Let’s start by demolishing an abortion myth, shall we? I am not an Ob/Gyn, but I can look one up on the Internet.
First a little background: As most of you probably know by now, the strictest anti-abortion laws proposed have included not only restrictions on ending ectopic pregnancies, but recommendations to “reimplant the embryo in the uterus”. Even the Heritage Foundation’s (a conservative unthink tank, quoted here as illustrative, not to be taken seriously) attempt to “set the record straight on ectopic pregnancies” includes such contradictory waffle words as:
Treating an ectopic pregnancy is different from having an abortion. Abortion is an intentional, unnatural procedure that kills the baby in the womb. An ectopic procedure, in contrast, attempts to save the life of both mother and unborn child. A number of treatment options are available, but each seeks to separate the embryo from the fallopian tubes.
Since abortion has been the cheap and easy option for so long, improvements in women’s health have not kept up with science. Medical technology is not able to reimplant the embryo in the uterus, saving the life of the baby. A miscarriage is tragically inevitable.
Unlike abortion, the goal in an ectopic pregnancy is to save the life of the baby. Bold, state-level protections for life will likely lead to innovations in ectopic care in the near future.
Whut? So there is no way to save the “baby,” but the goal is to save the “baby”?
We’ve all repeated the “you can’t reimplant an ectopic pregnancy” line, but do you know why? Explanations, I think, help when we’re talking with people who are conflicted in whether or not abortion laws should be upheld.
Welp, such a topic can quickly get hopelessly lost in medical jargon, but I found an explanation from knowledgeable sources that makes sense to this layperson. From the BMJ (British Medical Journal) blog (Daniel Grossman and Yanett Anaya, both Ob/Gyns and professors at UC-San Francisco): Bolding mine:
Unfortunately, ectopic transplantation does not exist. Many patients with an ectopic pregnancy are devastated when they learn that their pregnancy will not be able to continue. They ask if anything can be done to save their baby and, with much remorse, we have to tell them that the answer is no.
After fertilisation occurs in the fallopian tube, a developing embryo travels to the uterus for possible implantation. However, successful implantation requires that both the uterine lining is receptive and that a 5 day old embryo is competent. These two synchronised events are precisely regulated, as this cross-talk between embryo and uterus can only occur during a brief period, referred to as the “window of implantation.” After that, the endometrium is no longer hospitable to a developing pregnancy. Furthermore, extracting a developing pregnancy from its implantation site would be so disruptive as to cause irreparable damage, and the embryo would not continue to grow. Given the complexity of human implantation, we do not have the technology to transplant a developing pregnancy from the fallopian tube, where the majority of ectopics implant, and reimplant the pregnancy in the uterus.
-snip-
Only in the area of pregnancy termination would legislators with no medical training be allowed to write laws that advocate for unproven treatments. It is worth noting that patients having an abortion are disproportionately black, Hispanic, or Asian; black women are also more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy—and to die from it. These laws push patients to participate in unmonitored experiments, which is concerning given the history of medical experimentation on black and Hispanic people in the US. From the Tuskegee Study of untreated syphilis to J Marion Sims’s surgical experimentation on enslaved women to the testing of high dose oral contraceptives on Puerto Rican women, black and Hispanic people have been the victims of unethical medical experiments that caused them serious harm. We should be wary of repeating this dark past….
So if your pro-forced-birth “friends” ask why doctors keep insisting that what seems so doable in our imaginations is not in fact doable in reality, now you know what to tell them. Also, everyone involved is unhappy with this outcome, so if there IS a way to stimulate an embryo to reimplant, I’m sure that day will come. That, of course, requires research funds. And those, of course, are opposed by the very same forced-birth crowd. Medical research is just fine with the GOP as long as it doesn’t cost money!