By Denise Ross

In campaign mode, that is, when it comes to the proposed abortion ban on South Dakota’s 2008 ballot. Dr. Glenn Ridder of Sioux Falls, a member of Physicians for Life, addressed the Monday night crowd at the campaign office opening of Vote Yes for Life in Rapid City.

(Photos by Denise)

Ridder anticipated a repeat of the 2006 dueling professional opinions from doctors on both sides of the issue and said Initiated Measure 11 would not be a problem for doctors.

Enacting the law will not adversely affect any practice in medicine following ethical norms.

(I am confident that we’ll soon be hearing from doctors involved in the Campaign for Healthy Families, the group campaigning against the proposed abortion ban. I strongly suspect they will offer a differing view. Stay tuned.)

Ridder also addressed twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, which has so far been the primary message put forth by the Healthy Families campaign. (Click here to see the video. Read the entire Vote Yes press release on the issue on the jump.)

Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome has raised its ugly head. … Chances are fair for a good outcome for both children. … It’s a very rare condition that occurs 1 to 3 times in South Dakota a year.

Ridder said the syndrome occurs sometimes when twins share a placenta.

The current thoughts are to work on the tissue that is diseased, the placenta not the baby. … If a baby dies, the procedure is not an abortion. You did not go in to abort. You went into address the disease.

Ridder also says he has experience successfully treating pregnant women with cancer while delivering a healthy baby, albeit prematurely.

He also said that babies who die after a very short life due to fetal anomalies don’t justify abortion.

If we look at our lives as Christians, none of our lives are anything compared to eternity. That was the lifetime meant for that child.

Meanwhile, Dr. Patti Giebink also was on hand Monday night.

Giebink, who is treasurer for Vote Yes for Life, lays claim to being the last South Dakota doctor to perform abortions in South Dakota. Since she quit her work for the Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls at least a few years ago, doctors have been coming from Minnesota. Giebink now works in Chamberlain.

To read the full press release on twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome press release, click “CLICK HERE” below.

VOTE YES FOR LIFE PRESS RELEASE

THE FACTS ABOUT TWIN-TWIN TRANSFUSION SYNDROME, (TTTS),

ITS FREQUENCY AND ACCEPTED PROCEDURES TO CORRECT IT

SIOUX FALLS, SD — Statistics from the C.D.C. show that 32.2 out of 1,000 pregnancies involve twins. However, only about 20% of twins are monochorionic (share the same placenta). That means that only 6.44 pregnancies in 1,000 develop Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.

Dr. DeLia, a fetal surgeon in Chicago, was the doctor who invented the procedure that treats Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome - fetoscopic laser photocoagulation. Monochorionic twins can be in on sac or two sacs. For some reason, Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is more common in cases of two sacs. Overall, about 15% of all monochorionic twins have some degree of TTTS. That translates to 0.97 in every 1,000 pregnancies.

There are a number of ways to treat TTTS, any of which may be the correct method depending on ultrasound findings and the gestational age of the pregnancy. The various therapies that are available target either the unequal fluid between the twins’ sacs, or interrupt the blood vessel communications between the twins on the single shared placenta. The available therpies currently used are:

• A.     Amnioreduction - This is a series of amniocentesis that involves removal of the excess amniotic fluid from the sac of the recipient twin. This restores the balance of the fluid in the two sacs and improves uteroplacental bloo flow.
• B.     Septostomy (microseptostomy) - This procedure creates a hole in the membrane between the two babies’ sacs allowing the excessive fluid from the recipient twins’ sac to flow to the donor twin’s sac., which is low or absent in fluid. This procedure is performed with an amniocentesis needle.
• C.    Fetoscopic Laser Photocoagulation - The most successful procedure is Fetoscopic Laser Photocoagulation, invented by Dr. DeLia. This is the laser ablation of the communicating vessels on the placenta between the twin fetuses. This procedure can be curative because the babies are no longer sharing blood vessels between them.

About one third of the TTTS babies need to be operated on. That means that an operation is needed in 0.32 pregnancies for every 1,000 pregnancies, or 1 in 3,000. Since there are about 11,000 births in South Dakota, each year, that means that there will be, on average, about 4 times a year where this procedure would be needed.

Depending on where the procedure is performed, between 79% and 85% of time, at least one baby survives. Between 55% to 64% of the time, both babies survive. That means that, on average, about 2 times a year a baby will die despite the efforts to save the babies. The medical profession does not deliberately kill one of the babies. There is no need to do that. “Selective Termination” or “Selective Reduction” is never needed.

It is a violation of Section 2 of Initiated Measure 11 only if the procedure is intended to kill the child. The procedures I outlined are never intended to kill the child, but are always intended to save the life of the child.

It is absolutely absurd for Planned Parenthood to suggest that this law prohibits these procedures just because there is a risk the children can die. By the way, if the TTTS babies die, it is usually from the underlying condition, not the surgery. The condition kills them because the surgery failed to save them. For more information, visit Voteyesforlife.com.

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