Ohio: doctors have to 'reimplant' ectopic pregnancy or be prosecuted for murder

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Proposed bill in Ohio says that doctors have to try to save an ectopic pregnancy "reimplanting" the embryo (a non existent medical procedure) or they would face murder charges. This is madness. Ohioans need to vote the craziness out. If that bill becomes law (I doubt it will ever happen, but still this fucked thing has 19 sponsors, 19 crazy obsessed bigots) it would have all sorts of fucked up effects. This procedure doesn't even exist! It would mean that women would risk their lives going through an absurd untested impossible procedure or after a while to find an ob/gyn women will have to go to jail or out of state. Oh, children of 13 years could be prosecuted for "abortion murder". And "aggravated abortion murder" carries a death sentence.

Spoiler

bill to ban abortion introduced in the Ohio state legislature requires doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy” into a woman’s uterus – a procedure that does not exist in medical science – or face charges of “abortion murder”.

This is the second time practising obstetricians and gynecologists have tried to tell the Ohio legislators that the idea is currently medically impossible.

The move comes amid a wave of increasingly severe anti-abortion bills introduced across much of the country as conservative Republican politicians seek to ban abortion and force a legal showdown on abortion with the supreme court.

Ohio’s move on ectopic pregnancies – where an embryo implants on the mother’s fallopian tube rather than her uterus rendering the pregnancy unviable – is one of the most extreme bills to date.

“I don’t believe I’m typing this again but, that’s impossible,” wrote Ohio obstetrician and gynecologist Dr David Hackney on Twitter. “We’ll all be going to jail,” he said.

An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition, which can kill a woman if the embryonic tissue grows unchecked.

In addition to ordering doctors to do the impossible or face criminal charges, House Bill 413 bans abortion outright and defines a fertilized egg as an “unborn child”.

It also appears to punish doctors, women and children as young as 13 with “abortion murder” if they “perform or have an abortion”. This crime is punishable by life in prison. Another new crime, “aggravated abortion murder”, is punishable by death, according to the bill.

The bill is sponsored by representatives Candice Keller and Ron Hood, and co-sponsored by 19 members of Ohio’s 99-member House.

Mike Gonidakis, the president of the anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, declined to comment on the bill, and said he was still reading the legislation because, it’s “approximately 700 pages long”. He said his office is “taking off the rest of the week for Thanksgiving”.

The Guardian also contacted the Susan B Anthony List, a national anti-abortion organization. The organization did not reply to a request for comment.

Keller, Hood and eight of the bill’s 19 co-sponsors did not reply to requests for comment. The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association also did not reply to a request for comment.

Ohio passed a six-week abortion ban last summer. The “heartbeat bill”, as supporters called it, banned abortion before most women know they are pregnant. Reproductive rights groups immediately sued, and the bill never went into effect. Abortion is legal in all 50 US states.

In May, researcher Dr Daniel Grossman argued reimplanting a fertilized egg or embryo is “pure science fiction” in a Twitter thread that went viral in May, when the bill was first introduced.

"There is no procedure to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy,” said Dr Chris Zahn, vice-president of practice activities at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. “It is not possible to move an ectopic pregnancy from a fallopian tube, or anywhere else it might have implanted, to the uterus,” he said.

"Reimplantation is not physiologically possible. Women with ectopic pregnancies are at risk for catastrophic hemorrhage and death in the setting of an ectopic pregnancy, and treating the ectopic pregnancy can certainly save a mom’s life,” said Zahn.

 They don't give a fuck about a woman's life don't they?

[samurai_sarah]

All I took away from this is that 1. these people don't understand how biology works and 2. there are people who understand even less and vote for stupid. To the detriment of everyone. Oh, and 3. pure rage.

[Smash!]

I found this on Instagram

One comment exactly describes why this bill was introduced:

[mamallama]

I think the fundie thinking i.e. It's not a fetus or in this case probably a zygote it's a baby.  Given that mindset its easy to think you could pluck the "baby" from one spot and put it in the correct spot and it will grow.  This is why allowing them to use that language uncorrected is dangerous.

[Coco]

Exactly. The majority weren't voting for Trump, they were voting to own the courts and sabotage progress. 

Im so weary of religious hypocrisy. 

[RosyDaisy]

I knew something like this would happen.  I'm only surprised this didn't happen in Alabama.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Among the best commenting tweets

 

[SassyPants]

We are at the point where politics is making people stupid. Politics should come with a warning label. 

[justwatching]

One comment exactly describes why this bill was introduced: [/url]

This makes way more sense than people actually thinking this stuff was possible. Still shitty, but a tad less mind-boggling.

[RosyDaisy]

But see, there are now people who believe a fetus can be moved to the uterus.  Some women who lost their baby due to an etopic pregnancy will now believe their baby could have been saved.  

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

But see, there are now people who believe a fetus can be moved to the uterus.  Some women who lost their baby due to an etopic pregnancy will now believe their baby could have been saved.  

Or find out from their doctor that they have an ectopic pregnancy and insist that it be saved.