LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Trump was wrong

Posted

To the editor:

During Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Feb. 5, he attacked our state’s historic passage of the Reproductive Health Act. He took aim at the part of the act that allows a mother, along with her doctor, the decision to terminate her pregnancy in the third trimester if her life or health is threatened.

The anti-abortion community refers to this as a “late-term abortion,” which is not a medical term.

As a mother who experienced a high-risk pregnancy, I find Trump’s remarks insulting, and I take great offense to the phrase “late-term abortion” or anyone who questions the legality of such a decision.

At 25 weeks of pregnancy, my amniotic sac ruptured. My doctors were not surprised to see me in the hospital with pre-term premature rupture of membranes. They had, in fact, warned me that this would be a possibility as I had been bleeding for 13 weeks prior to the moment I though my baby would have no chance of surviving.

Devastated and scared, I asked my OB/GYN if it was time to terminate the pregnancy. I knew women who had left New York to terminate their pregnancies in situations similar to mine.

However, she did not agree. She advised me to continue my pregnancy in the antenatal unit of the hospital. Her expertise and advice is the reason I have a healthy, beautiful 3-year-old son today.

Pregnancy may be planned, but the outcomes can still be unpredictable. Women should be able to lean on the research, experience, advice of their care providers, and support networks to make critical decisions in the third trimester, and not be shackled by archaic laws.

Morgan Evers

Morgan Evers,

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