America’s maternal mortality is far higher than that of other industrialized nations.
By Dr. L. Lewis Wall
Professor of Obstetrics and Gyencology
Washington University St. Louis
By Nancy Litz
President
National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis
The tragic consequences of increasingly harsh abortion restrictions are already showing up across the country. A doctor is threatened with prosecution for helping her 10-year-old patient travel out of state to end a pregnancy after being raped. A woman miscarrying a wanted pregnancy is sent home from the emergency room bleeding, in pain, and at risk of infection because doctors are now frightened of the possible legal consequences of providing routine care. Other women experiencing miscarriages are being investigated for potential criminal liability.
Anti-abortion extremists say these cases are anomalies, but they are actually the tip of a looming iceberg. History offers a preview of the future American women might face if anti-abortion extremists have their way.
After Nicolae Ceausescu came to power in Romania in 1965, he banned virtually all abortions and blocked access to contraception, just as some American politicians are now threatening. As a result, Romania’s maternal mortality ratio soared to 159 deaths per 100,000 live births — the highest recorded in any European country and 20 times higher than the United States. Women were not the only victims. Countless unwanted children were permanently damaged by neglect and abuse after being deposited in state-run Romanian orphanages by parents who could not support them.