In "discussions" on abortion laws with right leaning friends and family, I've often said in the end strict abortion laws would make miscarriages illegal and the women who have them felons. This observation generally gets me laughed at — surely doctors can tell the difference and law enforcement would have no reason to go after innocent women. And I'm left being regarded as that liberal democrat who doesn't have a clue.
Before we proceed, consider the following from the March of Dimes (emphasis added):
Among women who know they are pregnant, about 10 to 15 out of 100 pregnancies (10 to 15 percent) end in miscarriage. As many as half of all pregnancies may end in miscarriage—we don’t know the exact number because many may happen before a woman knows she’s pregnant.
As many as half of all pregnancies in the United States may end in miscarriage.
With that in mind, follow me down the rabbit hole.
The BBC has an interesting look at El Salvador's anti-abortion laws and the women who suffer in this War on Women.
Glenda Xiomara Cruz was crippled by abdominal pain and heavy bleeding in the early hours of 30 October 2012. The 19-year-old from Puerto El Triunfo, eastern El Salvador, went to the nearest public hospital where doctors said she had lost her baby.
It was the first she knew about the pregnancy as her menstrual cycle was unbroken, her weight practically unchanged, and a pregnancy test in May 2012 had been negative.
Four days later she was charged with aggravated murder - intentionally murdering the 38-to-42 week foetus - at a court hearing she was too sick to attend. The hospital had reported her to the police for a suspected abortion.
After two emergency operations and three weeks in hospital she was moved to Ilopango women's prison on the outskirts of the capital San Salvador. Then last month she was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the judge ruling that she should have saved the baby's life.
For those interested in the War on Women, the whole article is worth a read. And I'll leave you to it with only one further observation.
In any good totalitarian regeme, the laws don't apply to the ruling class. In El Salvador that means the folks weathly enough to afford private health care. (Again, emphasis added.)
The study underlines that these women are overwhelmingly poor, unmarried and poorly educated - and they are usually denounced by public hospital staff. Not a single criminal case originated from the private health sector where thousands of abortions are believed to take place annually.
So those who can afford it get illegal abortions from doctors and staff who are paid to look the other way as much as for their services. The poor who naturally miscarry go to jail — for years.
This is not a War we can afford to lose.
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The War on Women – Every woman a suspect, every uterus a crime scene.™