No Women Have Died Because of Abortion Bans Since Dobbs

In a June 6 article, Amber Duke, the Washington editor for online publication The Spectator, debunked claims that pro-life laws cause women to be denied “life-saving medical care” and argued that these claims often lack context and truthful information.

“There is not a single pro-life law in the country that would prohibit doctors from providing life-saving care to pregnant women,” Duke wrote. “All twenty-two states that restrict or ban abortions have exceptions on abortions that are performed to save the life of the mother.”

The majority of these states also allow for abortions if the mother’s health is at risk, she added.

“There is also no law that prohibits care for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages, which no reasonable person would confuse with an elective abortion,” Duke wrote.

Further, if a doctor did fail to provide proper miscarriage care, fearing prosecution under pro-life laws, the fault would be the doctor’s, she argued.

“Any sane and reasonable doctor would be able to differentiate between an elective and spontaneous abortion and would not be ‘confused’ by laws banning the former,” she wrote:

If they declined care to a woman for the latter, they would be guilty of malpractice.

Any doctor that cites an abortion restriction or ban as a reason to deny miscarriage care should rightfully be called out for putting their desire to score political points over the health of women.

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In her article, Duke also examined and addressed recent cases that have been used to allege that pro-life laws harmed women.

Texas-based radio host Ryan Hamilton recently made headlines when he claimed that his wife had been denied crucial medical care after experiencing a miscarriage.

Hamilton and his wife sought a dilation and curettage (D&C) to remove the unborn child who had no heartbeat, but the healthcare provider they went to did not offer surgeries, according to Duke.

Hamilton’s wife was prescribed two doses of misoprostol to expel the child. That did not work, so she received a prescription for a third dose of misoprostol. The doctors noted that if this dose did not work, Hamilton’s wife might need a D&C.

“The third round worked, but Mrs. Hamilton bled significantly, passed out and had to be rushed to the hospital,” Duke wrote. “Hamilton has accused the doctors of denying his wife a D&C due to Texas’s abortion law, even though it explicitly states that miscarriage care is permissible.”

The blame cannot be put on Texas’ pro-life laws, Duke argued: “If anything, they should blame the irresponsible rhetoric of pro-abortion activists who have created unrealistic and potentially dangerous expectations for miscarriage care.”

Pro-abortion rhetoric “[warns scared couples] that they will be unable to get treatment for one of the most horrific things a woman might ever go through,” Duke wrote.

The truth is that a woman suffering from a miscarriage can receive the treatment she needs, Duke wrote, and “the normal standard of care for a miscarriage is expectant management. It can take around two weeks for the body to pass the fetus, at which point a doctor would then check to make sure all of  the tissue has been properly expelled.”

Duke is also the author of “The Snowflakes’ Revolt: How Woke Millennials Hijacked American Media,” and a host for political news outlet “The Hill TV: Rising.”

LifeNews Note: McKenna Snow writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

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