Pregnancy Has Risks. Without 'Roe,' More People Will Face Them

The debate about abortion and the beginning of human life ignores the reality of a pregnant woman. It isn't just an interruption. Sometimes a strain on the body can be life altering. In a way, it hurts the heart. The number of pregnancies carried to term will increase if the US Supreme Court allows states to ban or strictly limit abortion.

Fetal development is the focus of the abortion discussion. The woman's blood volume increases by 50 percent by the time she gives birth. Much of the extra blood goes to the uterus, placenta, and kidneys. The body's way of protecting against hemorrhage has always been a leading cause of birth-related death. Compared to non-pregnant women of reproductive age, pregnant women have five times the risk of deep vein thrombosis. Black women are three times more likely to have a stroke than the other way around.

The most common cause of death for pregnant women in 2020 was cardiovascular events. There were about 60,000 women who had serious childbirth-related problems. Gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension are diseases that can lead to immediate and lifelong health problems.

Karen knew all those facts when she was pregnant. She is a maternal fetal medicine doctor in Kansas City, Missouri. She has counseled people on the option of ending a pregnant woman's life threatening unborn child. She didn't think she'd be in the hospital facing her own death struggle.

He was the picture of health. She finished a triathlon before she became pregnant. She was a softball player. She had no known health problems. She had a blood pressure spike at 28 weeks of her pregnancies. She noticed that her face was puffy and that her weight gain was a bit high. It turned out that these were signs of high blood pressure during or after the baby's birth, which can occur in up to 8% of all births. She says she missed all the signs because she didn't know she had a condition called preeclampsia.

She had headaches and spots in her vision as her blood pressure went up. The mother and child ended up in separate intensive care units after the baby was born. PRES is a brain swelling caused by the preeclampsia.