States across the nation are increasingly pushing so-called “heartbeat bills.” These ban abortion as soon as a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat—usually around six weeks gestation. Georgia is the latest state to propose such legislation. If the bill passes, and it seems likely to do so, Georgia abortion clinics will be forced to subject women to medically unnecessary ultrasounds. If an ultrasound detects the presence of a heartbeat, a woman cannot undergo an abortion.
These bills are plainly unconstitutional, but that doesn’t mean much. Pro-choice activists who assert that the laws are illegal miss the larger point. To get a law declared unconstitutional, you need someone who has standing to sue and a lawyer who has the skills and resources necessary to do so. That requires time and money. Throwing out unconstitutional laws also depends on having judges who will follow the law. For decades, Republicans have attempted to pack courts with anti-choice jurists. There is absolutely no guarantee that Georgia’s heartbeat bill—or any other heartbeat bill any other state passes—won’t become law, at least for a while.
Even when the courts do throw out these bans, there’s a hidden agenda: any of these bans could be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court is more hostile to reproductive rights than ever before. States will absolutely appeal these laws up to the highest court. This puts reproductive justice activists in a terrible position: a lawsuit is the only way to stop these laws. It’s also what will ultimately take these laws before the Supreme Court, potentially killing or weakening Roe vs. Wade.
Anti-choice Republicans claim to be concerned about life, about families, about health and safety. Yet the overwhelming medical consensus shows that these laws don’t save lives. They kill women. Here’s what really happens when abortion bans take effect.
They Increase Domestic Violence
Women are more likely to face domestic violence during pregnancy. One study found that 28% of women experienced violence during pregnancy, and that 20% were sexually assaulted by their partners. Research has found intimate partner violence rates during pregnancy as high as 80% for some groups of women. Murder is the second-leading cause of death for pregnant women.
Rates of domestic violence will inevitably increase when women are forced to keep pregnancies they or their partners do not want. The Turnaway Study looked at the effects of being denied an abortion because of state abortion restrictions. That study found that access to abortion empowered women to leave abusive partners. Women were more likely to be abused after being denied an abortion, and more likely to stay with abusive partners if they couldn’t get abortions.
They Kill Women and Girls
The U.S. has the worst maternal death rate in the developed world. While other countries have seen maternal deaths drop to nearly zero, our maternal death rate is not just high, but increasing. Georgia, which is about to pass a heartbeat bill, has the highest maternal death rate in the nation. The rate is higher still for black women. The death rate for women of color is higher than that of 100 countries, including war-ravaged and poor nations.
When women are forced to carry their pregnancies, they will die. Economic barriers are a key reason women seek abortion. So women seeking abortion are more likely to be unable to afford maternity care. That makes them more likely to die.
Data from other countries shows that more women die when abortion is banned. When El Salvador banned abortion, suicide became a leading cause of death among pregnant women and girls. Nations that have banned abortion have seen their abortion rates increase. That’s because women still seek abortions; they just do so illegally and less safely. Worldwide, seven million women are admitted to hospitals each year because of unsafe illegal abortions. Illegal abortions cause about 1 in 10 maternal deaths, and kill nearly 50,000 women worldwide every year. Because abortion is safe and legal in the U.S., the abortion death rate is nearly zero. Republican legislators want that to change. They think the death penalty is a fair price for seeking an abortion. Indeed, states such as Ohio have already proposed imposing the death penalty for abortion.
They Do Nothing to Tackle the Underlying Causes of Abortion
Research has linked nine specific strategies—including comprehensive sex education, education about sexual consent, and access to free birth control—to significant reductions in the abortion rate. Republican legislators have steadfastly opposed each and every one of these policies. They’re not actually interested in ending abortion—just in punishing women for getting pregnant.
They Increase Late-Term Abortions
As research on nations that ban abortion makes painfully clear, women who want abortions will find a way to get them. Some will travel to other states to have abortions. This increases the time and expense associated with abortion. That may cause women to delay the procedure until later in the pregnancy. A 2019 study of Texas abortions proves this point. Researchers found that restrictive Texas abortion laws increased the rate of second trimester abortions.
They May Increase the Abortion Rate
Banning abortion, especially without measures that improve maternal health or access to reproductive health care, creates a toxic cultural stew. Women are left with few options to avoid pregnancy, little chance of successfully raising their babies, and few options. Perhaps that’s why banning abortion has been linked to increases in the abortion rate. Latin American countries mostly ban abortion. The result? An abortion rate more than three times higher than the U.S. abortion rate. Many of these abortions are unsafe. This means that banning abortion also increases the number of women who die from abortion.
They Punish Women Who Have Been Raped
Georgia’s heartbeat bill initially offered no exceptions for rape or incest. The new bill allows women to have an abortion following rape, but only if they file a police report. This punishes sexual assault survivors. Women choose not to report for many reasons. In some cases, reporting a crime can actually put them in danger, especially if the perpetrator is a family member or partner. Women who report may also face unsympathetic police officers, or be forced to testify about their rape in public.
About 32,000 women get pregnant from rape each year. Five percent of rapes end in pregnancy. Worse still, many states allow rapists to sue their victims for custody. Many states that have passed restrictive abortion laws, such as Mississippi, also allow rapists to seek parental rights.
They Endanger Sexually Abused Children
One in nine girls is sexually abused by an adult. When these girls get pregnant, an abortion can be life-saving. Anti-abortion laws endanger sexually abused children by forcing them to carry their abuser’s baby. Many states that have enacted abortion restrictions, including Georgia, have mandated parental notification laws. This means that in some cases, the person who raped the child may also be the one who gets to decide whether they have an abortion. Georgia’s heartbeat bill also requires a child to report their abuse before they can have an abortion. This could lead to more abuse, and even endanger a child’s life. Republican anti-choice leaders don’t care about these real, living children and the abuse they suffer. Once a child is out of the womb, they no longer count.
They Force Women Into Medically Unnecessary Vaginal Probes
To detect a heartbeat, a doctor has to perform an ultrasound. Early in pregnancy, an abdominal ultrasound may not be able to visualize the developing embryo. That means that, to detect a heartbeat, a woman must undergo a vaginal ultrasound. Heartbeat bills therefore mandate medically unnecessary vaginal probes, solely for the purpose of intruding on the doctor-patient relationship.
When the state requires a woman to undergo a vaginal probe because of legislators’ religious beliefs, that’s not medicine. It’s not protecting women. It’s state-sanctioned sexual assault.
