While it's obvious that much of the initial conservative outrage was based on a misunderstanding of the bill and/or Northam's comments, I have no doubt that, after corrected, they will continue to shout from the rooftops about what *might* happen in the future based on the verbiage of the bill. But 3rd trimester abortions were already legal in Virginia if 3 physicians certify that it could result substantial and irremediable harm to the mother's mental or physical health. There have been exactly 0 of those abortions performed in Virginia over the last 3 years, and 2 in the last 18 years. The idea that the loosening of those restrictions to 1 physician with softer language about "irremediable" harm is going to suddenly result in a rash of late term abortions is just silly fear mongering.
Meanwhile, here in the real world, American women are now ~50% more likely to die in childbirth than their mothers were. Risks for black women are at least 3 times higher than white women. For each death, there are hundreds of birth injuries or dangerous complications, many of which are entirely preventable. Access to obstetric services in rural counties, where over 28 million women of reproductive age live, has continued to fall. Now, over half of rural US counties have no hospital obstetric services at all. The factors most associated with losing services were counties that were proportionally more poor and more black. Greater access to medicaid (expansion states, more generous income thresholds, etc) is protective. If you are pro life, this is a real crisis, not the manufactured 3rd trimester bullshit in Virginia.
Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births
