By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
How Zika is changing people's views about abortion
9194bc133c4c6d051674c942651d39485062cc7e6ab83882e1cd85af5d07b22e
As more babies are born with defects caused by the Zika virus, the public's view on late-term abortion may be changing, presenting a new challenge for abortion opponents. - photo by Jennifer Graham
The spread of the Zika virus may be changing Americans' views on late-term abortion, presenting a new challenge for abortion opponents.

Polls conducted in July by STAT News and Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people asked about late-term abortion were largely opposed to it until the question was framed to include babies who may have microcephaly caused by Zika.

Then, 59 percent of respondents said they would support abortion after 24 weeks, in contrast to 23 percent who said they would when microcephaly wasn't mentioned, Helen Branswell of STAT reported.

Support for late-term abortions when microcephaly is suspected increased even among Republicans, according to STAT.

Forty-eight percent said they would support the late-term abortion of a baby with microcephaly, compared with just 12 percent when not asked specifically about Zika defects.

Among Democrats, the numbers climbed to 72 percent in favor of aborting Zika babies after 24 weeks, compared with 34 when microcephaly was not mentioned.

The data are clear that although people arent in favor of late-term abortion in general, they are sympathetic to women when their pregnancies can be affected by Zika virus, Gillian SteelFisher, deputy director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, told Branswell.

Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio, however, told Politico that the fear of Zika complications is no reason to abort a baby.

"I understand a lot of people disagree with my view, but I believe that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. And when you present it in the context of Zika or any prenatal condition, its a difficult question and a hard one. But if Im going to err, Im going to err on the side of life," Rubio said.

A Colorado doctor who performs late-term abortions said it would be inconsistent for people to hold one opinion about abortions for Zika babies, and another about babies with other health problems.

There are many, many reasons why women seek a late abortion. And many of those reasons have to do with catastrophic fetal abnormalities that are not discovered until late in pregnancy, Dr. Warren Hern, who runs an abortion clinic in Boulder, Colorado, told Branswell.

The website Lifenews.com called the poll results "shocking" and said they would embolden abortion advocates to push for more abortions of potentially disabled babies.

And it cited a Washington Post story about panicked South American women seeking abortion pills by mail because they are afraid of Zika and its effects. Some of the women already had tested positive for Zika; others were just afraid they would contract it.

Zika, which is transmitted by mosquitoes or sexual relations, affects most people for only a week or two, with symptoms that can include a rash, fever, headache and red, itchy eyes.

In some people, it can lead to an autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, but the greatest danger the virus presents is to unborn babies of infected women. Not all babies of infected women are affected, however.

Estimates vary, but STAT has previously reported that fewer than 15 percent are born with brain damage and abnormally small heads.

Although the percentage of affected babies is relatively low, their pictures are being widely circulated, which may affect public perception.

In its latest numbers on Zika infections in America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are 479 pregnant women in the continental U.S. who are suspected of having Zika, up 46 from the previous week.
Sign up for our e-newsletters
From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
8ccd7d661f85d37c8298791c9a56bec6e0f8449d4aea5c09c6ffcf527854f186
Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
Latest Obituaries