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U.S. Representative Joe Walsh, an Illinois Republican seeking a second House term, said abortion is “absolutely” not medically necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life, a claim contradicted by medical research and that sparked outrage from doctors and political opponents.

“There’s no such exception as life of the mother,” Walsh told reporters after an Oct. 18 debate. “And as far as health of the mother, same thing, with advances in science and technology. Health of the mother has become a tool for abortions any time, under any reason.”

Walsh, who was supported in his 2010 victory by the anti- tax Tea Party movement, faces Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee Iraq War veteran, in the Nov. 6 election. He’s defending his House seat representing Illinois’ 8th District, which includes suburbs of Chicago.

Walsh’s statements, dismissed as inaccurate by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, fueled criticism of his party’s stance on abortion rights. The Republican national platform calls for an abortion ban with no medical exceptions, while the party’s nominee for president, Mitt Romney, supports some exceptions.

Walsh’s claim is “absolute nonsense,” said Mark I. Evans, president of the Fetal Medicine Foundation of America and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “This is scientific and political malpractice.”

Abortions can save the lives of pregnant women suffering from many conditions, said Lawrence Platt, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and the director of the Center for Fetal Medicine and Women’s Ultrasound. A leading example is ectopic pregnancy, in which a fetus develops outside of the normal location in the womb and can cause the uterus or tube to rupture, leading women to bleed to death.

A whole lot more pertinent stuff at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-19/congressman-walsh-says-abo
rtion-not-needed-to-save-lives

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