I am a registered nurse who has worked with pregnant women for over sixteen years. It disturbs me to hear claims that state abortion bans prevent women from receiving certain types of health care.
Medical and lay people need to understand the difference between an elective abortion and providing gynecological care in other situations.
The care people fear losing generally relates to Dilation and Curettage (D&C) procedures and the use of misoprostol, the second pill in the medication abortion procedure that evacuates the fetus from the uterus.
Abortion advocates argue that abortion should not be banned so that women can receive the medical care they need. These claims all fail to mention some important facts.
State abortion restrictions that make it illegal to have an elective or induced abortion, which is the intentional removal of a developing baby from a woman’s uterus, do not make it illegal to have a D&C procedure or to prescribe misoprostol medication to treat other types of medical situations, such as miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, retained placenta, or tumors.
In a miscarriage, also called a “spontaneous abortion,” the baby’s heartbeat has stopped due to natural causes. The fetus is still in the womb, but no longer alive, and will either pass naturally or with the assistance of a D&C procedure or medication.
An ectopic pregnancy, which occurs outside the main cavity of the uterus usually in a fallopian tube, requires urgent medical care to save the life of the mother.
Retained placenta after the delivery of a baby can cause hemorrhaging. It is often medically necessary to perform a D&C to remove the placental parts causing the heavy bleeding.
Tumors, polyps, or fibroids in the uterus need to be removed to relieve pain, stop bleeding, or stem rapid growth.
To ensure appropriate gynecological care, many pro-life laws specifically list these exceptions. In these situations, there is not a living fetus being electively removed from the womb for the sole purpose of killing the child.
The claim that abortion bans prevent women from receiving medical care is a gross misrepresentation of what the laws say and try to accomplish. This false information scares women and may even confuse medical personnel if they have not acquainted themselves with the wording of the abortion laws in their state.
These faulty claims are not medically or legally accurate and do a disservice to women and couples facing other health situations and to the medical personnel who may become fearful of providing necessary treatments.
These claims may also influence people to vote for pro-abortion laws and candidates based on inaccurate information.