Sun 5/19: Men who barely understand women’s bodies want to ban abortion. A reflection on the cruelest game… – Part 1 of 2

This post is not an action but a “thought experiment” on the banning of abortion. (easy-to-read PDF here). It includes, in pink, a primer for forced-birther legislators on the serious risks women face. We also have parts for the men who cause unwanted pregnancies and walk away (in blue), and the states who currently restrict abortion while providing little or no pre-natal care (in yellow). And in the lower right-hand corner, we provide a role for the legislators themselves.
skin in the game - careful

This isn’t the 1900’s. We know how this ends. In the real world, women are already being affected by lack of abortion access. Maternal deaths are skyrocketing. Babies are dying. Public outcry will become so overwhelming that the politicians who voted for abortion bans will “forget” that they did or lose their seats. And women will be safe again. For awhile.

Background Facts in Chart.

Abortion and government

The government is tracking migrant girl’s periods to stop them from getting abortions (harpers)
What actually happens when a country bans abortion (foreign policy)
“Every Pregnancy is a Risk of Harm”: How criminalizing miscarriage could play out. (the slot)
Medical Abortions Have Changed Abortion Access — And They’re Available on the Internet (PBS) (Six states have specifically barred self-managed abortions, 17 states mandate that a health care provider be physically present for a pill-based abortion. at least 21 people have been arrested in the U.S. for allegedly ending their own pregnancy or assisting someone else in doing so.
State Policy Updates (Guttmacher)
How Chicago women helped bring safe abortion access to the midwest (dna info)
Abortion in America (Vox)
Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999 Family Planning (CDC)
6 myths about abortion (Times)
“Women will die”: How new abortion bans will harm the most vulnerable (guardian)
“Turnaway” study examines the effects of unintended pregnancy on women’s lives. (UCSF)

Pregnancy issues

Childbirth issues

The scary truth about childbirth (motherjones)
Types and couses of common birth injuries to mothers. (teeslaw)
Risk for serious labor complication increase with women’s age.
50 to 80% of women experience tearing of the pelvic skin and muscles.
For+ 1 in 10, the tearing is severe enough to damage the anal sphincter muscle, which often leads to the loss of bowel and bladder control.
Large babies can break a mothers’ pelvic or pubic bones on the way out,
Dangerous postpartum haemorrhage can occur up to 6 weeks after a birth.
Prolapse, the uterus sagging into the vagina, is common with long labors or big babies.
After healing, a woman can still experience chronic nerve pain, muscle spasms, or numbness for months or years and then suffer from incontinence or prolapse decades later.
A Canadian study found urinary incontinence in 50% of mothers a year after birth.
Ruptured uterus, a serious complication that occurs when the wall of the uterus tears during pregnancy.
1 in 3 women suffer from a pelvic floor disorder (a category that includes urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and prolapse), and roughly 80 percent of those women are mothers.
For 1 in 10 women, pelvic floor disorder requires surgery—about double the rate prostate surgery for men.
In 2017, a vaginal hysterectomy, one of the most common fixes for uterine prolapse, was about $14,400, including hospital costs, while a bladder repair surgery for incontinence cost around $28,000. Nearly a third of women will have to have more than one surgery.
Those who can’t afford surgery or for whom it wasn’t successful, can buy adult incontinence products – diapers, a huge market that will hit 2.7 BILLION dollars in sales by 2020.
Many incontinent women, or those with severe prolapse, are afraid to do any strenuous activity, or even leave home, to avoid a humiliating accident.
Depression and PTSD are also side effects of the birth condition. 85% of women experience some type of mood disorder. ±9% experience PTSD.

Maternal mortality

The comparitive safety of legal induced abortion and childbirth in the United States. (NCBI)
Maternal mortality and Maternal health data (health affairs)
The states with the highest and lowest maternal mortality, mapped (Advisory.com)
Maternal deaths fall across globe but rise in U.S., doubling in TX (CNN)
Maternal Mortality – America’s Health Rankings (United Health Foundation)
Maternal Mortality rate in U.S. rises, defiying global trend, study finds (NYTimes)
Maternal Mortality in the U.S. (wiki)
American women are still dying at alarming rates while giving birth (National Geographic)(and here)