(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) |
By Jill Filipovic | One woman had an ectopic pregnancy, but because doctors in her antiabortion state were unclear on the law, they delayed the simple treatment that would have been immediately on offer in any blue state; she went into hemorrhagic shock and died. Another patient had a congenital heart defect that pregnancy was exacerbating; instead of offering an abortion, doctors tried to get her to 22 weeks of pregnancy, at which point she was given a C-section to save the baby, while she ended up on a ventilator in the ICU. A third had seven children and was not given the option to terminate when she became pregnant again; she died during delivery, and her children are now orphaned.
We don’t have the full picture of what abortion bans have wrought. We might never know the full scope of the damage, because the same people leveling these brutalities are the ones in charge of tracking them. Instead, what we have are snapshots: data pulled by intrepid reporters. Women and their families brave enough to speak to the press. Doctors willing to speak anonymously with careful researchers. (Click here to read more) |
