As in any medical or surgical procedure, the woman who is considering having an abortion
has specific medical rights which should NEVER be given away or signed away. 
Abortion procedures can fail, have complications associated with them,
including serious permanent injury and death.  If you have not kept all your
legal medical rights intact, you may have no future recourse for claims.

 Women's Health and Safety Checklist for those considering abortion 


  BE A WELL-PREPARED PATIENT: 
  KNOW ALL YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS BEFORE YOU HAVE AN ABORTION  

      1.  The choice to have an abortion is yours and no one else's. 
  It is illegal for anyone to attempt to force you to have surgery or any medical procedure 
 against your will -- regardless of your age, your marital status or any other life circumstance. 

      2.  You have a right to your legal rights! 
  An abortion clinic may ask you to waive your legal rights by asking you to sign a statement that you will not hold the clinic or the medical personnel involved liable if you are injured or killed during the abortion procedure.   No competent attorney would ever ask you to sign away these rights!   There's a reason for that:  physicians and clinics are legally liable and should have insurance to  cover such eventualities.  If something happens to you during the procedure, they are the responsible  medical personnel and should be held accountable.

      3.  You have the right to have your abortion performed by a properly licensed physician.

      4.  You have the right to know all the following about that physician:

  *Has he/she ever had a medical license suspended?
  *Does this physician have a history of claims for medical malpractice?
  *Does this physician have medical malpractice insurance in case
  you are injured or killed during the procedure?

      5.  If you should be injured during the abortion, you have the right to
insist on being transferred immediately for proper emergency medical care.* 

      6.  You have the right to request that your physician sign a "physician information form" prior to performing your abortion procedure.
This form allows the physician to verify his malpractice insurance information and to commit to a prompt  transfer by ambulance to an emergency medical facility or trauma center in the event you are injured during the abortion.  

 

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