Tag: Pregnancy Loss and Miscarriage

Punish, Torture, Kill: The Reality of Pregnancy in ‘Pro-Life’ America

In Ohio, a grand jury is deciding whether to charge Brittany Watts—a woman who went to the hospital twice for care when she was miscarrying, was sent home twice, and miscarried in her bathroom. She could face jail time for “abuse of a corpse,” because fetal parts were found clogged in her toilet. Watts’ case is a chilling preview of what could come: Miscarriage criminalized in myriad ways. And now, the Fifth Circuit is holding that emergency rooms do not have to provide life-saving abortions—further ensuring that women with dangerous miscarriages will simply be sent home and left to manage on their own.

At the heart of the ‘pro-life’ movement is the idea that women are put on this earth for subservience. And so this is the plan: Force women to carry pregnancies against their will.

Weaponizing the Law to Punish People for Miscarriage

A legal system that recognizes fetal personhood punishes people for their pregnancy outcomes and strips them of their rights in the name of protecting the fetus. One striking recent example comes from Texas, where the state Supreme Court recently ruled that Kate Cox could not have an emergency, life-saving abortion. And in October, an Ohio woman was charged with a felony after her miscarriage.

Miscarriage is normal. Subjecting people who have miscarriages to criminal punishment is needlessly cruel, counterproductive, and relies on a legal understanding that pregnant people are a lesser class of person.

The ‘Anti-Life’ Implications of State Abortion Bans

In rural northern Idaho, Bonner General Hospital announced it had made the “difficult decision to discontinue providing obstetrical services.” Although the press release does not use the word “abortion,” there is no doubt it’s calling out the state’s lawmakers for enacting laws that “criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care.”

Medical providers say they are facing impossible situations that pit their ethical obligation to patients who are dealing with traumatic and dangerous pregnancy complications against the fear of lawsuits, loss of their medical licenses and incarceration.

Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care: ‘Unless I Was Trying to Conceive, No One Cared About Bleeding and Pain’

In Tracey Lindeman’s new book BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care, Stephanie Lepage wonders how different her life could have been if only the doctors had bothered to look for endometriosis before her mid-30s. She had developed constant pain in her right lower abdomen that was so intense that rolling onto her side would shoot her out of a dead sleep on an almost nightly basis. When Lepage finally got in to see a gynecologist about it, that doctor said it was little more than a red herring. She remained in agony for two years without reprieve until it mysteriously subsided.

“The thing that stood out to me the most was like, unless I was trying to conceive, no one even cared about bleeding and pain.”

After Backlash, Walgreens Re-Pledges to Sell Abortion Pill Mifepristone

Walgreens announced Thursday, March 2, that it will not dispense abortion pills in the following U.S. states out of an abundance of caution: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. The list includes several where abortion remains legal—like Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.

Amidst an ever-changing set of laws regarding abortion care, pharmacists say they’re struggling to navigate “blatant contradictions between state and federal law that make it very challenging to identify what is legal and what is not legal.”

U.S. Senators Urge FDA Update to Mifepristone Label for Miscarriage Use: ‘Patients Should Have Access to the Most Effective Medication Available’

For years doctors have prescribed mifepristone off label for miscarriage treatment, a practice allowable by the FDA. But now, new state bans and restrictions on medication abortion has raised concerns that prescribing mifepristone could lead to criminal prosecution of healthcare providers. Reproductive health advocates are now urging the FDA to specifically label mifepristone for miscarriage treatment.

“Patients experiencing an early miscarriage should have access to the most effective medication available.”