yes, abortion helps women. abortions save lives when women are at risk of DEATH from the fetus. despite what the right will tell you, these are in no way different from terminating a pregnancy for any other reason. medically, for insurance, procedurally, they are ABORTIONS. and women being denied these life saving abortions from fearful doctors in states where abortion access has been restricted is KILLING THEM. you are not a feminist if you do not support access to abortion.
https://www.prolifewi.org/debunking-abortion-myth
There you have it, abortion does not save any lives because it is NOT medically necessary. Abortion actually intentionally ends a life, they tear a child limb from the limb (and yes I know this isnt the only type of abortion, it's just a common one) and the mother still has to birth that baby. It's just dead now. The "right" isn't telling me this, I'm not some indoctrinated fool. I learned it on my own and took the time to read, there are many on the left who also oppose abortion (you can check out Secular Pro-life).
Sure, I'll come off anon for this. I'll even break out the fancy proper grammar.
Legally, despite what this highly partisan and biased website will tell you, and termination of a pregnancy is an abortion. It is coded as an abortion for insurance. It is listed as an abortion on medical charts. And most importantly, under restrictive anti-abortion laws, they LEGALLY are abortions. These organizations do not care about the health of ANY woman, children whether wanted or unwanted, public health & safety, or even the PREVENTION of unwanted pregnancies.
Sources are important. I commend you for actually linking something instead of just saying whatever. But this is not a verifiable source with scientific evidence (the journal cited is not a peer-reviewed scientific journal, but a newsletter written by one person who has been dead for a decade)), has a biased author (the highly partisan and religious organization's director) with no credentials in the field, and is persuasive in tone, not informative for based in fact.
I'd implore you to find one legitimate, verifiable study that does not link the highly restrictive abortion bans put in place post the repeal of Roe v. Wade to increased maternal mortality and other averse outcomes. And I do mean actual studies and factual publications, not fearmongering propaganda.
You are a child in a country with rapidly declining education standards, in a world where AI is being pushed to think for you, so it's entirely understandable that you haven't learned about bias in media or been taught how to do research, and I don't blame you for falling into the propaganda machine.
Luckily, I have the time and passion to do that for you. I hope you have the maturity to have an open mind and read along, and learn at least one new thing from this response you didn't know before.
The organization you've decided to cite has lobbied against:
the right to access birth control, specifically the pill and the patch (text of proposed bill)
an anti abortion bill with exceptions for medical emergencies baked in (text of proposed bill). Direct quote: "Pro-Life Wisconsin opposes the "medical emergency" exception that applies to the bill's abortion prohibition and the "medical emergency," "sexual assault," and "incest" exceptions that apply to the bill's informed consent provisions."
MANY protections against the spread of covid-19
They also openly oppose medical exceptions.
“Ultimately, we do want to ban abortion, without exception,” said Sande. “We want to pass a personhood amendment enshrining the right to life in our state constitution. We want to continue to pass pro-life, pro-family legislation.”
source: Legislative Director, Pro-Life Wisconsin
This man would prefer that women die or face death, permanent, life changing -- PREVENTABLE -- medical injury, and possible sterility for their WANTED children.
Josseli Barnica is one of at least two pregnant Texas women who died after doctors delayed emergency care. She’d told her husband that the medical team said it couldn’t act until the fetal heartbeat stopped.
source: A Woman Died After Being Told It Would Be a “Crime” to Intervene in Her Miscarriage at a Texas Hospital
[I]t took three days at home until I became sick “enough” that the ethics board at our hospital agreed we could legally begin medical treatment; three days until my life was considered at-risk “enough” for the inevitable premature delivery of my daughter to be performed; three days until the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals were allowed to do their jobs. By the time I was permitted to deliver, a rapidly spreading infection had already claimed my daughter’s life and was in the process of claiming mine. I developed a raging fever and dangerously low blood pressure and was rushed to the ICU with sepsis. Tests found both my blood and my placenta teeming with bacteria that had multiplied, probably as a result of the wait. I would stay in the ICU for three more days as medical professionals battled to save my life. Friends visited every night. Family flew in from across the country. I didn’t realize until nearly a month later that my doctors, nurses, and loved ones feared I was going to die. We still don’t know the extent of damage the wait or the infection had on my body. I’m facing months of procedures and tests to know whether my eggs or my reproductive system were permanently harmed. In fact, later this week I’m having surgery to remove the massive amount of scar tissue plaguing my uterus as a result of the infections. We don’t know yet whether the baby we want more than anything will ever be possible.
source: Amanda Zurawski - My Pregnancy vs. the State of Texas (First person account/primary source)
One of the complaints details how Kyleigh Thurman, a 25-year-old woman from Burnet, Texas, was turned away at Ascension Williamson hospital in February, even though her OB-GYN told the hospital she probably had an ectopic pregnancy. Days later, she returned, bleeding and in severe pain, but only received treatment after her OB-GYN traveled to the hospital “to plead with the medical staff” to terminate Thurman’s ectopic pregnancy. However, the delay caused her ectopic pregnancy to rupture. Thurman nearly bled to death and was forced into emergency surgery to remove her fallopian tube. Her ability to have children is now compromised. According to the second complaint, Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz experienced a similar harrowing ordeal at Texas Health Arlington Memorial hospital, outside Dallas. By the time she received treatment, her pregnancy was near rupture. Norris-De La Cruz lost a fallopian tube and most of her right ovary. Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester, comprising up to 10% of all pregnancy-related deaths nationwide. “Despite the fact that my life was clearly in danger, the hospital told me that they could not help me. I ended up losing half of my fertility and if I was made to wait any longer, it’s very likely I would have died,” said Norris-De La Cruz in a press release.
source: Texas women denied abortions for ectopic pregnancies demand federal investigation
Doctors are fearing for their lives and jobs with these bans, and it is causing harm to women who very much want to have babies -- and it's horrific that I have to emphasize this point, as if you'd care about ones who don't.
Doctors in Tennessee face loss of licensure, fines, and up to 15 years in prison for violating the ban, yet its vague language and non-medical terminology have left doctors uncertain about when they are legally able to provide abortion care without being prosecuted. ... Rebecca Milner, of eastern Tennessee, was 20 weeks pregnant with her first child when she learned she had suffered pre-term premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and her baby was unlikely to survive. Continuing the pregnancy also put Rebecca at risk of potentially life-threatening infection. She was able to travel with her husband to Virginia to obtain the abortion she needed. However, Rebecca still developed an infection that doctors said resulted from the delay in abortion care and needed emergency treatment for sepsis when she returned to Tennessee. ... While Rebecca still wishes to have a child, she fears being pregnant again in Tennessee. ... Rachel Fulton, of Knoxville, was pregnant with her second son when an ultrasound showed inadequate fetal development of the nervous system, lower spine, lungs, abdomen, feet, and hands, as well as fluid buildup in tissues and organs. The pregnancy was unlikely to survive to birth or long past birth, and continuing the pregnancy put Rachel at risk of developing mirror syndrome, a life-threatening complication. ... Rachel would like to have more children but fears being pregnant again in Tennessee after her traumatic experience.
source: More Women Denied Abortion Care Join Center’s Case Against Tennessee (organization that filed the lawsuit)
re: Blackmon v. State of Tennessee: It took women almost dying and having their lives permanently changed for this law to even be given a TEMPORARY INJUNCTION while the case is still ongoing:
On October 17, 2024, the court "stated that the ban’s exceptions are vague and confusing; outlined specific conditions under which abortion care is permitted under the state’s ban; and held that the Center would likely succeed on its constitutional claims, which include that the ban violates pregnant patients’ right to life and equal protection under the law and is unconstitutionally vague". Additionally, the court expanded the medical exceptions to include "pre-viability preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM); dilation of the cervix prior to viability of the pregnancy; and fatal fetal diagnoses that lead to maternal health conditions such as severe preeclampsia or infection that would result in uterine rupture or potential loss of fertility."
sources: Center for Reproductive rights (organization that filed the lawsuit) and Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
In addition, some highly factual reportings and studies on the incidence of maternal mortality in a post-Roe world, showing, among other things, that black women are disproportionally affected by these laws.
States with abortion bans or restrictions also had higher neonatal death rates in the first 27 days of life (4.05 deaths vs. 3.23 deaths per 1,000 births), as well as higher postneonatal mortality rates between 28 and 365 days after birth (2.16 deaths vs. 1.54 deaths per 1,000 births; data not shown). Mortality in the first year of life among non-Hispanic Black infants was at least double that of other groups in both abortion-restriction and abortion-access states. In all cases, infant mortality was higher in abortion-restriction states: 41 percent higher for non-Hispanic Asian infants, 34 percent higher for non-Hispanic white infants, and 12 percent higher for non-Hispanic Black infants.
source: The U.S. Maternal Health Divide: The Limited Maternal Health Services and Worse Outcomes of States Proposing New Abortion Restrictions
This study found that Texas’ 2021 ban on abortion in early pregnancy was associated with unexpected increases in infant and neonatal deaths in Texas between 2021 and 2022. Congenital anomalies, which are the leading cause of infant death, also increased in Texas but not the rest of the US. Although replication and further analyses are needed to understand the mechanisms behind these findings, the results suggest that restrictive abortion policies may have important unintended consequences in terms of trauma to families and medical cost as a result of increases in infant mortality. These findings are particularly relevant given the recent Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization US Supreme Court decision and subsequent rollbacks of reproductive rights in many US states.
source: Infant Deaths After Texas’ 2021 Ban on Abortion in Early Pregnancy
Facts about medically necessary abortions, repeals, and that these procedures, are in fact, abortions to the law:
"Treatment for ectopic pregnancy requires ending a nonviable pregnancy. This treatment exists within the spectrum of lifesaving care during pregnancy, including induced abortion that also ends a pregnancy."
source: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (professional organization for licensed OBGYNs)
"For Caesarean section scar ectopic pregnancies, it is occasionally possible for the pregnancy to develop into a baby that survives albeit with a risk of miscarriage, prematurity, and harm to the woman. For this reason, if the pregnancy is progressive (show signs of a live baby), doctors are required to complete the paperwork for an abortion. On this paperwork, they will make clear that the abortion was recommended because of the risk of harm to the woman or baby’s health. It can be upsetting to see paperwork relating to a “termination” of a very wanted pregnancy."
source: The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust (UK based support charity for those facing/who have faced ectopic pregnancies)
The Trump administration rescinded federal guidance that required emergency rooms to provide an abortion if the procedure would save a patient’s life. The Biden-era guidance argued the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act required hospitals to provide treatment during a medical emergency, even in states with near-total abortion bans. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Sarah Varney.
source: White House revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions
Furthermore, bias/credibility assessments for all organizations cited here I could find one for. You may notice that these organizations do lean left (yet not far left), but it is also true that right-wing organizations are simply not reporting on these cases or issues.
WXOW Wisconsin
The Guardian [1] [2]
Center for Reproductive Rights (the only organization rated lower than high, which is why I've also included the link to Civil Rights Clearinghouse which is a university-maintained resource for free access. to legal documents for perusal, to verify the information about the lawsuit)
The Commonwealth Fund
ProPublica [1] [2]
Jama Pediatrics
PBS
And finally, it would be remiss not to take a moment to name and remember the women who have died due to these horrific restrictive laws. May their memory be a blessing.
Ciji Graham
Josseli Barnica
Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick
Porsha Ngumezi
Nevaeh Crain
Tierra Walker
Amber Nicole Thurman
Candi Miller
Taysha Wilkinson-Sobieski
