Nana Anima Bannor
NYUSchool of Medicine/BellevueHospital – New York, New York
Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the world. Society’s views women who chose to have an abortion as a negative influence in the world or as a bad role model. Society, once again has deemed abortion as being unholy, wicked and un-motherly but behind close doors, every woman’s story is different. The history of abortion is made of two supporters. The ones that insist a woman’s choice should be left to her and her only and the one that insists that a state and government should decided for the woman. My internship was based in New York City at NYUSchool of medicine at the reproductive choice services. BellevueHospital based in NYC is the teaching hospital for NYUSchool of medicine, so that was where most of my practical work took place. I interned at the women’s health center. Bellevue is a public hospital that provides care to homeless and illegal immigrant. My experience at Bellevue was definitely an opener. Not only did I grow professionally but I grew intellectually too. I learned how to conduct myself professionally in the midst of educated and professional people. I met world renowned doctors that worked at Bellevue who have written many article in the area of study which is mostly about women health.
My job at BellevueHospital was to be a support system for women who made a choice to have a termination be done and also be alert of what they are going through and console them thorough the whole process. As part of the internship I had to observe a first trimester abortion and a second trimester abortion. First trimester abortion is anywhere between 1 to 13 weeks. Second trimester is anywhere between 15 to 24 weeks. Hampshire taught me well, I knew what I was going into through course work but I made a mistake thinking that the coursework. For a first timer,I was able to contain myself and watch the whole procedure which takes maximum ten minutes. It was hard for me but I was able contain my self and watch the remaining eight procedures for the day. On Thursday June 21st, I observed my first, second trimester abortion. The procedure is usually two–three days long depending on how long the pregnancy is, and it goes for about 2 hours a day. It was really amazing how second trimester abortion is performed. I was not able see that through. It was extremely hard seeing a six month old fetus put in a round clear bottle. The feeling was not hatred, I just needed someone to help me understand or teach me that it is okay for this to happen. It is never easy to see an abortion being performed but it all comes down to a woman having a choice to choose.
Another project that I did was I helped conduct a survey among girls between the ages of13 and 17 to test their knowledge about how much they know about plan B, an emergency contraceptive because of that my supervisor and I organized a community health out reach program to help educate the teens about the use of contraceptive.
Overall, it was a wonderful internship and I had a wonderful time. I definitely will
recommend it.