;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=435d560a55865aac3e8df10c7ed3fe7a0ea6f7bdbd50dee9ebd3d4f6873ffef6 "Abortion law: “Why did I almost have to die?” asks a stunned Texan")
Amanda Zurawski had to put her life in danger before she received the abortion, which she never really wanted. The 36-year-old’s cervix had opened after only 18 weeks of pregnancy, and according to the doctors, a miscarriage was inevitable.
In the US state of Texas, abortions are only legal if the mother’s life is in danger. Only when Zurawski suffered blood poisoning did the doctors intervene and perform an abortion, the young woman spent several days in the intensive care unit.
“Why did I almost have to die?” asks the stunned Amanda Z.
“Why did I almost have to die?” Zurawski asks today at her home in Austin, Texas. “Why is the life of my future babies in danger? They say they’re doing it because it’s ‘for life’, but I don’t know what’s ‘for life’ about it.”
“They” are conservative politicians who have tightened abortion laws in numerous states since the US Supreme Court abolished the nationwide fundamental right to abortion a year ago.
Zurawski’s case shows the concrete impact this can have on women. Especially since she and her husband desperately want children – and the blood poisoning has damaged her uterus and one of her fallopian tubes. “It’s still unclear if this will have a lasting impact on my fertility and my ability to have children,” says Zurawski.
13 US states prohibit abortions
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued the landmark judgment “Roe v. Wade,” which had enshrined a nationwide fundamental right to abortion since 1973. The decision of the court, which had moved further to the right under former President Donald Trump, caused a political earthquake.
Numerous conservatively governed states used the judge’s ruling to ban abortions or severely restrict access to abortions, citing the protection of unborn life. Many abortion clinics have had to close. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which campaigns for the right to abortion, 13 states have banned abortion in principle, with exceptions – such as in Texas – only in a few cases.
The number of abortions remains almost the same – that harbors dangers
Despite these new laws, experts say the total number of abortions in the US since the end of Roe v. Wade” declined only slightly. “Many people are still getting the abortions they need, but they face major challenges,” says health expert Ushma Upadhyay of the University of California at San Francisco. Many pregnant women travel to states where abortions are still permitted and possible.
But that can cost a lot of money. And so, according to Upadhyay, it’s the “poorest of the poor” who no longer have access to abortions – and in the US that often means black women or Hispanic women.
“It was like Russian roulette”: women describe horror experiences
However, traveling to another state can also pose health risks. The Texan Anna Zargarian describes in a lawsuit against her home state that she lost amniotic fluid after 19 weeks of pregnancy and that her baby had no chance of surviving, according to the doctors. She had to fly to Colorado for an abortion.
The flight was “one of the most horrible experiences” in her life, she later described at a press conference. “It was like Russian roulette, there was a risk of infection, bleeding or going into labor.”
The fight for abortion rights, meanwhile, continues a year after the end of “Roe v. Wade” continues unabated. Arch-conservative activists want to achieve a nationwide ban on the abortion pill, and the case has been in the courts for months.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s Democrats have made protecting abortion rights a key campaign issue, which helped them in November’s midterm elections, among other things. Conservative Republicans are fighting over their stance, knowing that a large majority of the electorate supports at least some access to abortion.
“People will die because of this”
Meanwhile, in Austin, Amanda Zurawski hopes she’ll conceive again soon – but worries there could be complications again. And the 36-year-old is also worried about other women. “It’s becoming increasingly rare that what happened to me happens to someone else,” she says. “People will die because of it.”
By Paula Ramon and Charlotte Plantive, AFP