Dear editor,
Fifty-one years ago, on Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that full reproductive healthcare for women was a constitutional, human right when it issued the Roe V. Wade decision. The decision was overturned on June 24, 2022.
I am shocked by this development. It is an authoritarian move. How could a country that values freedom outlaw a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body and put those decisions in the hands of legislators? Since overturning Roe V. Wade, women in states that have put in place stringent anti-abortion laws have been punished and threatened with arrest for needing maternal care. If a woman goes to a hospital experiencing a miscarriage it may put her in danger of going to jail. Medically, there is no difference between a miscarriage and an abortion. A woman who is experiencing a miscarriage of a much wanted pregnancy may be accused of a self-induced abortion and denied the health care she needs and can be arrested. Doctors who help a woman in this situation may themselves be arrested.
Under these draconian laws a woman who needs medical care because of an ectopic pregnancy (one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy — a life-threatening condition in which an embryo implants outside of the uterus and therefore the baby cannot survive) even though she may become septic and her life is endangered, her doctor would not be able to end the pregnancy because the presence of a fetal heartbeat means treating her might run afoul of the restrictions on abortion. Notice that the law is favoring a non-viable pregnancy over a living breathing woman.
These harsh laws affect poor people more than people with the means to travel to another state or county for care. You can be sure that people with the means to travel will always find the care they need. This is unjust.
The reason for these disastrous outcomes go directly to the fact that legislators are not doctors. They have no business making these laws and instituting these punishments.
We have to vote these radicals out. The infringement of basic human rights will only get worse. Next time it may be your rights that are gone.
Marge Langer of Danbury
Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
