LA Times columnist Robin Abcarian on Personal and Deeply Felt Choices:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-abortion-doctor-20150807-column.html#page=1

Susan Robinson was sitting on the patio of her Central Coast home, above golden hills and oak trees shimmering in the summer heat. She sipped homemade hibiscus tea as she patted the head of her mischievous border collie, Radar, and told me about the pride she takes in her work.

Robinson, 69, is an abortion doctor, one of only a handful in this country who perform abortions in the third trimester. She is in the business of ending pregnancies, yes, but more important, she is in the business of helping women assert control over their own lives.

"There is no other field in medicine where people come to you so desperate," she said, "and you can really help pretty much everyone who walks through the door."
There is no other field in medicine where people come to you so desperate and you can really help pretty much everyone who walks through the door. - Susan Robinson, doctor

Robinson used to fly to Wichita, Kan., every three weeks to work at a clinic owned by George Tiller, perhaps the country's most famous late-term abortion doctor. Tiller was renowned for his kindness toward patients and his courage in the face of relentless physical attacks against him that culminated in 2009 with his murder by a Christian extremist.

"His murder changed things," Robinson said. Tiller rarely gave interviews, insisting on keeping the focus on patients, and he instilled in Robinson the same ethic. But after he died, she decided to speak out.

"If you are secretive, you are sort of colluding in the stigma of abortion," Robinson said. "Now when people ask what I do, I say, 'My specialty is abortion care, and I love my job!' "