by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer (March 5, 2008) An Arizona nurse practitioner has requested permission to perform surgical abortions from the state Board of Nursing after admitting that she has been performing the procedure for some time. If permission is granted, other states may follow suit. Mary Andrews, a nurse practitioner at a Planned Parenthood in Tucson, Arizona, has asked to be able to perform the procedure legally. Arizona law does not specify that a licensed physician must perform an abortion. “We don’t agree with anyone performing surgical abortions,” said Cathi Herrod of the pro-family Center for Arizona Policy to Citizenlink, “but certainly we strongly oppose expanding the pool of licensed medical professionals who can perform abortions to include nurses.” Currently, nine states do not require licensed physicians to perform abortions. If Andrews is given permission, other states may consider allowing other medical professionals to perform the procedure as a way to offset a continuing shortage of doctors willing to do abortions. According to Denise Burke of Americans United for Life, most states are like Arizona. “In many cases they simply don’t have a law on the books addressing who should be performing surgical abortions. If they (abortion providers) can be successful in one state, then they may go to one of these others states that has no physician only requirement.” Abortion providers are already fighting for expanded access in the other 41 states as well because so few doctors are interested in performing the procedure. “Most doctors don’t do abortions mostly because it’s a messy procedure fraught with difficulties,” said Dr. Joseph DeCook, an obstetrician/gynecologist and vice-president of the American Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “It’s a terrible procedure. For a fairly good percentage of doctors, this is not medicine. It’s not healing and it’s not why they went into medicine.” A Denver, Colorado physician, Dr. McArthur Hill, is one of many doctors who have publicly testified to the horrors of the procedure he once performed. “I have taken the  lives of innocent babies,” he told an audience in Chicago in 1989. “I have torn babies from the womb. I have poisoned babies by injecting salt solution into the bag of waters . . . . I did not feel right about doing abortions. My justification was that it was legal and that patients wanted it done.” At the same event, Dr. David Brewer told about the time he assisted at an abortion and was asked by the resident physician to check and be sure they had removed all the fetal parts. “I put it on the towel, and there were parts of a person. I saw a head, ribs, tiny hands, arms. It was as if someone put a hot poker into me.” Some doctors spoke about having nightmares, others about becoming depressed, despondent and hooked on drugs, before finally getting out of the grisly business. However, the advent of chemical abortions is seen by some abortion providers as another possible solution to the problem of the doctor shortage. According to Burke, this is where they are having the most luck with eliminating the need for a physician. “Where they are having success is making sure that there are no restrictions on who can dispense abortifacient drugs and thereby perform a chemical abortion,” Burke said. © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com Help someone who is hurting from abortion. See “Healing the Pain of Abortion” with Theresa Burke, Ph.D., David Reardon, Ph.D. and Maria Steele, available in our store at www.womenofgrace.com/catalog