses, and also how to perform a vacuum aspiration.
After that, Gunilla and Cecilia Costa talked about the importance of doctors and the authority that they have in the struggle to legalize abortion. Cecilia talked about the importance of the doctors organization, Medicos pela Escolha, in the legalization of abortion in Portugal.
In general, the doctors expressed their thanks for the workshop, and said that they wished that there were more workshops like this in Ecuador for doctors to be better informed. A few exchanged contacts and expressed interest in organizing together.
All in all, it was a very positive event and also an excellent opportunity for doctors to not only be informed but make contact with each other to continue these discussions.
