Arizona Lawmakers: Pregnancy Begins Before Conception

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Except they can't pass a law saying you can't cross state borders, period. And they have no way of telling whether or not you went to a neighboring state for an abortion, because OF COURSE that neighboring state probably won't even know (or care) you had an abortion, and if they did they wouldn't report it.

Right? :?

It wouldn't have to mention abortion at all it would just have to state something like one must live in the state where he gets medical care.

[dairyfreelife]

I have to admit that if I had a minor daughter, I'd want to know if she was pregnant. But I would also support her decision to abort if that's what she wanted. I think it gets into shaky ground where minors are concerned. I wouldn't want someone doing a procedure on my child without my knowledge, but at the same time I can understand why some minors wouldn't want to tell their parents since their parents would not allow it and force their minor child to undergo a pregnancy they don't want and can't care for. I think my parents would be really upset if I had gotten pregnant as a teen and my mother would not want to abort, but I do think if I had made the decision to abort, they would have agreed and let me do it.

As for whether you can go to other states, there are laws in place about crossing states with minor for various reasons. This involves custody agreements and similar things.

I don't think there are any laws in place about not getting any medical care in other states. If I was on vacation in Florida and had an bad reaction to a jellyfish sting, they would give me medical care. I don't think you can bar someone access to necessary medical care. I think I'd have to clear something about insurance and medical care if I went overseas as well, so should I become ill or hurt, I would still get medical care as needed.

[Deleted03]

I don't know it can be legal to withhold vital information regarding someone's health or the health of the fetus a woman is carrying. I discussed this with my parents. My dad is hardcore Republican and was shocked to learn that some states allow that. He and my mother would not have been happy to have had information about my mother or any of our health while in the womb kept from them.

I highly doubt I would abort a child for a problem that's not terminal, but I'd want to know if something is wrong. If the baby will be born without a leg or an arm or with Downs or anything, I want to know so I can prepare to have a child who may have some problems. I'd want to research and learn how to best handle such a child. I'd want to know too if the child will be born without half their brain or they have terminal illness or syndrome where aborting it would be more merciful than to let it come into the world to suffer. I don't care what some "pro-life" doctor thinks, the decision to terminate a pregnancy in the third trimester is almost never made lightly. There's almost always a serious problem when a couple or just a woman decides to terminate at that point. Just because I wouldn't terminate a Downs child, I understand why someone would when you consider that DS children have lots of health problems, will need a lot of doctors, maybe some therapies and special education resources. There's a higher risk of heart problems and leukemia in DS children than the average child. Not wanting to deal with it or being unable to and terminating is fine. It's not as simple as just having the child and letting someone adopt them. Children with health problems are hard to adopt. Most couples want healthy children when they adopt newborns. It's not the place of anyone except a doctor and the woman and even the couple (I assume involved fathers would want to know too if their coming child will have problems) what a couple decides.

Also, Arizona isn't the only state trying this. Nine other states already do. PA, SD, ND, IN, MO, UT, ID, MN and NC already have Wrongful Birth laws. Kansas is debating a measure for this as well so that anti-abortion doctors can't be sued for withholding information that might (key word there is might, doesn't mean she will) cause the woman to have an abortion. So, I think I just added more states to the "where not to live" list.

Whether or not the abortion decision is made lightly should never come into play. The question is not about why women choose abortions, it's about the fact that they can make a choice and no one should judge them about it.

[dairyfreelife]

Whether or not the abortion decision is made lightly should never come into play. The question is not about why women choose abortions, it's about the fact that they can make a choice and no one should judge them about it.

I was speaking about third trimester abortions only and overall, those are made because of a problem with the fetus and that's not a light decision because at that point the majority of women have decided they wanted to have a baby. Those women usually need support, not being condemned. I would need to support if I learned something was seriously wrong with the fetus I was carrying and I decided to terminate. Women usually don't decide 30 weeks in that they want to abort with just a couple weeks left.

That's the whole point: I should have the right to know what's happening to the fetus growing inside of my body and I should have the right to know if something is wrong with my health while I'm pregnant, but that also affects the fetus. Withholding information about a woman's health, especially while she's growing a potential being that's a stress on her body, and the health of the fetus she's carrying is anything but "pro-life" because no one, not the woman or the baby wins. I see this issue as less about abortion than the fact that a doctor is allowed to know about a problem and not tell their patient about it and then can't be sued for knowing and withholding that information all based on a "might" and his "faith". Whether or not she "might" abort is what should never come into play when giving health information. It's, imho, unethical to withhold that information from someone.