Last week’s news about the 28-year-old pregnant Ilocana who did a self-cesarean operation was a tough read. She used an ordinary kitchen knife, took her full-term baby out and then stitched up her belly with ordinary needle and thread. Without anesthesia.
The emergency-room doctors at the Ospital ng Sampaloc where she was brought after self-surgery are still unable to explain how she did it. Police from the Sta. Mesa Police District station are just as incredulous.
I have a few questions, myself.
Was the knife at least sterilized? Sharp enough to cut through five inches of surface skin in one go? Or had it been dulled by daily use, therefore mapurol, so mapurol it had to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth countless times before drawing blood, or marking the beginning of a cut?
Imagine a knife so dull it cannot slice liempo. Realize we aren’t talking about liempo.
Why was she alone, for heaven’s sake? Who held her hand, when with the other she was cutting herself up? Who whispered to her, “Tahan na, tahan na, lilipas din iyang sakit na iyan?” Who wiped her tears away?
For of course she cried. Impossible, for her to have not.
The baby was found dead on the floor, but was it born alive? How long before it breathed its last? How long did Nanay get to hold it? Did she get to kiss it, did she want to, did she ask its forgiveness?
Oh, please. Don’t ask about the pain if you mean only the physical.
For the pain, when it came, did not start when dull knife met skin and went kkkraakh-kkkraakh-kkkraakh, push-pull, push-pull, push-pull, kkkraakh-kkkraakh-kkkraakh.
There’s pain, and there’s pain, and there’s pain. The greatest pain comes from discovering no really cares, and that’s what the woman has found out.
Her husband went abroad. She found herself jobless. And then forced to live with an aunt who apparently did not look her up closely enough and accepted the alibi that she was merely gaining weight.
The ER doctor on TV news narrated how the woman simply said, “Kailangan kong tanggalin, kasi marami ang magagalit.”
If that’s not a pained statement, tell me what is.
She was discovered catatonic. She had reattached her skin only halfway and “did not reach the uterus, which is the reason for the surgery,” media reports quote Sta. Ana District Hospital director and chief surgeon Dr. Mario Lato, who adds that because the uterus continued to bleed after the baby had been taken out, “We removed 250 cc of blood in her abdominal lining.”
She’s far safe from home.
Tetanus, from the kitchen knife, is a possibility. Still hardly talking, she’s being observed for possible depression, or a deeper mental instability. What she’s done is deemed a criminal act, so she’s to be given a psychiatric evaluation. If she’s proven crazy, she goes scot-free. If she tests normal, she will be sued for abortion.
The pain, the pain.
It brings me now to ask: What’s the status of the RH bill?
Sen. Pia Cayetano on her official website speaks of “the need to be vigilant about it. I do not hesitate to tell every one of the urgencies of the deaths that occur while we take our time and I will always bring it to the attention of those who oppose, (in order) to influence the positive outcome of these measures. At the end of the day it is the President who (we need to) support the measure. He has the unique ability to also exert effort to have these expedited to come to the final conclusion, which is basically voting on the measure.”
Asked how many she believes will vote and against it, she declares “Hindi ko style magbilang because if I believe in a measure, whether ako lang nag-iisang naniniwala dun, I will still push for it to the extent na… we have now a President who supports it…then obviously this bill have to be brought to the floor… as opposed to three years ago when we had a President who was very vocal about her non-support to RH.
“So it’s my job to put it on the floor, to debate on it, whether I have three votes or 13 or 23. I have a general idea who are definitely supporting and who are definitely against, and it’s the people in between who cause the most concern. But I just do my best. I discuss it in public whether it’s on the floor or a public forum. I also try to discuss it and address their concerns and that’s the limit of my capability. At the end of the days it’s all up to their (senators) conscience….
“Those who do not want to be convinced — kahit mamatay na yung mga nanay sa harap nila — hindi pa rin sila maniniwala. I’m sure of that. I’ve seen it. But for those who are uncertain, I believe data and surveys can help them make a decision.
“I try to make the RH bill as comprehensive as possible. So it includes education in all levels (of maternal health). It includes access to services that will cater to prenatal counseling, and then during the pregnancy and post-pregnancy, so the families can plan. It also includes the budget, so to a large extent the RH bill will decrease the level of maternal mortality. What the RH can do that nothing else can achieve on its own is to make a national policy that will not change regardless of the incumbent(officials). If we do not have a continuous long-term plan then napaka-short sighted natin, and that is what (an RH law) and other laws (can) do for us.
“The latest findings of the National Statistics Office is very consistent with the findings of the international organizations: That women who are educated and belong to higher economic brackets really are the ones who plan their families better. These NSO studies simply confirm that it’s the poorest of the poor that have bigger families, a lot of times because they have no access and no capacity to obtain family planning services and supplies for themselves. I’ve been asked many times why not education alone? Well yes, but that is a long-term process. But in the meantime this generation will have so many babies and abortions.”
How many self-cesarean operations do we see before the RH bill is passed?
Ah, the pain.
(For comments, write to armida114@yahoo.com)