More women will die 'horribly, always needlessly' in post-Roe America |Opinion

Angelle Haney Gullett is an Ohio native whose career began in non-profits and newspapers before relocating to Los Angeles to work as a writer for film and television. Her most recent film is Her Worst Nightmare.

People are going to die.

That’s what I tell folks asking what a post-Roe America will look like. It’s as simple, and as terrible, as that.

I think about the future for a living. I ask, “What if … this one thing were different? How would life change?” And in a country where abortion is illegal, people will die.

They will die in childbirth. More women and babies die in childbirth in the United States than anywhere else in the industrialized world.

More: Ending abortion access may widen public health inequalities for Black women, poor Ohioans

The numbers are even worse for Black women — we literally have a crisis of Black maternal mortality. And that’s not economics or “lifestyle factors” — Serena Williams, an elite athlete, one of the richest and most famous women in the world, nearly died of medical neglect after giving birth to her daughter.

In Franklin County, the infant mortality disparity for Black babies was nearly triple that of white babies in 2021.

They will die at the hands of their partners. For women in abusive relationships, pregnancy can be a ticking time bomb. And that risk increases significantly if they are young and Black.

Fun fact: the number one cause of death among pregnant women in the United States is murder. (As someone whose one viral Tweet was about historical infant mortality, I regret to inform you that none of my facts are actually fun.)

And perhaps you have already thought about these possibilities. But there are others.

They will die from cancers, because many chemotherapies are incompatible with a developing fetus, as is radiation. And health care providers will be understandably reluctant to risk their freedom and their livelihoods by trying to skirt state abortion laws.

This is already happening in states where these laws have passed but are waiting court decisions.

More: If Ohio outlaws abortion, women would have to travel to other states for services

They will also die from suicide, especially young women and children.

Those who are pregnant as a result of trauma, from rape or incest, are particularly vulnerable when all other options are closed to them.

As they contemplate a country where legislatures are giving parental rights to rapists and their families, they may see precious few alternatives.

They will die from miscarriages that do not fully expel themselves and require a D&C (dilation and curettage), a procedure that may be illegal in some states, or that they fear will open them up to charges that they “self-aborted.”

Lizelle Herrera was arrested in Texas. Brittany Poolaw is in jail in Oklahoma. Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years for her stillbirth in Indiana, a case that was overturned on appeal.

It’s not a coincidence that none of these women are white and middle-class.

For those serving our country, this is already the case. On any U.S. military base, the Hyde Amendment prevents military doctors from even talking about a D&C, a life-saving procedure to prevent death by hemorrhage or sepsis.

More: Letters: I remember 'horror stories of girls who died in desperate circumstances' before Roe

And yes, they will die from unsafe illegal abortions. These will be rarer than the pre-Roe years, thanks to emergency contraception and abortion drugs available by mail. But they will still happen, especially for women who lack means and access to those things. Women who are scared to have their name on a list or have a spouse or guardian see the online pharmacy on a credit card bill.

And when, not if, these people die, many of them will leave behind children.

Contrary to the stereotypes and caricatures, nearly half of all women seeking abortion already have children. I have met these women in clinic waiting rooms.

More: Who gets abortions in Ohio? Unmarried, twenty-somethings in their first trimester.

They are making deeply considered decisions to protect their families, whether from economic privation or being further tied to an abusive partner. In many cases, they are the only parent to the children they have.

So this is what happens when you abrogate people’s human rights.

They die, often horribly, always needlessly. Denying reproductive justice to millions of Americans is a grave and fatal error. Abortion is healthcare. And these are the lives we are trying to save.

Angelle Haney Gullett is an Ohio native whose career began in non-profits and newspapers before relocating to Los Angeles to work as a writer for film and television. Her most recent film is Her Worst Nightmare.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: Outlawing abortion would be death sentence for many women