| i feel that you have made a post that will serve to misinform others so i want to offer some corrections under the assumption that you are not operating in bad faith. >It’s a decision that enshrines as a right elective second trimester abortions >State criminal abortion laws, like those involved here, that except from criminality only a life-saving procedure on the mother's behalf without regard to the stage of her pregnancy and other interests involved violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy. [0] >This means, on the other hand, that, for the period of pregnancy prior to this "compelling" point, the attending physician, in consultation with his patient, is free to determine, without regulation by the State, that, in his medical judgment, the patient's pregnancy should be terminated. If that decision is reached, the judgment may be effectuated by an abortion free of interference by the State. [1] >something that’s illegal in nearly every other developed nation >second trimester starts at week 13 france allows abortions for the first 14 weeks (into the second trimester) and allows for medical exceptions even later
same with spain >Current Norwegian legislation and public health policy provides for abortion on request in the first 12 weeks of gestation, by application up to the 18th week, and thereafter only under special circumstances until the fetus is viable sweden allows abortions through 18 weeks and allows for medical exceptions even later denmark allows abortions after 12 weeks due to various conditions including poor socioeconomic status of the mother >In Great Britain, abortion is generally allowed for socio-economic reasons during the first twenty-four weeks of the pregnancy
germany seems the most severe of the large EU countries which allows for abortions in the first trimester and only after that in cases of unlawful sexual acts. the US state of Ohio, for example, made abortions illegal at ~6 weeks today, so I feel your comparison to "other developed nations" leads the uninformed to believe that the US states are enacting similar laws to other developed nations, which is not the case. also the overwhelming majority (>90%) of abortions in the US are during the first trimester [0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/410/113
[1] https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/410/113/ |
As to the country laws, you’re ignoring my qualifier about “elective” abortions. Abortions based on health exceptions aren’t elective abortions. Roe requires elective abortions up to viability. Thus, the laws in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden wouldn’t be upheld under Roe. Also, you’re misleadingly suggesting that Denmark has some sort of permissive loophole for “socioeconomic conditions.” It’s actually a pretty standard that requires unanimous approval from a local abortion committee. Many applications are rejected: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2024321/. The rate of second trimester abortions in Denmark is much lower than the US.
You’re also being imprecise about the definition of trimester. A pregnancy is actually 40 weeks long, and depending on source the first trimester is 12 or 13 weeks long: https://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/pregnancy/trimesters. Regardless, “first trimester” is a developmental milestone. It’s the point at which a fetus has all its internal organs and looks lot like a baby: https://3dultrasoundatlas.com/13-weeks.
All but 3 European countries draw the line at 12-14 weeks: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268439/legal-abortion-t.... They’re all aiming at this “end of first trimester” milestone. Note that the Mississippi law at issue in this case was even longer 15 weeks.
Also, your second to last paragraph misrepresents my point completely. I didn’t say that US states are passing laws similar to European countries. I said that Roe, which requires elective abortion until viability, bans the roughly first trimester line that most of the first world has drawn. The only EU abortion laws that would be acceptable under Roe would be the UK’s and the Netherlands’.
Put differently, you’re correct that there’s a big gap between Ohio or Texas at 6 weeks, and the 12-14 weeks in France or Germany. But it’s also true that there’s a big difference between those countries, and the 22-24 weeks mandated by Roe. Roe draw the line at a place that makes even the French and Norwegians uncomfortable.
The point about “90% of abortions being in the first trimester” doesn’t carry the water you think it does. That’s over 60,000 abortions annually at a stage of development that most developed countries have decided is advanced enough that the fetus should be protected.