Some reasons why women are upset

Not all pregnancies will result in a healthy baby. Twenty percent of pregnancies end in a miscarriage. Most miscarried fetuses had lethal birth defects. It is difficult to determine the difference between a miscarriage and attempted abortion.

In some states, women could be unjustly prosecuted, even imprisoned. About two percent of pregnancies are ectopic, the egg implants in the fallopian tube, not in the uterus. These pregnancies are always fatal for the developing embryo. Without medical care it can cause fatal bleeding to the mother.

A bill in the Ohio state legislature required doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy” into a woman’s uterus or face charges of “abortion murder.” This procedure is impossible. Result: some doctors are refusing to care for women with tubal pregnancies. Women will hemorrhage and die.

At least 11 states do not have a clause permitting abortion when the mother’s life is endangered, even if hemorrhaging. Each year in the U.S., up to 900 women die related to pregnancy and childbirth. The U.S. ranks last in maternal mortality among industrialized countries.

One of every 33 babies born in the United States has a birth defect. Birth defects account for 20.6% of infant deaths in the United States. Imagine finding your developing baby has a lethal birth defect and being told you must finish the pregnancy, deliver the baby, owe crippling medical bills, but have the newborn die anyway. Women will die. Women and doctors will be arrested. Families will go bankrupt.

— Ann Morrissey, Chico