Pregnancy, even for a healthy woman, poses a health risk. In fact (see link to Scientific American) an abortion is less risky for a healthy woman than a full term pregnancy. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pregnancy-is-far-more-dangerous-to-women-than-abortion/ Doctors usually monitor the pregnancy to see how it is affecting the woman’s health and how the fetus is developing. In part, the doctors are checking to see if the woman’s health is capable of handling the stress of pregnancy, labor and childbirth. All conditions that affect the health of the woman. How does this work now in states that have restricted abortion access in the post-Roe world? Any woman having a baby could say there is a health risk and she would be right. So, then, could she get an abortion if she doesn’t want to take that risk? The danger to a woman’s health, of course, varies from patient to patient. A situation that would be of little risk for a woman in good health could be much more dangerous for a women who is overweight, or who is diabetic or who has high blood pressure.
Even more important, who makes the decisions regarding the abortion. If the decision no longer rests with the doctor and the patient, who now needs to be part of the discussion? What are the health risks that will allow an abortion and what are the health risks that a woman will have to chance? Some women are more risk averse than other women, how will the individual woman’s preferences figure into the decision? Until then, why would any doctor in an anti-choice state risk prosecution if they believed someone would evaluate their decision later and then jail them if the state thought their decision was wrong.
Of course, right now, the answers to these questions are unknown. The laws will be tested and the anti-choice state governments will have to come up with answers to these questions. In the meantime, thousands of pregnant women are in limbo regarding basic healthcare. Somebody in state government is making the decision for them. Worse still, these people don’t seem terribly interested in how the individual woman wants to proceed with her pregnancy. Imagine somebody telling you what to do with your body and not even bothering to ask you what you want to do.
While writing this blog I came across an article by Sara Bolbotz in the Huffington Post. She gives more detailed information on how the saving the life of the mother exception could detrimentally affect the life of the mother.
Mind Stewing, Fingers Typing 