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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJessica Valenti - This is How They Kill Us: The rise of post-Roe c-sections
https://jessica.substack.com/p/this-is-how-they-kill-usTrigger warning for discussion of traumatic medical procedures
I remember the feeling of hands inside me. Pulling, tugging, moving things aside. My emergency c-section wasnt painful, but that feeling of being invaded was somehow worse than physical hurt. For years, the thought of the surgery would send me into a PTSD panic, my knees literally buckling and vomit coming up the back of my throat. In my memory, my arms are tied down while Im being cutbut I know thats not true. Its just my brains way of making the powerlessness of the moment seem tangible.
Because I was so early in my pregnancy, just 28 weeks along, doctors had to cut me both horizontally and vertically, making it life-threatening for me to have a vaginal birth in the future and increasing my risk for uterine rupture. I didnt know it then, but I would never have another child.
So when I see anti-abortion groups blithely suggesting that women with life-threatening pregnancies should be forced into c-sections rather than easier, safer, and less traumatic abortionsit feels personal. Because I chose my medical nightmare; it was necessary to save both my life and my daughters. I cant imagine the horror of going through such a thing unnecessarily, or at 16 weeks pregnant instead of 28. What if my tied-down arms werent a post-traumatic illusion, but a legal reality?
For nearly a year, Ive been tracking this growing strategy: Some of the most powerful anti-abortion organizations in the country are using carefully-worded legislation and seemingly-credible clinical recommendations to codify medical atrocitiespushing doctors to force pregnant women into unnecessary labor and c-sections, even before fetal viability and sometimes even when a fetus has died.
*snip*
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KentuckyWoman
(6,837 posts)It is a good post. I read it all. But it did trigger. I won't likely be the only one.
Very good post.
Nevilledog
(52,542 posts)no_hypocrisy
(47,935 posts)doctor was pressuring her while in labor to have a C-Section for three reasons:
1. More money in billing for surgical versus natural childbirth;
2. Less time in the Delivery Room for the doctor; and
3. He had to catch a plane for his Florida vacation in three hours.
And despite her contractions, this woman jumped off the delivery table and ran for the doors. She successfully delivered (naturally) a healthy daughter with another obstetrician in the hospital.
CrispyQ
(37,512 posts)by forcing them into extreme health circumstances is never talked about in the news. How many tens of thousands of dollars of debt (hundreds of thousands?) are women & families now carrying because of draconian abortion laws? How does that affect the woman's future or the children she already has? Oh wait, they're already born so they don't count.
Old Crank
(4,252 posts)Are actually cheaper to do than vaginal births. But they charge more. Generating more profit.
CrispyQ
(37,512 posts)It just doesn't seem possible that given a typical vaginal birth that major abdominal surgery wouldn't cost a ton more. ???
Old Crank
(4,252 posts)But this is interesting. Hospitals with higher profit margins preform more c-section births.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7980096/
Old Crank
(4,252 posts)But this is interesting. Hospitals with higher profit margins preform more c-section births.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7980096/
Solly Mack
(91,533 posts)hlthe2b
(104,705 posts)and other stress hormones in a physiological response of "fight or flight"... On top of pregnancy, this makes even the most cautious anesthetic plan (and it will not be, given the perceived "emergency" and CONTROL-based nature) far more deadly. And that doesn't even take into account ongoing complications like hypercoagulability (pregnancy-induced blood clot formation), sepsis, serious electrolyte imbalances, and more.
This is potential murder-- if it is not necessary to save the LIFE OF THE MOTHER (and fetus, if possible, but the Mother is the living being whose life should get priority).
I don't know how the family of any woman who dies in these forced, unnecessary, politically-driven scenarios would not snap and become violent toward whomever they deem at fault. Perhaps politicos might give THAT some consideration because I would not hesitate to show my sympathy if called to almost any jury in that scenario.
**My post response is not referring to a typical discussion of whether C-section is warranted in which typical situation--the debates which we've had for decades-- but rather the extremes if they are now pushed as REQUIRED in those circumstances where intentional miscarriage or abortion is suspected as a risk. I see that most posts on this thread are viewing it as the far more benign debate. I do not**