Summary of Dr. Willie Parker's Life's Work

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 I had arrived in Honolulu the previous year, having accepted a faculty appointment at the University of Hawaii.

I spent my days working as a supervising physician at the Queen Emma Clinic, an outpatient clinic for indigent people, including many native Hawaiians.#2 I am an extrovert by temperament.

I enjoy the company of others and am always seeking out novel experiences.

I was professionally fulfilled as well. I had worked with Dr. Bruce Kessel, an eminent reproductive endocrinologist, when I was doing my residency in ob-gyn at the University of Cincinnati.#3 The ob-gyns at the Queen Emma Clinic treated urinary tract infections, incontinence, yeast infections, and other common women's illnesses.

They also did abortions, as that was a nonissue in liberal Hawaii in the 1980s.#4 As a young doctor, I made a promise to myself to uphold my professional commitment to caring for women.

I would refer patients seeking abortion to other doctors who would provide them.

But for me, providing abortion was wrong.