What Ohio's 20-Week Abortion Ban Law Will Really Mean For Women

Ohio just became the 18th state to pass an arbitrary ban on abortions after 20 weeks.  The new law, which Gov. John Kasich (R) signed Tuesday, outlaws an extremely rare procedure. Only about 1 percent of all abortions take place after 20 weeks, and most are the result of doctors finding birth defects that were undetectable in earlier screenings. The ban will push women to travel out of state if they discover a serious defect during a second trimester ultrasound, adding another layer of logistical and financial difficulty to an already complicated termination procedure, says Dr. Jennifer K. Hsia, a clinical fellow in family planning at the University of California, Davis. The 20-week abortion ban is also medically arbitrary, as fetuses this young cannot survive outside the womb. The new law, which does not make exceptions for rape, incest, or irreversible fetal anomalies, will especially burden poor women who must come up with funds for both the procedure and the trip.  While these restrictive laws affect a relatively small number of women in the U.S., those who have gone through the gut-wrenching decision to have a late-term abortion say legislators are taking advantage of the electorate’s ignorance about the procedure in order to weaken abortion rights overall.  And for at least one woman in Ohio, who terminated for medical reasons, the new law makes her doubt she’ll ever try to have another child again.  Sarah B., a child...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news