I have been using this space to present some hard medical facts so that you can discuss them with people you might know who are anti-choice. Much of this stance from voters is based on disinformation and misunderstanding (the leaders, of course, very likely know exactly what they’re doing). So you might be able to pull some folks toward a more pro-choice stance. I am not a medical professional, but I can look them up on the Internet.
I say “hard facts” because pregnancy is a life-threatening condition and complications later in pregnancy easily turn tragic. These are not facts that people like to face as they contemplate whether or not to make efforts to create their own families. But they are necessary facts to face head-on now to protect our rights to proper medical care throughout such efforts. Clearly, the forced birthers are lying about these facts and hiding these facts in hopes that voters will support them in “saving babies,” which actually instead is killing women. In addition, especially in a climate-change world with a big human population, women should know these facts as part of the decision whether or not to accept the risks to add ever more humans.
So let’s take a closer look at abortions that happen later in pregnancy.
First of all, interestingly, “late-term abortion” is (probably purposefully) medically inappropriate and inaccurate verbiage. You and I might think it means something like “later in the pregnancy term,” i.e., later than the usual 15-week-or-so bans. However, the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) points out that “term” refers to when a baby is delivered.
Per these medical experts (broken into lines and bolded by me for easy scanning):
To be even more clinically accurate, ACOG now refers to
early term (37 weeks through 38 weeks and 6 days of gestation),
full term (39 weeks through 40 weeks and 6 days of gestation),
late term (41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days of gestation), and
postterm (42 weeks of gestation and beyond) –
and abortion does not happen in this period.
So by using “late-term,” are the forced birthers implying babies “aborted” after they are born? They certainly have made those accusations. To avoid confusion and playing into their framing, we’ll talk about abortions late in pregnancy. In particular, since the latest cases might seem most problematic, let’s talk about third-trimester abortions.
Note also to try not to refer to doctors as “abortionists” or “abortion providers”. Which might imply that that is all they do. They are, rather, doctors and clinicians who provide abortions, amongst many other pregnancy- and women-related services that are necessary to the good health of both fetuses and potential parents.
Another set of facts that might be helpful: In the US, about half of pregnancies are unintended! (Are we doing enough to teach birth control?) So about a third of women have had abortions by age 45. But only about 6% of abortions take place between weeks 13 and 15, 4% week 16 and later, and only about 1% after 20 weeks. This of course makes sense. If you don’t want to be pregnant, you won’t wait to abort unless forced to wait.
Backing up my assertion that you won’t wait to get an abortion if you don’t want to be pregnant, research has actually asked women why they ended up with a third-trimester abortion:
I find two pathways by which people come to need a third‐trimester abortion: new information and barriers to abortion before the third trimester. These findings, drawn from women's lived experiences, enrich our understanding of why people seek third‐trimester abortion care. Pointedly, findings illustrate the importance of attention to pregnant people's clinical, legal, and social circumstances—and not just their individual preferences or proffered “reasons” for abortion.
This new information is often that the fetus or the mother is suddenly in significant medical trouble. For some women, especially younger or in poor health, they may not realise they are pregnant until later in pregnancy, so their choice is delayed until then. And of course, later information may be that, for example, a partner is leaving and finances are suddenly hugely constrained. Barriers include needing to travel for abortion access and needing to raise the funds (up to about $25000 for a complicated third-trimester abortion!).
So if you really want to both prevent abortions later in pregnancy and retain women’s freedom to choose (I know the forced birthers don’t mean it, but it may be useful to point out to them the sort of society that could achieve some anti-abortion ends if they really were pro-life):
1) Educate children as to how pregnancy occurs, how they are prevented, and how to tell if pregnancy has occurred;
2) Provide free access to reproductive care, including birth control, nutrition and drug use education, and abortion;
3) Have real reproductive care facilities available a short distance from every person in this country; and
4) Provide everyone with a guaranteed basic income per person, so that all pregnant people can afford to raise their children.
Even in an ideal world with these conditions, the author recommends that abortion be freely available throughout the pregnancy, because of the possibilities that mothers’ circumstances will change at any time throughout the pregnancy. Our biggest concern, of course, is that when the mother’s life is in danger, politicians will force them to give up their lives even when doing so does not save the fetus either.
Please discuss in the Comments!