Claim: The overturning of Roe V. Wade prevents the treatment of ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.
Reality: All states with abortion bans have protections in place for life-threatening pregnancy procedures. The spread of this falsehood, however, causes confusion for both healthcare providers and pregnant women, putting those with pregnancy complications at risk.
Legislative text for the trigger ban on abortion in all 13 correlating states clarifies that life-saving treatments will not be prosecuted. Moreover, all of these bills clarify to some degree that the physician who performs the abortion is to be subjected to prosecution, not the mother.
Texas: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/pdf/HB01280F.pdf
Idaho: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0460.pdf
Arkansas: https://legiscan.com/AR/text/SB6/2021
Kentucky: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/19RS/hb148/bill.pdf
Louisiana: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=405723
Mississippi: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2007/pdf/SB/2300-2399/SB2391SG.pdf
North Dakota: https://www.ndlegis.gov/assembly/60-2007/bill-text/HBEU0100.pdf
South Dakota: https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/20013/105608
Oklahoma: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/SB/SB612%20ENR.PDF
Tenessee: https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/SB1257.pdf
Utah: https://le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/sbillenr/SB0174.pdf
Wyoming: https://wyoleg.gov/2022/Enroll/HB0092.pdf
Most recent abortion ban passed by the Indiana Senate offers multiple exclusions pertaining to rape/incest as well as the health of the mother. The ban exempts the mother from the crime of feticide in the event that a viable pregnancy is terminated and instead charges the individual who performed the abortion.
http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022ss1/bills/senate/1#digest-heading
New York Times article – “What is Ectopic Pregnancy?” – clarifies that “the 13 current state-level abortion bans make exemptions for medical emergencies…” – acknowledges that the only real danger arising from the Dobbs decision is “…the potential to create confusion for patients and health care providers…”
Planned Parenthood informational page on ectopic pregnancies – “A pregnancy won’t survive if it’s ectopic, because a fertilized egg can’t grow or survive outside your uterus…Untreated ectopic pregnancies can cause internal bleeding, infection, and in some cases lead to death…The medical procedures for terminating a pregnancy in the uterus are usually different from the medical procedures for terminating an ectopic pregnancy.”
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/pregnancy/ectopic-pregnancy
NOLO article – “Can You Go to Jail for an Abortion or a Miscarriage?” – clarifies that spontaneous miscarriages at this point are not criminalized and demonstrates that the only way in which miscarriages can be prosecuted is in the event that the women carrying the child commits a crime or negligent act that leads to or correlates with the death of the fetus (ex. Ingesting illicit drugs during pregnancy, illegally procuring abortion-inducing drugs, unlawfully disposing of fetal remains, etc.)
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-you-go-to-jail-for-an-abortion-or-a-miscarriage.html
