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!
In Other News
Still more abortion news!
Judge Blocks State Abortion Ban As Attempt “To Completely Eliminate The Rights of Ohio Women” https://www.motherjones.com/…
Medical
from medscape Sixty-three percent of Long COVID patients globally are women, according to new research published October 10] in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Anyone want to place bets on how neglected and abused this patient group will be going forward?
FOLLOWING UP ON THE ITEM ABOUT 63% OF LONG COVID PATIENTS ARE FEMALE, WebMD via Medscape First They Get Long COVID, [then their jobs collapse,] Then They Lose Their Healthcare
The CDC defines long COVID as a wide array of health conditions, including malaise, fatigue, shortness of breath, mental health issues, problems with the part of the nervous system that controls body functions, and more.... [that researchers have found out about the nervous system issues reported by people with long COVID. People who have survived acute COVID infections have reported lasting sensory and motor function problems, brain fog, and memory problems....
...In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance recognizing long COVID as a disability "if the person's condition or any of its symptoms is a ‘physical or mental' impairment that ‘substantially limits' one or more major life activities." ...But getting access to disability benefits [ain't easy and it takes months, even years] to put up a fight to actually gain access to disability insurance. The Social Security Administration has yet to reveal just how many applications that cited long COVID have been denied so far.…
How we create and then blame The Viral Underclass
...Putting a compelling and human face on the millions of people affected by the course viruses like HIV and Covid take in the human population, [author Steven Thrasher] shows us how race, class, gender, and sexuality combine to help some survive pandemics and even profit from them, while others experience pandemic through their bodies in the form of illness, death, death of loved ones, shame, stigma, and financial insecurity.
from KHN via medscape Miami's Little Haiti Joins Global Effort to End Cervical Cancer
More than 300,000 women around the world die from cervical cancer each year. In the U.S., women of Haitian descent are diagnosed with it at higher rates than the general population. Human papillomavirus is thought to be responsible for about 50% of cervical cancers.The rate of cervical cancer in Little Haiti is 38 per 100,000 people — more than four times Florida's overall rate, 8 per 100,000, according to a study published in Cancer Causes and Control in July 2018.
One of the authors, Erin Kobetz, the associate director for population sciences and cancer disparity at the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, came up with the idea to bring HPV testing to areas of Miami-Dade County where women are less likely to get regular screenings ... Kobetz's work and that of her colleagues, using a recreational vehicle dubbed the Game Changer grabbed the attention of the WHO. ...
International
Some good news from India
https://www.reuters.com/...
NEW DELHI, Sept 29 (Reuters) - India's top court upheld the right of a woman to an abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy regardless of marital status, a decision widely hailed by women's rights activists.
So women in India now have more reproductive rights than women in many parts of the U.S.
As always, this is a group effort. Thanks this week to officebss, SandraLLAP, and mettle fatigue for links and discussion behind the scenes!
And as always, please note: I take care of my 90ish Mom, so I need to go make supper. But please post any other items below, and discuss amongst yourselves! I’ll check back in when I can.