...how many childen are too many and who decides?
By Niraj Warikoo
When Fatima Basha (click here) became pregnant at the age of 34, she realized her body wouldn't be able to handle another child.
The mother of nine children in Syria had experienced a couple of miscarriages earlier, a stillbirth and also suffered from gastrointestinal problems that often left her weak and fatigued.
"She and my father knew that her body could not withstand the trauma of another childbirth," her eldest son, Dr. Yahya Basha, 76, of West Bloomfield, recalls. "I was about 16 at the time, and vividly remember my father confiding in me, saying their intent was to terminate the pregnancy."
They visited several doctors to get an abortion, but she was unable to find one to perform the procedure, Basha said. Fatima soon died during childbirth in 1962, unable to survive the bleeding.
"Coming back from school, we were taken to the hospital," Basha said, weeping as he recalled seeing his mother dead on a hospital bed when he was 16 years old....
