How confusing fetal-personhood laws in America affect hospitals
Since the Supreme Court dissolved the federal right to abortion in June 2022, those who believe that life begins at conception have won big across America. In Georgia, where a six-week abortion ban swiftly snapped into effect, respect for the unborn has led to some strange policies. A pregnant woman can now declare a fetus with a detectable heartbeat a dependant on her state tax form, drive alone in the carpool lane on the motorway and demand child-support payments from the father of her unborn baby.
Another result has been confusion about when and how doctors should treat periviable babies. Periviability is the period of a pregnancy between 21 and 24 weeks. Babies born at that point have a 10-40% chance of living if given intensive care (many factors complicate the calculation—for example, girls mature a week ahead of boys). Those who make it tend to develop serious disabilities. The standard of care is for neonatologists to work with the parents of periviable babies to decide whether to resuscitate or let them die.
Tucked into Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act is a provision about what happens in the very unlikely event that a baby survives a legal abortion. In Georgia the six-week ban has exceptions in cases where a mother’s life is at risk, for rape and incest, or if the fetus is not expected to survive the pregnancy. “If the child is capable of sustained life”, the law reads, “medical aid then available shall be rendered”. Doctors who disobey can be prosecuted. The general counsel at a big Georgia hospital has declared that the law could apply not just to aborted fetuses but to other pre-term babies too.
2023-11-23 10:08:13
Article from www.economist.com