BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Angela Hausley was in the middle of her pregnancy when she learned that the fetus develops without parts of its brain and skull and is likely to die within hours or days of birth if it survives that long.
The news came during her 20-week ultrasound.
“The technician had a really awful look on her face,” Houseley said. “And we got the really sad news that our baby was anencephalic.”
It was 1992 and abortion was legal in Idaho, although she had to avoid anti-abortion protesters in front of Boyce Hospital after the procedure. If the same scenario happens later this year, she will likely be forced to meet the deadline.
This is because Idaho, which bans abortion after six weeks, is one of at least 22 states with laws banning abortion before week 15, and many have no exceptions for fetal viability, rape or incest, or even health. of the woman. Some of these bans will take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court rules to overturn Rowe v. Wade’s 1973 ruling, as an expired draft opinion suggests.
Such exceptions have once been regularly included in even the most conservative anti-abortion proposals. But as the battle for access to abortion intensifies, experts on both sides say the exceptions were a temporary step designed to make anti-abortion laws more acceptable.
Many of the current abortion bans are designed as “trigger laws” that automatically take effect if the Supreme Court overturns the national right to abortion. This decision is expected to be announced in late June or early July.
Alabama and Oklahoma have introduced bans without exception. Alabama’s 2019 law has been blocked in federal court, but could be reinstated based on a Supreme Court ruling. Republican sponsors saw the law as a means of challenging Rowe in court and said they could add exceptions to rape and incest later if Rowe was repealed.
“They mainly use people – in this particular situation – women – as collateral damage,” said Democratic MP Chris Ingland, chairman of the Democratic Party of Alabama. “In the debate, we tried to talk sensibly to them and tell them, ‘What if you win?’ This is the law, you will not be able to change it before people are hurt. “
Several other states, including Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, have also introduced bans or trigger laws that do not exempt rape or incest, according to reports from the Gutmacher and Associated Press.
Abortion laws without Rowe v. Wade
Idaho and Utah have exceptions for rape or incest, but require the pregnant woman to first file a police report and then prove to the abortion provider that the report was made. Only about a third of sexual assaults were reported to police, according to the National Network for Rape, Abuse and Incest.
Texas and Idaho allow exceptions for “medical emergencies,” but leave that interpretation to doctors, leading some critics to fear that doctors will wait to intervene while the woman is close to death.
Public support for total abortion bans appears to be low, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Friday. The survey found that only 8% of adults in the United States believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases without exception, and that 61% of adults say abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances. Studies consistently show that many Americans have nuanced attitudes about the legality of abortion depending on the stage of pregnancy, the circumstances of conception and the health of the mother or fetus.
Arkansas has two near-total abortion bans – a 2019 trigger law and one passed last year that was blocked in federal court. None of them have exceptions for rape or incest, although they allow abortions to save a woman’s life. The state also never lifted its total ban on abortion before 1973 without restrictions.
Republicans in the state were divided on the issue last year, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Sen. Missy Irwin voicing reservations about the lack of protection for survivors of sexual violence.
“Do you know how many young girls are under surveillance for suicide because they were raped, because they were victims of incest?” Asked Irwin, who eventually voted in favor of last year’s bill.
Last year’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Jason Rappert, defended the lack of exceptions, saying he still allows emergency contraception.
Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the Gutmacher Institute supporting abortion rights, said that of the 86 pending abortion restrictions proposals this year, only a few – including one each in Idaho, New Jersey and West Virginia – included exceptions to rape and incest.
Exceptions have always been “incredibly limited,” she said. “You may think that these exceptions are useful. But in fact, they are so limited that they are very difficult to use. “
Troy Newman, president of the national abortion group Operation Rescue, said exceptions to restrictions on abortion for rape and incest and to protect the lives of pregnant women had in the past been “thrown there to reassure some centrists.”
Newman said his group, based in Wichita, Kansas, opposes exceptions to rape and incest. Their rationale: “Do not punish the baby for the father’s crime.
Ohio’s legislature weighs a trigger law that lacks exceptions to sexual violence. During a hearing last month, GOP bill sponsor Jean Schmidt sparked controversy when he called rape pregnancy an “opportunity” for a rape victim to “decide what to do to help life be productive.” being. “
She was answering a question from the Democratic Republic of Rich Brown, who asked if a 13-year-old child fertilized during the rape would be forced to serve a term.
Rape “emotionally marks the individual,” Schmidt admitted, “but if a baby is born, it’s a human life.”
The Democratic Republic of Tavia Galonsky has argued that pregnancy is often traumatic and dangerous in itself, adding: has suffered ”
In South Carolina, proponents of banning abortion from 2021 added exceptions to rape and incest because it was the only way to pass the law. During the debate, Republican Sen. Richard Cash challenged the exceptions.
“Punish the rapist … but it doesn’t belong to the baby,” he said.
Democrat Sen. Mia McLeod said it was clear Cash had never been raped.
“Well, I have. You are watching a survivor of sexual violence, “she said, adding that requiring rape victims to carry babies to term could lead them to desperate measures, including dangerous illegal abortions or suicide.
“I’m just asking the men in this body to give a choice to the women and girls in this state,” McLeod said.
New Hampshire has banned abortion after 24 weeks of gestation, except when a woman’s health is at risk, although the state will soon add an exception for fatal fetal abnormalities. The Republican-led legislature has rejected attempts to add exceptions to rape and incest.
Republican Republican Republican Beth Folsom, who said she had been raped in January, said exceptions were not necessary because rape victims are closely monitoring their menstrual cycles and will not wait 24 weeks to seek an abortion. There is no need for an exception for incest, she added, because “this aggressor will make sure the young girl or woman has an abortion before anyone finds out.”
Mallory Schwartz, executive director of Pro-Choice Missouri, expressed concern that provisions in laws such as Texas that allow abortions in the last six weeks for medical emergencies would require doctors to wait until the patient appears to be dying to have an abortion. .
“Each of these parts that is left to be interpreted will usually have a broad chilling effect on providers who do not want to jeopardize their careers and livelihoods, practices and ability to care for other patients,” Schwartz said.
Many prohibitions prohibit abortion after six weeks, when vaginal ultrasound can first detect electrical activity in embryonic cells, which can later become the heart. Proponents call them “heart rate laws,” arguing that heart rate is a reliable indicator of life.
In Idaho, Hausley has repeatedly testified against state abortion bans in the legislature, but said lawmakers are not interested in hearing about her experience.
“My baby had a palpitation, but that’s not the only thing a baby needs,” Houseley said. Anti-abortion politicians are not at all interested in the reality of this issue. They are distracting this discussion and that is why we are where we are. “
___
Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhat and AP reporters from across the United States contributed.
Add Comment