A pregnant woman in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit demanding the right to an abortion has learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity, her attorneys said Tuesday.
The plaintiff’s attorneys signaled their intent to continue the challenge to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban, but did not immediately comment on what effect the development would have on the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed last week in a state court in Louisville. The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, was seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion. The suit filed last week said she was about eight weeks pregnant.
The flurry of individual women petitioning a court for permission for an abortion is the latest development since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The Kentucky case is similar to a legal battle taking place in Texas, where Kate Cox, a pregnant woman with a fatal condition, launched an unprecedented challenge against one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S.
is it still an abortion if the fetus died?
This is the exact problem with these bans. The medical procedure in question (dilation and curretage) can be and is used in cases with a fetus in any condition. The same procedure can be used for an elective abortion, a medically necessary abortion, or even to complete a miscarriage that is already underway.
The “abortion” procedure would have saved Savita Halapanavar’s life. I personally know three women who were in similar circumstances, losing a lot of blood during miscarriages that weren’t completing on their own.
You can’t ban medical procedures that have valid use cases. These things are most properly regulated by medical professionals themselves.
The “medical professionals” have proven over and over that they are not able to regulate this matter. They have shown a total disregard for the unborn human live where it seem to be reason enough to have an abortion if the woman has a bad day or in general do not want to use contraceptives. Like this women who had 15 abortions. But I agree that abortions should be allowed when the live of the women is in substantial danger and I think that it should not even be considered an abortion when the baby is already dead.
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LOL
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When laws are passed they should be made with consideration for the majority, not the exception. Personally, I don’t know any woman who has had 15 abortions, but I do personally know women, more than I can count on my hand, who really wanted babies, but had medical D&Cs out of necessity, otherwise their health and their ability to have children in the future would be gravely impacted.
Unfortunately when you make laws using that mentality of preventing that one woman from having immoral abortions, it fucks up healthcare for every women in the country, whether they want to have children, willingly or not.
You say “medical professionals” should not regulate this matter but you and every politician are even less so qualified. Every medical case is different, and unless you are in the room with the doctor and the patient, listening to all the patient’s status details and history, no one else really has the qualifications.
Ultimately, if you really want to reduce the rate at which people have abortions, it’s been statistically proven that (1) having access to birth control, (2) sex education (3) investing in education in general can greatly reduce abortion rates. (One of many sources)
Because surprise! No woman actually wants to have 15 abortions. In cities and neighborhoods where abortions are common, women are often undereducated, and lack the resources/situational decision making skills that would be better for their health and life long term.
But that’s never the angle that media likes to frame it, because it’s not gut wrenching or eye catching as “we must stop this woman from aborting babies 15 times!”
I really hope that you are able to change that mindset and in the future vote in a way that benefits all women.
Medical science is clear on when a fetus is viable and when higher brain function occurs. You speak as if you believe the myth that “life” begins at conception, which is not congruent with medical science. Elective abortions should be safe, legal, and RARE.
Did you know that the rates of abortion are increasing now that these bans have gone into affect? Bans do not work. Sex education, birth control, these are the things proven time and again to reduce abortion rates.
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Abortion is the name of the medical procedure. So removing a dead fetus is still an abortion.
If you have to have these laws they should specifically target elective abortions. Not the medical procedure in general.
Just to be 100% clear I don’t support abortion bans in any form. Just pointing out blanket banning a medical procedure is fucking outrageous.
I understand you are just playing devil’s advocate here, but even this is a bad idea. As we’ve seen in Texas, the law isn’t designed for nuance, it is designed to attack women. The Texas law was supposed to have exceptions for health and safety of the woman/fetus, and we saw how that played out. Having a law that specifically targeted elective abortions would have the same problem where the state would undoubtedly put the burden of proof on the woman. “Oh, your baby has no heartbeat? Fill out this form in triplicate, get your doctor to sign it, have it notarized, and your abortion will be approved in 38 - 40 weeks.”
The answer is “whichever answer results in the most suffering.”