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FormerAtheist Actually, it’s the United States. And a ten year old
rape victim here recently had to be taken by her parents to another state for an abortion because her home state, where religious fanatics control legislation,
make no exceptions for rape or forced incest, even of a child.
I’m skeptical about the claim of "late abortions up to birth", because at that point it’s possible just to deliver the child. And here late term abortions (classified as past 21 weeks) were only legal to save a woman’s life, or when the fetus is deceased or dying. And generally in those cases, they were
wanted children. But the religious right interfered even with that—and it’s caused problems for women breaking no laws.
In Ohio, a woman who had a
miscarriage in a bathroom was facing
criminal charges. She had come from a prenatal visit and the doctor told her that her water had broken prematurely. The fetus was dying, and she was in danger of death.
That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
In other states, the doctor would’ve been able to do a D&C ,but Ohio classifies that as abortion, and the fetus’s remains couldn’t be extracted.
Australia, imo, has it right. A woman or girl should get to decide whether or not she gives birth, unless they’re to be classified as second-class citizens and human incubators. And nobody who isn’t planning to pay for prenatal care or support for the children should have any say over a stranger’s reproductive choices—that’s between her and her doctor.