What would a woman carrying a baby with possibly life threatening heart defects, a woman whose pregnancy threatened her own life, and a fourteen-year-old girl pregnant by incest have in common?
You'll find the answer in Shefali Luthra's Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America. It takes an in depth look at the desperate circumstances so many of our fellow citizens are placed in and those of us capable of becoming pregnant can find ourselves in in a post Dobbs nation. It's a lot more complicated than abortion being legal in some states and not in others.
Although going to another state can sound good in theory, it often is difficult at best in real life. The expense of a long drive or flight and hotel stay, in addition to the costs of the procedure itself can put abortion out of the realm of possibility for all but the relatively well off, leaving poor and working class women and women of color especially at risk. For undocumented women crossing a state line would put them at risk of being discovered and deported.
Women in destination states, those with liberal abortion laws, are also at heightened risk with influxes of pregnant people coupled with the limited number of practitioners making many go further into their pregnancies, substantially increasing the risk and cost of the procedure.
And you don't have to be seeking an abortion to be affected with ob-gyns understandably reluctant to take on high risk pregnancies and miscarriage management.
And that's just the tip the iceberg. If you have the potential to become pregnant or love someone who does consider putting Undue Burden on your to read list.
On a purrrsonal note, three years after the birth of my younger daughter I was pregnant with a fetus without a heartbeat. After weeks of bleeding I came down with chills and fever--an infection that could have killed me if terminating my nonviable pregnancy had not been an option.
A great big shout out goes out to the people fighting the bans and restrictions.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphonea
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