Crashing in a Fertile Field

One year ago yesterday, the United States Supreme Court made a ruling on abortion that has further alienated the Court from the American public. The ruling is not in synch with the opinion of a majority of our citizens, most partcularly women. 

This conflict has been going on for many years in America. Even George Washington, while deciding how to cross the Delaware River asked himself do we row or do we wade? According to history, he decided to row. Perhpas you've seen the painting..

Rochester, like all cities has been embroiled in this argument for many years. One of the most controversial figures in the debate was Doctor Morris Wortman. Wortman was viewed as a notable/noble figure among abortion activists and served as a figurehead in the challenges of practicing abortion in America. His office has been regularly protested against by pro-choice advocates. He began receiving regular death threats after he defended his practice in an op-ed article that he wrote for Newsweek magazine but  in 2021, Morgan Hellquist, the daughter of a former patient, sued Wortman, claiming that he used his own sperm to impregnate her mother in 1984 — when he had claimed that he was using the sperm of a medical student for the fertility treatments.

After the suspicious visit, a DNA genealogy test found that she had at least nine half-siblings. A test comparing Hellquist’s DNA to that of Wortman’s daughter from his first marriage confirmed the matter, according to the suit alleging medical malpractice, lack of informed consent, battery, fraud, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress. “He knew the whole time who he was and I didn’t,” Hellquist said on Good Morning America last year. “He took away that choice for me.” 

In 2012, after the birth of her first child, Hellquist became a patient of Wortman, inspired by the work that allowed her parents to conceive after her father was paralyzed after being hit by a drunk driver. For the next nine years, Wortman was her gynecologist — performing annual pelvic and breast exams and talking with her about her sex drive. The lawsuit states that while conducting a vaginal ultrasound in April 2021, Wortman asked Hellquist to take off her mask because she looked prettier without one. He also brought his wife into the room to meet her and see if there was any resemblance between them. “You’re really a good kid,” he allegedly said after the procedure. “Such a good kid.”

What a creep. What a monster. God knows how many other women had suffered the same fate. How many semi-Wortman's are walking around and discovering to their dismay the sleazy root of their parentage.

The posse was closing in on the Doctor. He decided to take a ride with his friend in his buddy's home made airplane. Yet another bad idea. While in flight, the wings of the do it yourself plane became disengaged. It's never a good thing when you look out the window of your buddy's plane and the wings have fallen off. I imagine whatever conversation followed the observaion of this air jam was short and uncomplimentary as the wingless junk heap crashed to the ground taking the life of both men.

Public opinion has now shifted with Wortman now being portrayed as a monster. Within this tragic, sad and absurd story there is a metaphor regarding the rise of genealogy websites and at-home DNA tests, there have been more than 20 cases in which doctors have been accused of fertility fraud.

May they all take a plane ride on a wingless plane and die screaming and swearing in open fields while the debate continues.