Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
July 27, 2022
By Joni Ashbrook
The conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court recently tossed out 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade. Their ruling threatens the health and well-being of women and children.
That decision threw women’s ability to access an abortion to the states. Do these justices and GOP lawmakers actually believe they can stop abortions?
These people obviously don’t grasp the desperation a woman can feel if forced to carry an unplanned pregnancy. You need only to look at pre-Roe times to understand what is ahead for women under Republican rule.
A glimpse of the horror women went through before Roe is best told by Dr. Edward Kaufman through his recent letter and video in the LA Times.
In 1960, Kaufman was an intern at L.A. County hospital and worked in the “infected abortion” ward that cared for some of the sickest women in the hospital. He said it was an experience he will never forget.
His patients, mostly women of color, were screaming in pain with very high fevers as they battled potentially fatal septic shock, and there were fair number of deaths.
The doctor said women tried to end their pregnancies with the aid of instruments like coat hangers or toxic substances like drain cleaner, or sometimes illegal abortionists. He also said that every large city had a septic abortion unit, and he is sure that we will have those units again.
Kaufman said just before Roe was overturned, 46,000 women a year traveled to California for abortions, post-Roe it’s estimated that number will rise to 1.4 million. Of course, poor women can’t afford to travel to another state.
GOP lawmakers want to stop women from crossing state lines for their reproductive needs, and some want to ban abortion nationwide.
Another horrific aspect of Republican’s anti-abortion state laws is that many have no exceptions for rape or incest.
Recently the story of a 10-year-old rape victim who had to travel from Ohio to Indiana for a legal abortion not only made national news, but put the right-wing propaganda machine in hyper-drive calling the story a “lie.”
They had to discredit the story because the truth shocks the conscience and informs the public about the atrocities ahead in a post-Roe America.
They went silent after a man was arrested in connection with the rape.
Indiana’s Republican attorney general went on Fox News threatening to investigate if the doctor reported the child’s abortion. The doctor didn’t violate any laws, and legal action is being considered against those who smeared her.
A prominent Indiana anti-abortion lawyer told Politico that the 10-year-old girl should have been forced to give birth. A warning of things to come in America?
Texas’ anti-abortion law also has no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, but don’t despair because Gov. Greg Abbott has superpowers and vowed to “eliminate all rapists.”
We can look to other countries with anti-abortion laws to see possible outcomes for American women.
A recent story made international news of a Polish woman dying after not receiving the abortion she desperately needed. She was in her first trimester with twins when one died.
The doctors refused her care because of Poland’s strict abortion ban. The woman died after weeks of deteriorating health. Her family says the government has “blood on its hands.”
President Joe Biden recently issued guidance to doctors that they are protected by federal law to terminate a pregnancy as part of emergency treatment. This kind of guidance in Poland may have saved that woman’s life.
Unfortunately, Texas’ attorney general is suing the Biden administration to stop this life-saving guidance. Pro-life?
Ashbrook is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. She is a retired school teacher and may be reached at [email protected].
