The Politicization of Fetal Viability

The fall of Roe v. Wade on June 24 marked the start of a strange era to be a Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician. By definition, we take care of anyone with a high-risk pregnancy, which can occur because the pregnant person has a medical condition such as diabetes or breast cancer or because something is wrong with the fetus genetically or anatomically, like a birth defect. As high-risk pregnancy physicians, we share the mantra that we hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Luckily, of the thousands of patients we have cared over the last 12 years, the majority have achieved our hope of the best: a relatively uneventful pregnancy and successful live birth. But, despite our best preparations, some have suffered the worst: we have mourned mothers who have died during pregnancy or childbirth and, with our patients, have mourned the loss of their highly desired pregnancies in the womb. For these reasons—not to mention the fundamental principal in medical ethics of patient autonomy (the right of patients to make their own decisions about their body, even if the doctor disagrees or the decision goes against medical advice)—abortion care goes hand-in-hand with high-risk pregnancy care. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In fact, many high-risk pregnancy providers also provide abortions for pregnancies that were initially highly desired, sometimes to save their patients’ lives and sometimes because their patient’s fetus has severe genetic abnorma...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized abortion freelance Source Type: news