The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

"Consequences for life". What happens when someone who wishes to have an abortion is unable to do so?

2021-09-27T01:04:27.195Z


Giving birth to an unwanted pregnancy is much more risky for a person's health than aborting. A study explains how the chances of falling below the federal poverty level increase and mental health problems increase in the months that follow.


By Chloe Atkins - NBC News

The morning that Texas' restrictive new abortion law went into effect, Marva Sadler's first patient had fetal activity after undergoing an ultrasound, rendering the woman ineligible for a legal abortion.

Sadler, director of clinical services for Whole Woman's Health, explained that the woman was a single mother of two and had just started a new job.

She had no one to care for the minors and was unable to take time off from work to travel to another state for an abortion.

"It was the first real hit of 'I really can't fix this.' How do you respond to that? And that conversation quickly moved on to finding out how to get her prenatal care," Sadler said.

[The baby who changed US history reveals her identity and talks about abortion]

In the 48 hours leading up to Sept. 1, Whole Woman's Health of Fort Worth, Texas, performed an average of 66 abortions a day.

But during the first three days of the law, the clinic performed an average of 11 abortions a day.

"Women who not only live in this state, but who work, pay taxes, vote, pray and are raising the future leaders of this community are being denied their basic right to health care," Sadler said.

In Houston, Doris Dixon, director of patient access at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said abortion call centers have become helplines, where staff are "guiding patients through this new law "and helping them" navigate where they can go. "

"Patients and staff are fighting," Dixon explained.

Since the law went into effect, Dixon said that most of the patients she has observed seeking care at Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston are not eligible for an abortion.

[Eight keys to understanding why the Texas anti-abortion law and the Supreme Court decision are so controversial]

"Some of them are beyond our ability to help. There are no babysitting services for people to send their children while they go out of state, and there is no guarantee that they will not lose their jobs because they would leave for two or more. three days. The problem is much bigger than finding resources to go elsewhere, "Dixon explained.

"People will fall into the trap and end up having to carry their pregnancies to the end," he

added.

The new law prohibits abortions once fetal activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant.

The law does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.

Texas is the first state to ban abortion at this point in pregnancy since the 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

Abortion at a Falls Church, Virginia, clinic on November 24, 2017.Carolyn Van Houten / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Many will not be able to have an abortion outside of Texas due to financial or circumstantial problems, such as cost of travel, difficulty getting away from work or finding childcare.

Abortion rights advocates and providers say Senate Bill 8, as the new law is known, will likely lead to an increase in patients delivering unwanted pregnancies.

Consequently, many will suffer financial and health problems from being rejected by a clinic in the next few years.

Denial of abortion causes financial hardship

Although people of all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds abort, approximately half of the people who do so live below the federal poverty level.

When someone who is already struggling financially is denied care, they find themselves in an even more difficult financial situation, says Diana Greene Foster, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

["An Assault on Rights": Reactions to Texas' Near-Total Abortion Ban]

Foster is the director of the Turnaway Study, a nationwide project that examined the long-term effects of having an abortion or being rejected.

The study found that people who were denied abortions were nearly four times more likely to be below the federal poverty level.

Pro-abortion protesters march in front of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021.Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images

When people are prevented from obtaining health care, they are more likely to have difficulty paying for basic living expenses, such as food, shelter, and transportation.

Meanwhile, women who carried their unwanted pregnancy to the end experienced a 78% increase in debt - with a month or more maturing - after the time of delivery and an 81% increase in bankruptcies, evictions and tax liens, compared to others who had access to abortion care.

People who are denied abortion are also three times more likely to be unemployed than those who obtained it.

[Texas' restrictive abortion law will hit Latina women hard, expert says]

"Laws limiting access to abortion have a huge economic impact,"

said Kate Bahn, director of labor market policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

"It is not only about the annual economic difficulties associated with having children, but also affect the professional trajectories of people," he recalled.

"If you are unsure about family planning, you are much less likely to move to a higher paying occupation and complete education," Bahn added.

A likely increase in mental and physical health consequences


Denial of an abortion can significantly increase mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, in the months after abortion is denied, and can lead to consequences for abortion. life-threatening physical health that lasts for years.

Before the law went into effect, Dr. Bhavik Kumar, a staff physician at the Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, used to see between 20 and 30 abortion patients a day.

On September 1, he only served six, and half exceeded the new legal limit and had to be rejected.

The Supreme Court of Mexico legalizes abortion and Nacho Lozano compares the case with the law in Texas

Sept.

9, 202102: 48

Kumar warned that patients who are denied care could suffer "life-long consequences."

"The people who are going to suffer are going to be low-income people who already have little access to healthcare, and people of color, especially black women," he said.

An analysis of data from the Turnaway Study, which examined the physical health of those who terminated and did not terminate their pregnancy five years after seeking abortion care, found that women who gave birth were more likely to describe their health as "bad" and reported higher rates of chronic pain.

[No, it is false that there is an increased risk of miscarriage from the COVID-19 vaccine]

The physical and mental burden of childbirth play a role in these adverse health outcomes, according to Dr. Nisha Verma, a member of Physicians for Reproductive Health and an OB / GYN who provides abortion services in the Washington, DC area. An unwanted pregnancy can suffer from excessive bleeding during childbirth, postpartum depression, gestational diabetes and hypertension.

"When we think about people's healthcare, their pregnancies and their lives, each person is different, and no law like [SB 8] can take into account every unique situation," said Verma.

Giving birth to an unwanted pregnancy is far more risky for a person's physical health than aborting

.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 700 people die each year in the United States as a result of complications in pregnancy or childbirth, and the maternal mortality rate is 20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The rate of complications related to safe abortion is estimated to be approximately 2%, with death occurring in fewer than 1 in 100,000 abortions.

Sexist violence is also frequent among women who request an abortion, since between 6% and 22% report having suffered recent violence by their partner.

Women who are denied abortion are more likely to remain in contact with a violent partner, and are more likely to raise a child alone.

"These are personal and intimate decisions, and if the government interferes, it changes people's ability to take care of themselves, their children and even to have future children in better circumstances," said Foster.

"This is not a simple political maneuver: it is about the lives of real people," he concluded.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-09-27

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-25T10:32:16.526Z
Life/Entertain 2024-03-23T08:04:14.616Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.