Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case generated by an extreme Idaho abortion ban that dealt with whether women have a right to receive emergency abortion care in life-threatening situations. It is unbelievable and terrifying that our most basic rights are up for debate.
The anti-choice extremists want to force doctors to wait until women are on death’s door to provide life-saving, emergency abortion care. This delay in treatment could cause women to lose organs, leave them infertile, or increase their risk of dangerous infections.
If the Supreme Court sides with the state of Idaho in this case and eliminates the federal right to emergency abortion care, state laws will prevail. That means our Democratic majorities in the state legislature will be the only thing protecting Virginia women from these disastrous and deadly consequences.
It is absolutely frightening to think that a doctor’s assessment of the risk to the “life of the mother” could be second-guessed by a prosecutor. Under the Idaho law, if a judge (without any medical training) finds that a woman wasn’t close enough to death when a doctor provided care, the doctor faces years of mandatory jail time. Doctors are rightfully scared to exercise their medical judgment, and women are suffering
