Since the historic Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing abortion on demand up until birth is, thankfully, no longer the law of the land. But the cultural effects of Roe nevertheless live on as the battle over protections for the unborn moves into individual states – via legislation, litigation, proposed constitutional amendments, and perhaps most stealthily into our healthcare industry.
There is hope of undoing Roe’s grip on medicine by educating people of the lingering, damaging effects of America’s once-permissive abortion regime and by allowing physicians and health care providers to work in an environment that embraces and strengthens life-affirming health care.
Proponents of abortion continually peddle the idea that abortion somehow protects women’s mental health by alleviating the mother’s distress surrounding her pregnancy. This is a false narrative, one with lasting, dire consequences on women and accompanied by little factual support.
The truth is that suicide rates among women who receive abortions are six times higher than among women who choose not to abort their children. These women also show consistently higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders and PTSD compared to women who carry their children to term.
After abortion, college-aged women are at a particular risk of experiencing first-time episodes of suicidal thoughts that continue for years. While it’s true that carrying a child to term often involves daunting challenges and unknowns, abortion is far from the only solution to the mental challenges women experience during and after pregnancy.
Despite this, women must often endure significant pressure – even bullying – from abortion providers and others to undergo the procedure. In fact, 60 percent of women report in a peer-reviewed study in Cureus medical journal, high levels of pressure to abort their child. The very same 60 percent also reported higher levels of mental health and quality of life difficulties after undergoing an abortion.
Another detrimental effect of the Roe legacy is the fact that many women who are pushed to obtain abortions are told to do so based on bad testing and misdiagnoses, causing them to abort children who could have survived without complication.
One case affecting a Solidarity HealthShare member involved a mother of twins, one of whom was much smaller than the other because he was not getting the nourishment needed for healthy development. Our member’s doctor recommended the twins' amniotic sac be separated and if the smaller twin did not thrive in a very short period of time that doctor would perform an umbilical cord occlusion on the smaller twin to cut off blood and air supply. If the mother refused, both children would die, he advised.
As it turns out, the doctor’s advice was as unwarranted as it was hasty. Upon review of the doctor’s plans for the umbilical cord occlusion, Solidarity identified and flagged this abortive procedure for the unsuspecting parents. Working with Solidarity, the parents were able to fully explore their options. They challenged the doctor’s grim analysis and demanded the smaller twin be given a chance at life. Our guidance and advocacy resulted in the birth of two healthy children, instead of just one. Sadly, too many families aren’t made fully aware of the life-affirming alternatives to abortion.
False fetal diagnosis is a far too common occurrence in our healthcare sector. Studies show that about nine percent of adverse fetal diagnoses from ultrasounds turn out to be incorrect, with some types of false positives for fetal abnormalities reaching a 50 percent inaccuracy rate.
These statistics reveal how doctors are very often wrong about a child’s situation, yet they recommend abortion as though they are certain. Such behavior is clearly damaging to the child in the womb and the mother, who undergoes unnecessary emotional and physical distress.
Additionally, many doctors in the post-Roe era are frequently discouraged from and even persecuted for offering patients life-affirming care. Just recently, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) targeted pro-life OB/GYNs for their position on abortion. ABOG threatened to revoke these pro-life doctor’s board certification for providing patients with what it falsely labels "misinformation and disinformation" about the dangers of abortion – a clear attempt to silence dissenters from its pro-abortion orthodoxy.
The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe has not reversed the pervasive, pro-abortion mentality that permeates much of the healthcare industry. In a post-Roe America, we now face an important decision: will we empower physicians and health care providers to embrace life-affirming healthcare and protect the lives of their patients? Or will we allow the disastrous cultural effects of unlimited abortion on demand to threaten women’s health and the lives of the unborn?
Chris Faddis is president of Solidarity HealthShare
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