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A Five-Month Abortion Limit Would Protect Women’s Health

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Women’s risk for death, breast cancer, hemorrhage, and other maladies as a consequence of abortion increases at 20 weeks pregnant and following.

Credit: The Federalist

Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion for any reason, at any time of pregnancy, in 1973, there have been repeated incidents of late-term abortions and live-birth abortions. Before late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted in Philadelphia in May 2013, a long line of late-term abortionists—including Joseph Melnick, Raymond Showery, Abu Hayat, Jesse Floyd, and Kenneth Edelin—were prosecuted for killing babies born alive after abortion. Public opinion has consistently found these incidents abhorrent for obvious reasons. Even a Huffington Post poll found majority support for a five-month limit to abortions.

The Supreme Court justices thrust America into this unfortunate situation by arbitrarily legalizing abortion up to viability (and beyond) in 1973. The court’s national edict has isolated the United States as one of only four nations (including China, North Korea, and Canada) that allows abortion for any reason after fetal viability up to nine months.

Credit: ABC

The Supreme Court Ignored Medical Recommendations

As I found in the justices’ papers, and described at length in “Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade,” the justices had no evidentiary record by which to assess viability in the Roe v. Wade or Doe v. Bolton cases—no trials, no evidence, no medical data, no expert witnesses. No medical organization urged the justices to expand the abortion “right” as far as viability. The justices ignored common medical practice at the time that set 20 weeks as the line between an abortion and an early delivery.

The justices and lawyers never addressed viability during four hours of oral argument in the Roe and Doe cases in December 1971 and October 1972. The word “viability” was never mentioned once. (One can confirm that by listening to the original audio or reading the transcripts at www.oyez.org.)

Credit: Glamcheck.com

Only after the second round of arguments in October 1972 did some justices lobby Justice Blackmun to expand the “right” from 12 weeks to 28 weeks (the point at which they considered viability in 1972). The “viability rule” was imposed without any evidence or consideration of maternal health, and opened the door to late-term abortions that the justices should never have permitted.

More Women Die from Late-Term Abortions

But there is another compelling reason why a five-month (20-week) limit is common sense: late-term abortions are considerably more threatening to women’s health. The increased mortality from late-term abortions is as clear as any medical fact can be in America’s dysfunctional system of voluntary abortion reporting by providers. A 2004 medical study published by Dr. Linda Bartlett in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that the relative risk of abortion-related mortality jumped from 14.7 per 100,000 women at 13-15 weeks gestation. It doubled by16 to 20 weeks and doubled again at or after 21 weeks. Add to that the frequent inaccuracy of gestational dating by doctors and a clear legal limit at 20 weeks is imperative to protect women.

Read more at The Federalist.

 


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