Abortion Prohibition, Miscarriage and Danger in Birth--the Dilemma Continues

To understand why women have and will continue to have abortions, one needs to hear individual stories. 

The link story is like many I have heard personally or read about. Pregnancy is both complicated and dangerous. Pregnancy is more dangerous than an abortion. Most pregnancies end happily. When there are complications there are often uncertainties.

For example, in anti-abortion legislation there is an out that abortion is legal if it is done to save the life of the mother. That kind of language is in policies of Catholic hospitals as well. But what does it mean? 

I don't claim to know a lot about pregnancy or threats to life, but there is a common theme in decisions about "abortion to save the life of the mother." It is ambiguity and uncertain in the diagnosis. For example, if the pregnancy is one that most likely, but not always, leads to risk of death to the mother does this mean an abortion is legal? 

And, if it is likely, but not a certainty, the woman's vitals will deteriorate and when they do action can be taken, like an abortion, that usually, but not always, is in time to save her life. So, the decision on whether or not the woman's life is in danger depends on probabilities and good luck or bad luck. One doctor may see conditions and believe it is best to perform an abortion. The doctor's boss may be a doctor who thinks it best to risk the woman by waiting to see what happens and assumes a last-minute decision will save the woman because most often, but not always, it does.

The majority of women who get abortions already have at least one child. If the woman in my example above has a special needs child at home and a partner who cannot be counted on to care for that child, she may calculate the decision differently than one with different circumstances. Those who hate abortion also hate the idea of including the woman and what she faces in the decision. It is THEIR decision that is important, not a calculation of the woman about her other children nor that of the doctor who is prone to either caution or risk taking.

The Texas vigilante law puts a bounty on miscarriages that are thought to be abortions and abortion decisions done by physicians after conferring with the woman. It is not just bad law; it is barbaric law.   

If decisions "to save the life of the mother" were always ones with crystal-clear certainty, rules could be written with outcomes that were always predictable. When there is often uncertainty, absolute rules will take lives of women.