For decades, the abortion wars have centered on whether a woman should be able to decide if and when she will have a child. But with increasingly tight restrictions on reproductive rights across the United States, these debates are charting new, uncharted territory — medical care for women who have had abortions.
According to the National Library of Medicine, one in four women who learn they are pregnant will have a miscarriage. Although most miscarriages heal naturally, some require medical intervention similar to elective abortions.
Democrats, who believe abortion caused strong walk In the 2020 and 2022 elections, the dangers of abortion are now being displayed as another reason to support abortion rights – and Democrats.
A seven-figure April ad run by President Biden’s re-election campaign in battleground states highlights the story of a happily married pregnant Texas woman named Amanda Zurawski.
The ad reads in white letters on a black background, “At 18 weeks, Amanda’s water broke and she had a miscarriage.” “Because Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade, Amanda got the infection, the abortion. Denied standard medical care to prevent it.”
60 second ad After looking through a box of items Zurawski and her husband Josh had purchased in anticipation of the birth of their first child, including a baby book and the dress they planned to dress her in, concluded That “Donald Trump did it.” To bring him home from the hospital.
The Biden campaign launched this ad a day before it was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court Almost complete ban on abortion It’s an 1864 decision that former President Trump, potential 2024 GOP presidential nominee, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake and other Republicans have struggled to explain as they simultaneously celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of federal rights to abortion. Have been.
But the ad also shows how abortion is discussed as a moral issue. Democrat Bill Clinton famously said during his successful presidential bid in 1992 that the procedure should be “safe, legal, and rare”.
But liberals now also say the emphasis on “rare” fails to recognize the medical necessity of some abortions, such as those performed after pregnancy. Convicting Clinton also means bringing shame to a woman seeking an abortion, no matter the reason.
“That framework was harmful and perpetuates stigma,” said Kelly Baden, vice president of public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports abortion access. “Each situation is complex and each situation is unique. “People would make the mistake of keeping the government out of it rather than letting politicians practice medicine.”
“Everyone knows someone who is pregnant or loves someone who is pregnant,” she said. “The thought that one’s health cannot be protected even in a wanted pregnancy really takes away some of the stigma that abortion has faced over the last 50 years.”
Evangelical leader Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, counters that the focus is on potential restrictions on abortion care — or fertility treatments following the Alabama Supreme Court decision earlier this year — put forward by liberals. There are rumours.
“It’s a strategy to try to change the topic and change the narrative,” Reed said.
“I know the Democrats want to develop this as a talking point,” he said, “but I can’t imagine that pro-life laws would prevent women from being able to get access to abortion.” I think that’s the talking point they’re trying to develop because they don’t want to talk about their position on abortion. And to be honest, I don’t blame them.”
According to a 2018 paper by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a 2019 report by KFF, about 80% of miscarriages in women who know they are pregnant resolve on their own within eight weeks, with the fetus passing away without medical intervention. passes through the woman’s body. , an independent health policy organization.
But if the embryo or some tissue does not pass, it needs to be removed through drug-induced or surgical treatment to avoid potentially fatal medical complications for the woman, such as sepsis infection.
Reproductive rights have been a political issue for decades. But apart from core ideological disagreements, both parties are highly focused on the issue this election cycle because of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision. Overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that provided federal protections for abortion rights. Since then, many states have severely restricted abortion access, while others have enshrined such access in their state constitutions.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case over whether the federal government can require hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide emergency abortions. Many judges appeared skeptical of the Idaho law This would make it illegal for physicians to perform such a procedure on a woman whose health was seriously endangered, but life was not in danger.
Restrictions on reproductive rights are expected to be a key issue among suburban, college-educated women, a key voter group. Places like Orange Countyas well as the suburbs of Philadelphia and Atlanta, key areas that could determine control of Congress and, in some states, the presidency.
“Politically speaking, this is a big problem for Republicans,” said Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist. Nevertheless, Marson called on Republicans to support the anti-abortion law of 1864, even if it meant losing some elections.
“I really just started saying that Republicans should embrace this legislation and go down with the ship,” he said. “Republicans must hold their moral ground. They’ve been wanting to overturn Roe vs. Wade for generations. Eventually they had to, and in Arizona, abortions are so limited, literally their only exception is the life of the mother. They should celebrate. This is terrible campaign advice, but at least stick to your principles.
The Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that the 1864 law, which bans all abortions except to save the woman’s life and provides for a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers, can be enforced. Is.
Arizona House voted to repeal The legislation comes up on Wednesday and the state Senate is expected to vote to repeal it next week.
But even if repealed, the 1864 law would remain in effect for some time because repeal does not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session. The state would then return to its prior restrictions on abortion after 15 weeks except in medical emergencies. (There are no exceptions for rape or incest.)
Uncertainty over legal restrictions on abortion and elsewhere is prompting women to seek out states where the procedure is still available.
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest abortion providers, has already done so Women seen from Arizona and elsewhere are seeking medical treatment here because they have had a miscarriage and Couldn’t get care In their home states.
“The impact of abortion bans is far greater than what many people think of when they hear the word abortion,” said Sue Dunlap, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles.
“We have seen many patients travel out of state to seek abortion care,” Dunlap said. “In at least one instance, a patient flew to Los Angeles because she was unsure of her pregnancy status and felt unable to get the care she needed in her local community.
“After all, patients are traveling hundreds of miles to seek care that theoretically should be acceptable in their home state but in practice, becomes impossible to access due to fear and legal confusion.”
