Abortion Access is Essential for Women’s Health
A Greenville mother recently experienced miscarriage complications and potential life-threatening consequences; all due to the current abortion bill in the state of South Carolina, which bans abortion with very limited exceptions.
At her nine-week appointment, she and her husband were told that their current pregnancy stopped growing at six weeks and was non-viable. Her body was not passing the dead fetal tissue on its own (which happens for many women in these scenarios), thus an abortion was necessary to remove the contents.
Due to South Carolina’s extreme abortion ban, passed into law in 2023, this woman was unable to get the help she needed in her home state. And the longer you wait to get the medical attention you need after learning this information, the more likely you are to risk infection, sepsis, future fertility, and even your life. Removal of a non-viable pregnancy is not protected, which forces grieving parents like these to flee their home to get the help they need – many of which must find care for their other children as they travel to undergo this emotional medical procedure and are then slapped with extremely high medical bills due to the out of state travel.
South Carolina doctors wanted to help, but they were unable to do so because of the restrictions put in place by these bills. The consequences of this bill are grave, as local physicians recently challenged South Carolina’s criminal Abortion Ban in federal court for violating their rights to religious freedom and freedom from unduly vague laws under the U.S. Constitution, stating that “denying abortion care to such patients goes against the physicians’ religious and conscientious beliefs in honoring the inherent worth of every person, helping people in critical need, and placing others before themselves.”
Access to safe, legal abortion is essential for people to make their own decisions about their reproductive lives and ensure they have access to the full range of healthcare services they need. WREN continues to fight against restrictions to abortion access.
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