Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes

[marmar]

Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes
We’re supposed to be able to give patients choices on how to handle high-risk pregnancy complications. A new paper shows what happens when we can’t.

BY CHAVI EVE KARKOWSKY
NOV 28, 202211:45 AM


(Slate) Usually, articles in medical journals are about science; they bring data to their readers, who can use them to provide evidence-based care to their patients.

But sometimes, evidence is an expression of grief or even rage. A recent journal article, “Maternal Morbidity and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women at 22 Weeks’ Gestation or Less with Complications in 2 Texas Hospitals After Legislation on Abortion,” contains such evidence.

To understand this article, you need to know that any number of complications can threaten a pregnancy, such as rupture of the bag of water around the baby, preterm labor, or heavy bleeding. When those complications arise before 22 weeks of gestation— before the age of viability when a fetus can live outside of a uterus—the standard of medical care is to offer a patient termination of pregnancy as an option. Women who continue pregnancy in these situations take on significant risks to their own health, and because of the early gestation, the chance for a healthy baby is very, very low.

However, in September 2021, Texas adopted two measures, S.B. 4 and S.B. 8, which instituted punitive actions against anyone providing abortion. These laws took effect before the Supreme Court decision ended Roe v. Wade. And all of a sudden, termination of pregnancy became impossible in Texas unless and until there was an “immediate threat to maternal life.”

The journal article, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, describes the experience of two large Texas hospitals over a period of eight months following that legislation. The authors, who care for patients at those hospitals, describe how their hospitals managed 28 women who presented at less than 22 weeks’ gestation with serious complications following the ban on abortion. ............(more)

https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/abortion-texas-roe-v-wade-data-maternal-morbidity.html

[Roxi]

1. Meanwhile

Not a single one of those awful politicians has to worry about their loved ones suffering like that.

They just don’t care.

[ck4829]

2. Alito, any comment? Abbott, any comment? Paxton, any comment?

[Ninga]

3. This is beyond horrible. But beyond the horribleness of this, lies the more than horrible,

uninterested, uneducated, and religiously bound voters.

I know a great deal about such voters. I live in Ohio. We are loaded with those who are apathetic and don’t vote, leaving the horrible voters to have their say.

[ShazzieB]

4. These laws are made by the abysmally and willfully ignoranht.

One of the myths believed and propounded by anti-choicers is that abortions happen for only one reason: someone is pregnant and does not wish to be. Those who don't think that is an acceptable reason to terminate a pregnancy (which it most certainly is) happily pass laws outlawing abortion across the board without bothering to inform themselves that there are many, many cases in which terminating a pregnancy is the most medically sound choice to protect a woman's life and health, and continuing it is an exercise in futility because the chances of giving birth to a healthy baby are so vanishing law.

Being ignorant is not a crime, but being willing to pass laws that can have catastrophic effects of people's lives without making sure you have all the facts is morally, if not legally criminal. All the lawmakers who do this should be profoundly ashamed of themselves, but most of them obviously are not.

[Docreed2003]

8. Exactly! Well said

In Tennessee, we are seeing these same horrific outcomes due to the willful ignorance of our GOP legislature hell bent on creating their version of Giliad.

[bronxiteforever]

5. Kick & recommend for visibility. A must read.

These horrifying results are directly related to the moral values of the majority of voters in Texas.
I feel for the minority of voters who must endure the ignorance of this medieval state.

[Scalded Nun]

6. Ignorant, yes...but only a part

These people are haters. What we have in Texas is a state where the majority revels in hate. Hate for all things non-white, LGBTQIA+, and with poor whites frequently thrown in for good measure.

Hate defies logic, hate defies reason, hate defies empathy, hate undermines any measure of intelligence.

I do not know what it will take in Texas to finally bring some sanity into governance. We have been voting for sanity (Democrats) for decades with no tangible change and will continue to do so until we leave.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Part of what's underlying this insane abortion bans

is the fear of foreigners, immigrants, and people of color. So they think that banning abortion will result in more white women having babies, meaning more white babies will be born. That kind of thinking is also based on ignorance, especially of demographics and demographic trends.

Even if no pregnancies ever had complications, banning abortion is stupid and ignorant.