When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it claimed to be removing the judiciary from the abortion debate. In reality, it simply gave the courts a macabre new task: deciding how far states can push a patient toward death before allowing her to undergo an emergency abortion.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit offered its own answer, declaring that Texas may prohibit hospitals from providing “stabilizing treatment” to pregnant patients by performing an abortion—withholding the procedure until their condition deteriorates to the point of grievous injury or near-certain death.

The ruling proves what we already know: Roe’s demise has transformed the judiciary into a kind of death panel that holds the power to elevate the potential life of a fetus over the actual life of a patient.

  • ChexMax@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Which is absolutely insane, especially considering 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage (and that’s just confirmed pregnancies! The actual number is likely higher!)

    • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      From what I recall it’s actually the majority of pregnancies that end in miscarriage, it’s just that they usually occur before the woman can even really notice she was pregnant or is having a miscarriage. From the woman’s perspective she may of had a particularly unpleasant monthly period when it was actually a miscarriage. It’s one of those things no one likes to acknowledge because people find it disturbing and it completely undermines a lot of assumptions people like to make about “the miracle of life”.

      • ChexMax@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, I think if it ends in the first 4 or 5 weeks it’s considered a “chemical pregnancy” and doesn’t even count towards the stats. It’s extremely common. The whole point of not announcing your pregnancy in the first 12 weeks is because it’s so common to not make it past 12 weeks