Letter to the Editor:
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade strict bans on the procedure kicked in at least 22 states. Women in these states have fewer options and in some cases their lives have been endangered.
Medical experts cautioned that the exceptions written into state abortion bans to protect the “life of the mother” were inadequate, not rooted in science and ignored the many changes in medicine. Women publicly shared their harrowing experiences with delayed or denied care. Yet legislators in those states have almost entirely refused to adjust the legislation.
Women in serious danger have been forced to continue high-risk pregnancies that threaten their lives and been turned away from emergency rooms. Hospital committees have had to make high-stakes decisions for patients when the patients should be making those decisions for themselves.
OB-GYNs in states that outlawed abortion, have talked about how difficult it is to interpret vague and conflicting language written by people who do not have medical training and do they understand the complexities of the situations they are regulating. Decisions in the cases of medical exceptions, when the Doctor's judgment could be called into question by those who do not understand the medical dynamics, yet the doctor is under the threat of prison time, are extremely damaging to good health care decisions.
Now we have cases of preventable deaths due to these bans. Cases of death starting in 2022 as soon as Roe was overturned. In the first two cases, both women needed a procedure that in many states is routine for abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, and in many states across America, performing it has been made a felony, with few exceptions. Neither woman received the care she needed. Both died from preventable causes.
Elected officials should not be in the business of legislating specific healthcare decisions that need to be based on specific circumstances. Legislatures should not be threatening healthcare workers with felony charges when they are attempting to provide the most appropriate care possible for their patient. These specific bans and restrictions are not good public policy.
Commenti