Death By Pregnancy

Welcome to my entry in the Mothers Day Blogswarm for Maternal Death. This event is a counter-protest against those who feel that abortion is nothing more than killing babies. The sad fact of the matter is that sometimes and in some parts of the world women die because they cannot get a pregnancy terminated.

And that brings me to my own chosen niche in this vast realm. I will be discussing ectopic pregnancy. Those of you in the audience who are medical professionals may protest that terminating an ectopic pregnancy is not an abortion (for reasons I will discuss below), but the fact is that in some nations, it is considered an abortion — an illegal abortion.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when the fertilized egg does not make it all the way to the uterus — which is designed to accommodate a rapidly growing embryo as it turns ino a fetus and finally a baby. Instead, it implants elsewhere, usually in the Fallopian tubes. This structure is not designed to stretch and carry a pregnancy. This results in symptoms such as sharp, stabbing pain and vaginal bleeding. If left untreated, the Fallopian tube will eventually rupture, causing massive internal bleeding.

This always results in the death of the fetus, and can often cause the death of the mother as well. “Before the 19th century, the mortality rate (the death rate) from ectopic pregnancies exceeded 50%. By the end of the 19th century, the mortality rate dropped to five percent because of surgical intervention. With current advances in early detection, the mortality rate has improved to less than five in 10,000.” Here in the United States, where we have state-of-the-art medical treatment and emergency rooms that treat everyone who comes in the door regardless of their ability to pay, ectopic pregnancy kills roughly 40-50 women each year and is a leading cause of maternal death in the first trimester.

The bottom line is that in the 1 in 40-100 pregnancies that this occurs, “Ectopic pregnancies cannot continue to birth (term). The developing cells must be removed to save the mother’s life.” Nevertheless, should you be unfortunate enough to experience an ectopic pregnancy in places like El Salvadore, Nicaragua, or other nations with very strict prohibitions on abortion, you are likely to die. There are frankly no assurances from the so-called Pro-Life movement that their goals do not include such draconian laws. Frankly these are people who can rationalize that a fertilized ovum that has not yet implanted is somehow a baby.

Now then, to the “It’s a baby!” crowd, it is not. It will not become a baby. Before it can possibly do so, its growth will destroy the very structure which attaches it to its mother. In this process, it will die. There is no way to move it, to attach it elsewhere, no way for it to survive long enough to be viable. It has absolutely zero chance of becoming living, breathing human being.

There is another element of the so-called Pro-Life movement who will shrug and say “Well, she knew that sex had consequences” — that’s a soft version of “Let the slut die.” The problem is that this doesn’t just happen to “sluts”: this also happens to devoted wives, and to moms who have born, living children at home that they love very much. So much for being actually for living beings.

I leave you this morning with abortion laws in all 50 states, BitchPhD’s Mother’s Day Round-Up, a classic post from Maya’s Granny, and a couple more stops on the Blogswarm with The Crone Speaks and The 3 Rs.

Happy Mothers Day. Go hug a mom; she can always use another hug.