Proposed abortion bill would put women at risk

Jane’s body could not sustain another pregnancy or she would die. She loved her daughter, but carrying that pregnancy almost killed her. At a mere 30 years old, her heart stopped after childbirth, and luckily the hospital staff were able to resuscitate her. Over the course of the pregnancy, her heart had thickened and become dysfunctional with the many changes that her body went through. With the stress of hours in labor, it just couldn’t take it anymore.

Her recovery was far from easy, with weeks in the ICU regaining her strength and allowing her body to heal. She desperately wanted to have another child but knew it would kill her if she did. So, she found the best method of birth control and since then has taken every possible measure to avoid another pregnancy. But even the most effective birth control methods fail at a rate of 1 in 10,000 — and who cares what the statistic is if that 1 in 10,000 is you?

Jane is a patient who needs options to keep her safe and healthy. She needs to be able to talk to her doctor about abortion, an emotional discussion but one that could save her life. It is estimated that more than 1 in 6 women aged 20-39 have underlying, undiagnosed cardiovascular disease that can complicate a pregnancy and may prevent a woman from working or caring for her other children — or even kill her. A patient can develop a life-threatening heart condition such as Jane’s at any point during a pregnancy or even months after birth and may not have any noticeable symptoms until the heart is pumping at less than half its normal strength, at which point she may need to be hospitalized or worse.

Although Jane experienced the most feared complication of her condition, she recovered. Many women who end up having pregnancy-related heart disease find themselves in an even worse situation: Early in their pregnancy, their doctors discover that their heart may not be able to survive labor. In situations such as these, the choice is stark: either undergo an abortion, or carry a pregnancy to term with the knowledge that your baby’s first day on Earth may be your last.

House Bill 1488, currently in committee in the Virginia House of Delegates, would retract public funding from “any entity or any affiliate of any entity” that provides abortion services, including counseling patients to have an abortion in situations like Jane’s. This bill would affect hospitals and other emergency services, especially small, rural hospitals that provide the backbone of medical care to their communities.

Counseling patients on abortion is a fundamental part of providing reproductive health care and keeping patients safe and healthy. In Louisiana, a state with a near-total abortion ban, some doctors have refused to provide life-saving obstetric care for fear of coming into conflict with their state’s restrictions, according to reporting by National Public Radio.

If this bill becomes law, Virginians could face a similar environment where they are unable to receive the care they need at times when they need it most. We urge readers to tell Dels. John McGuire, R-Glen Allen, and Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun, to withdraw this bill, and to tell your state delegate to vote against it if it comes to the House floor. The health of women across Virginia is at stake.

Kaitlin Crews and Alex Hirsch are fourthyear medical students at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and residents of Richmond.