Miscarriages are common, but abortion bans are putting patients’ lives in danger
A Wisconsin gynecologist said both stigma and abortion laws keep patients from getting the miscarriage care they need.
A miscarriage is one of the most common medical problems a pregnant person may experience. Now, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, patients who need medical care for a miscarriage face new risks.
Miscarriage is defined as the loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week, with the majority of miscarriages happening before the 12th week of pregnancy. Out of some 5 million pregnancies each year in the United States, 1 million end in miscarriages, according to the Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Shefaali Sharma, a Madison, Wisconsin, gynecologist, said the laws regulating abortion post-Dobbs have made some patients hesitant to seek care, which could result in life-threatening medical problems such as infection, sepsis, and even loss of the ability to become pregnant again in the future.
“[It] seems counterintuitive when the whole, quote, goal of this is to maintain life, but in this effort to maintain a life that hasn’t yet come to fruition, we are putting an actual, real-life, living life at risk,” Sharma told the Wisconsin Independent.
Sharma said that both stigma and abortion laws keep patients from getting the miscarriage care they may desperately need.
The same surgical and medicine options used to treat miscarriages are also used in performing abortions.
Sharma explained that patients in Wisconsin and in other states who need mifepristone to treat a miscarriage are required to sign a form acknowledging that the medication is also used for abortion and that it is going to be used to end their pregnancy.
“You are being forced to sign paperwork on one of the worst days of your life that you’re acknowledging that you’re using a medication that can be used for abortion, and further stigmatizing and labeling your situation when you’re already heartbroken and crushed,” Sharma said, adding, “That is not OK. We don’t do that in any other situation. We don’t judge and we don’t dissect why a person is doing X, Y or Z, or taking some medication in any other situation, and this is one of the most vulnerable moments in these people’s lives.”
