Every reason to have an abortion is legitimate, but some might mean the difference between life and death.
Six Cases in Which Abortion May Save
Lives choosing for an abortion might also include choosing to live. While some opt to terminate because carrying on with a pregnancy may endanger their lives, others seek abortions because they don’t want to be parents.
Sometimes, a fetus has fatal congenital disabilities, so termination is the best option.
Even women who wish to go on with their pregnancies have less choice over their health now that Roe has been reversed and a patchwork of state rules governs abortion access.
Medical professionals and the people they treat are already uncomfortable with the limited alternatives in states with stringent abortion legislation.
According to maternal-fetal specialist David Hackney, MD, who practices in Ohio, where abortion is illegal beyond 22 weeks, this is especially the case with high-risk pregnancies.
Dr. Hackney, an associate professor of reproductive science at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, previously said, “Pregnancy in the lowest-risk circumstances is higher risk than abortion care in the first trimester.”
The United States stands out among developed countries with the most excellent maternal death rate, so that is especially true here: Every patient, regardless of risk, who does not want to be pregnant is having the overturning of Roe threaten their lives.”
In High-Risk Pregnancies, Abortion Can Be a LifesavingLife-saving Choice
In treating pregnant women and their developing fetuses, maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) is a branch of obstetrics and gynecology.
Further specialization for MFM practitioners is in helping patients with high-risk pregnancies.
The majority of patients who see MFM practitioners want to become parents and wish to go on with their pregnancy.
Under ideal conditions, carrying a pregnancy to term is a demanding task for the body. To say nothing of the problems encountered by labor, the energy and nutrients required for pregnancy are incredibly taxing on the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
Among many other birth-related issues, vaginal rips and heavy bleeding might prolong hospital stay after delivery.
The decision to have a lifesaving abortion is not easy for pregnant women, according to Meghana Limaye, MD, a medical family medicine (MFM) expert and clinical assistant professor in the obstetrics and gynecology department at New York University Langone Health.
“Nobody makes this decision lightly, especially in the circumstances that I see it, about high-risk pregnancies,” says Dr. Limaye.
“Being in charge of your health and life depends so much on having that choice. I hope everyone would be aware of that and see things from the viewpoint of someone who may never have imagined having an abortion.”
Most abortion decision-makers, according to the Guttmacher Institute, are those who have previously had a child and understand the responsibility that comes with becoming a parent.
Obtaining a medically required abortion by a person who wants a child might be one of the most complex decisions they ever make.
Six typical causes make abortion both medically required and potentially lifesaving lifesaving.
Hypertension of the Pulmonary System
Pulmonary hypertension, which results from extremely high blood vessel pressure linking the heart and lungs, places a heavy burden on the body.
The heart must work very hard to pump blood to the lungs. Your heart already has more work to do than pumping blood while you’re pregnant since it also needs to feed a developing baby.
According to Limaye, “You can go into abysmal heart failure, and there’s a 50 percent rate of mortality—of dying in the pregnancy if you get pregnant with that condition.”
The pregnant woman’s life may be saved in this instance via abortion.
The Ectopic Pregnancy
A fertilized egg implants in the uterus in normal, viable pregnancies and develops into a fetus. But sometimes, the fertilized egg implants elsewhere, as in the fallopian tubes.
Ectopic pregnancies are the name given to these hazardous pregnancies. Potentially fatal internal bleeding may arise from the fallopian tubes rupturing.
Every ectopic pregnancy is unviable because fetuses cannot grow and develop entirely outside of the uterus.
Abortion is the therapeutic option for ectopic pregnancy and preserves the life of the pregnant woman.
But instead of the usual drugs or surgery, in these situations, the pregnancy is ended with methotrexate or a laparoscopy.
Very Severe Preeclampsia
A pregnant woman may have severe preeclampsia, a potentially fatal rise in blood pressure that can harm other organs, roughly midway through the pregnancy, according to Limaye.
Since continuing gestation carries such a significant risk, induced birth is often the recommended course of action when severe preeclampsia is discovered.
“She could have a stroke, a seizure, damage to her other organs like her kidney or liver and get sick,” Limaye continues, referring to the pregnant woman.
“Termination can be the safest option in that setting.” Since a fetus is extremely unlikely to survive outside the uterus before 24 weeks, causing birth before then would be regarded as an abortion.
Nevertheless, with meticulous observation, a pregnancy with severe preeclampsia may be continued up to 34 weeks. Hackney says that after a pregnancy ends, preeclampsia fades away.
Necrotic Disease
For pregnant women, kidney illness carries a grading of dangers, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Complicating things further, the Mayo Clinic reports that kidney damage is known to be caused by diabetes and high blood pressure, two of the most prevalent diseases in the US.
Since pregnancy already puts more strain on the kidneys, Hackney notes that those with renal disease are more likely to have both pregnancy problems and kidney failure.
Some patients with severe renal illness may be recommended to discontinue a pregnancy if the danger to the mother and fetus is too great, Hackney adds, even though not all people with kidney disease who get pregnant may encounter life-threatening problems.
Breast Cancer
Though, in general, the treatment of cancer in pregnant women has dramatically improved in the last several decades, sometimes the advised course of action is unsafe for the expectant mother.
A pregnant woman who wants to keep getting cancer treatment has the option to seek an abortion.
Regulative abortion rules in certain jurisdictions, however, do not provide exceptions for cancer treatment, which might cause issues down the road.
“To some extent, even a year later, you don’t know the consequences of denying patients abortion care when they have health problems,” he says.
He says the adverse health effects may not be as apparent if a cancer patient is unable to get an abortion.
Even if the pregnant person may still have chemotherapy and surgery, in the future, their cancer prognosis may deteriorate or recur since they did not receive a specific treatment, such as some radiation therapies.
Deadly Abnormalities in the Fetus
Sadly, some fetuses grow with potentially fatal defects. Anencephaly, the condition in which infants are born without completely formed brains or skulls, is a frequent occurrence.
Screenings done before pregnancy reveal this problem. Anencephaly babies pass away not long after birth.
“There are patients who are going to have lethal fetal anomalies who are going to have to continue the pregnancy against their will because we’re not going to be able to provide them with abortion care,” Hackney asserts.
He said that abortion is much safer than childbirth; hence, in this case, it may save lives. Less than 1 in 100,000 Americans die from an abortion, but the CDC reports that almost 18 in 100,000 individuals die from pregnancy-related problems,
which is a roughly 20-fold higher risk of mortality. Minority women run far more dangers: Every 100,000 live births, problems associated with pregnancy claim the lives of over 41 black women and over 26 American Indian or Alaska Native women.
Every Expectant Mother Should Be Able to Choose an Abortion
As physicians who support women through challenging, high-risk, and complex pregnancies, maternal-fetal medicine professionals like Limaye and Hackney are aware of the actual importance of abortion as a medical treatment.
“It’s such an important choice that I give them where they have the option not to continue a pregnancy where the baby is at high risk, or they are at high risk,” according to Limaye.
New York is a haven for abortion access, and Limaye practices there. On the other hand, since the Dobbs ruling, Hackney’s work environment in Ohio has evolved alongside the judicial system.
“The patients themselves should balance the two scales with the medical risk on one side and their desire to be pregnant on the other,” advises the doctor.
Few medical risk exceptions exist in Ohio’s new stringent abortion legislation, which forces medical professionals to choose their best good-faith stance under the law while treating pregnant patients.
