Sperry: There are unintended consequences of Roe v. Wade overturn

Thirteen states now have total abortion bans, except for the life of the mother. A few states include exceptions for rape and incest. Project 2025 wants to have a total national abortion ban. Abortion is one of the treatment options for the female reproductive system. In some instances, it is a means of birth control, but in most situations, the central problem is an unviable fetus; or a mother’s water has broken early, making the pregnancy unsustainable; or an ectopic pregnancy; or preeclampsia (this causes high blood pressure, which can be life-threatening). In these cases, the question becomes, how near death does the mother have to be for the doctor to be able to perform an abortion legally?

This question is especially acute in Idaho, where the GOP platform considers abortion murder from the moment of fertilization. While the statute allows for an exception to save the life of the mother, it is up to the doctor to determine when the woman is close enough to death for him to escape a murder charge. Not many are ready to take that risk. Letting the woman die is often the safest bet. Imagine.

Predictably, 50 OB-GYN clinics have shut down in Idaho, and labor-and-delivery units of hospitals are closing. Consequently, there is little reproductive care in the state. Pregnant women whose lives may be in danger, assuming they have money and/or influence, are being flown to more tolerant states. Doctors who practice reproductive care are moving to states where they can do their jobs as they have been trained (The Atlantic, October 2024: “What Abortion Bans Do to Doctors”).

This nightmare could be coming to a state near you! If you care about the reproductive health of the women in your family — your wife, your daughter, your granddaughter — you need to think about whom you vote for Nov. 5. A woman’s body, not to mention her life, is on the ballot.

Julia Sperry

Hockessin

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