Okay, But Why Don't Abortion Law "Exceptions" Work?

Few issues polarize this country like abortion. Most Americans believe these intensely personal decisions should be made by families and doctors, not politicians. But even those who call themselves “pro-life” usually believe some exceptions should be made — in the case of rape, when it’s a matter of saving the mother’s life, or when doctors determine the fetus has no chance of survival.

But we’ve seen time and time again that “exceptions” don’t work.

Right now, in Georgia, a tragedy is playing out before our eyes. A young woman named Adriana Smith suffered multiple blood clots in February and was declared brain dead, but because she was 9 weeks pregnant at the time, the hospital is keeping her hooked up to machines until doctors believe her fetus can survive on its own.

It’s important to know that Adriana isn’t in a coma or even a vegetative state — legally and medically, she’s dead. Her body is being kept alive by more machines and medicines than you can imagine, all because of Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban. Imagine being Adriana’s mother. Watching your daughter’s body hooked up to all those machines, kept in this horrible middle space between life and death, not for days or weeks but for months. In interviews, she’s called it “torture.” And her family was never given a choice.

If Adriana, or Amanda Zurawski, or a ten-year-old rape victim aren’t exceptions to abortion laws, who is? And why should politicians get to decide? We can’t change the Dobbs decision, but we can push for an end to state abortion bans. We’ve already seen it work, like a 2023 constitutional amendment in Ohio. It isn’t easy, but we owe it to Adriana, Amanda, and all of the women whose stories have yet to be written.

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Transcript

Okay, But Why Don’t Abortion Law “Exceptions” Work?

CLIP of Amanda Zurawski: “Every time I share our story, my heart breaks. For the baby girl we wanted desperately. For the doctors and nurses who couldn't help me deliver her safely. For Josh, who feared he would lose me too. But I was lucky. I lived. So I'll continue sharing our story, standing with women and families across the country today. Because of Donald Trump, more than one in three women of reproductive age in America lives under an abortion ban.”

Narrator: In 2022, Amanda Zurawski almost died. She was pregnant with a baby girl she desperately wanted, but her water broke way too early, at 18 weeks. Doctors told her with absolute certainty that her baby wouldn’t survive, but because of a law in Texas, they couldn’t give her an abortion. They had to wait until the baby died inside of her and she went into septic shock, almost dying herself, before they could give her the medical care she needed. Now, she has permanent organ damage.

Amanda’s timing couldn’t have been worse. Just one week earlier, she would’ve been able to get the healthcare she needed. But because the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade that year, an abortion ban went into effect in Texas just a few days before this all happened to her.

When cases like Amanda’s are held up as examples of why abortion bans are so dangerous, some people protest. “Most abortions aren’t like that,” they say. “You can’t use one story to make a law.” Even well-meaning people think that doctors can make an exception in cases like Amanda’s, where right and wrong seem so clear.

But as Amanda and her husband learned, that’s not how abortion laws work. Doctors don’t get to make judgment calls in states with abortion bans. They could lose their medical license, the hospital they work in could get shut down, or they could even go to jail.

And unfortunately, Amanda’s story is only one of thousands since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Roe v. Wade was a landmark Supreme Court case that established our right to abortion in 1973. But almost fifty years later, on June 24, 2022, they overturned that ruling in the case of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It was the first time that the Supreme Court took away a fundamental right.

So what are some other stories that you might think would qualify as an “exception”? And how many tragedies do we need to witness before we all understand that “exceptions” don’t work?

You may remember the case of a 10-year-old girl who couldn’t get an abortion in her home state of Ohio. The man who raped her went to jail, but the little girl had to travel out of state to Indiana in order to get an abortion. If any case should be an exception, shouldn’t it be this? This girl was 10 years old. She was in elementary school. Childbirth can be life-threatening for someone that young, and yet Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban didn’t make an exception for her. It took Ohioans uniting to support reproductive care in a constitutional amendment the following year to make sure that a story like hers doesn’t happen again. Now, the law in Ohio allows abortion care up to the point of fetal viability.

Another tragic case that’s been in the news lately is Adriana Smith in Georgia. We want to warn you that this is an especially disturbing case, but it’s real and it’s happening right now.

Back in February, a mom in Atlanta received the worst news of her life: her daughter Adriana had suffered multiple blot clots and was declared brain dead. Adriana was only 30 years old. She was a registered nurse and a loving mom herself of a 5-year-old son named Chase.

Adriana had suffered intense headaches a few days prior and went to two hospitals, but was sent home without any tests being done. After she was declared brain-dead, however, things got much much worse. See, Adriana had been two months pregnant at the time. And thanks to Georgia’s anti-abortion law, that means she has to stay hooked up to machines that are keeping her body alive until doctors believe her fetus can survive on its own.

“Okay,” you might think. “The whole story is really sad, but what’s the harm in keeping her alive? Why wouldn’t doctors want to give her baby the chance to develop?”

There are several answers to those questions, ranging from medical to moral, so let’s go through them one by one.

The first thing to understand is that Adriana is not alive. She’s not in a coma, she’s not even in a vegetative state. Legally and medically, she is dead. Her body is being kept alive by more medications and machines than you can imagine: machines to keep her heart beating, her lungs taking in oxygen, her kidneys and liver and blood pressure regulated, not to mention the hormones needed to keep her fetus alive. Imagine, for a moment, being Adriana’s mother. Watching her daughter’s body hooked up to all those machines, kept in this horrible middle space between life and death – not for days or weeks but for months.

And that’s another reason this case is so important to know about. Adriana was only nine weeks pregnant when she died. A nine-week fetus is about one inch long and won’t be able to survive outside the womb for another five months. According to research, 30% of women don’t even realize they’re pregnant at this point. Adriana’s body has already been kept alive for three months – remember, she died in February– and it’ll need to stay hooked up to machines until August before her mother can really say goodbye.

This would all be hard enough if her family was given a choice in the situation. But the state of Georgia doesn’t care what Adriana’s mother or other loved ones want. The hospital is forcing this devastating situation because they’re afraid of breaking Georgia’s anti-abortion laws.

CLIP from Adriana’s mom: “So at that point, we continue with a pregnancy that we didn’t have a choice or a say about. To see her laid there like that, for that length of time, that grieving process for us, it can’t even start because every time we go, we grieve and we hurt. It’s just unreal, it’s unreal for anyone to go through this.”

Narrator: Doctors told her that they’re not allowed to stop or remove the devices keeping Adriana breathing because of a state law that bans abortion after six weeks. The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after the Dobbs decision. Georgia’s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, but it doesn’t apply to this case because Adriana is already dead.

And at the end of all of this, it’s very unlikely that Adriana’s baby will survive, or at least not without massive health problems. A mother’s body isn’t just an incubator – it provides hormones, nutrition, even the sound of her voice makes a difference in healthy development. Everything the state of Georgia is doing right now is creating more suffering and tragedy.

The state Attorney General says this isn’t how the law is supposed to be applied, but the Republican State Senator who sponsored the bill, Ed Setzler, told PBS that this is exactly the way he meant for it to be applied. “I think it is completely appropriate,” he said, “that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child. I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately.”

But what about Adriana’s life and dignity? What about her loved ones? Why should a state senator get to make this decision instead of Adriana’s mother and the rest of her family?

If Adriana, or Amanda Zurawski, or a ten-year-old rape victim aren’t exceptions to abortion laws, who is? And why should politicians get to decide? As Amanda said, she was lucky. She survived, when many women – like Amber Thurman, Candi Miller, and Neveah Craine – did not.

Regardless of your personal views about abortion, restrictive laws like these aren’t the answer. “Exceptions” don’t work. We have to trust women, families, and doctors to make the best decisions they can. We can’t change the Dobbs decision, but we can push for an end to state abortion bans. We’ve already seen it work, like the constitutional amendment in Ohio. It isn’t easy, but we owe it to Adriana, and Amanda, and Amber, and all of the women whose stories have yet to be written.

Sources

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9321827/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/07/22/ohio-man-indicted-for-raping-9-year-old-who-was-forced-to-travel-to-indiana-for-abortion/?sh=ec62fce55f6e

https://time.com/7216391/amanda-zurawski-texas-reproductive-rights/

https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2024/08/27/after-being-denied-a-medically-necessary-abortion-amanda-zurawski-will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-beat-donald-trump/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/brain-dead-woman-must-carry-fetus-to-birth-because-of-georgias-abortion-ban-hospital-tells-family

https://apnews.com/article/pregnant-woman-brain-dead-abortion-ban-georgia-a85a5906e5b2c4889525f2300c441745

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-adrianas-family-during-this-heartbreaking-journey

https://emilyinyourphone.substack.com/p/what-if-this-was-your-daughter