If Roe decision holds, more women may lose lives to miscarriage

Obdurate focus on the word “abortion” by womens’ health advocates overlooks the certain lethal threat posed by denying medical care for miscarriage. The Mayo Clinic estimates that 10 to 20 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage and adds that this estimate may be too low.

In more than a few cases, medical intervention is required when miscarriage leads to uncontrolled bleeding. The frontline medical procedure is named a dilation and curettage procedure, also called a D&C, and in part involves removing extraneous tissue from the uterine lining. The purpose is to save the lives of women.

Yet the platform of the Republican Party, last adopted in 2016, allows for no abortions, ever, for any reason. Texas and other Republican-run states have enacted laws that follow suit. These laws are bound to have a chilling effect on treatment for miscarriage as Republican lawmakers will impose savage penalties on medical professionals who do a D&C. At best, they will be subject to second-guessing by Republican prosecutors, anxious to enhance their political chops on the bones of heartbroken women.

Democratic politicians should focus on this present danger in the coming election, not solely on the right to abortion. Not talking about miscarriage, an eternal fact of human life, will give Republicans a free ride. And, soon enough, some American women may face bleeding to death when they can’t get a procedure to save their lives after miscarriages.

Ideally, Democrats in Congress should introduce legislation titled something along the lines of “American Women’s Right to Full Medical Treatment for Miscarriage.” The word “abortion” need not appear. This would put Republican female lawmakers in an interesting spot. We need our congressional representatives to try to think of a new approach. William Colgan

Albany