Rep. Joe Walsh told reporters on October 18, 2012 that there should be no exceptions to a “no abortion” law. “There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing”…” because “with modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance” in which a woman would actually die. [I have reordered his comments for clarity. One source for his comments is here and another here.]
From where are these supposed representatives of the people getting their information? It can’t be from any reputable medical journal.
Here’s a quote from a medical journal, The American Family Physician, which is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Ectopic pregnancy occurs at a rate of 19.7 cases per 1,000 pregnancies in North America and is a leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester. Source
While case-fatality rate has declined from 35.5 maternal deaths per 10,000 ectopic pregnancies in 1970 to only 3.8 maternal deaths per 10,000 ectopic pregnancies in 1989 [same source as above], every treatment involves death of the fetus, whether by chemical or surgical means.
Would the new abortion laws the conservatives wish to pass condemn 19.7 per 1,000 pregnant women to death? That’s essentially 2 of every 100. And those are just the ones from this single cause: ectopic pregnancy. It doesn’t count all the other possible complications that might manifest during a pregnancy.
Abortions should be the decision between a doctor and the patient. No-exception abortion laws are going to cause needless deaths among the childbearing women of our country.