Republicans are just beginning to grasp the repercussions of their decades-long crusade to ban reproductive freedom for women. Support for legal abortion has grown since Roe was overturned.
Some candidates are now scrubbing their websitesto soften their anti-abortion positions. South Carolina Rep. Neal Collins claimed he “lost sleep” over having voted for an abortion ban that forced a 19-year-old to carry a dangerous pregnancy that left her with a 50-50 chance of losing her uterus. So when a 12-week abortion ban later came before the SC House, he….voted for it. The ban initially failed, but was then amended to allow the narrowest possible exceptions for rape, incest and life of the pregnant person. It has now passed the SC House.
The impact of anti-abortion laws goes beyond abortion. Depending on the state, a cancer patient who is also pregnant may be denied chemo. Women and even young girls are being refused medication by pharmacists if they can’t prove they’re not pregnant. And the exceptions in anti-abortion laws are drawn as narrowly as possible.
Abortion Bans Threaten All Pregnancy Care:
SB 8 allows only narrow exemptions for when people may receive abortion care. Physicians must document that there is a medical emergency with an imminent threat of death to provide hospital-based care for pregnancy complications that occur after detection of embryonic cardiac activity. This ban therefore obfuscates necessary, immediate interventions for people with pregnancy complications like the bag of water breaking at 18 weeks, a pregnancy growing through a cesarean section scar, or heart failure. The upcoming abortion 'trigger' laws of many other states have similarly narrow exemptions as the one in Texas.
In other words, abortion restrictions do not exist in a silo—they worsen the availability and quality of care for all pregnant patients.
As always, this diary is a group effort. Thanks to mettle fatigue, SandraLLAP, elenacarlena, Getting1 and the WOW crew for links and discussion.