Well the Pro-Lifers were finally successful in their 49 year campaign to overturn a woman’s right to abortion in the U.S. And in the United States, thirteen states, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, enacted trigger laws that will immediately automatically ban abortion. However, it’s interesting to note that while these states were interested in protecting the life of the unborn, they apparently have no problem with failure to provide sufficient care during pre-birth and after the birth of the child, for all these states rank the lowest in prenatal care, and child rearing assistance for the unwed.
Notable, with little surprise, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are in the top three with the highest percentage of babies born with low birth weights rates due to inadequate prenatal care, which can lead to death. This is clearly supported in 2020 data which indicated that Mississippi was first and Louisiana was second in infant mortality rates. Also noteworthy is that Texas, and Mississippi have the highest percentage of women receiving no prenatal care during their first trimester.
In addition, all these states, including Louisiana, have some of the highest rates of childhood poverty, premature birth rates, and limited access to health insurance for child bearing age low income mothers.
However, the trigger laws for Louisiana are even more devastating since no exceptions are made for rape or incest. Can you imagine the mental impact that will have on a woman forced to raise a child conceived in that manner? Maybe our esteemed Republican legislators just assume the philosophy of the Republican candidate running for Virginia's Seventh Congressional District who recently stated that “you can’t get pregnant from rape.”
It is truly sad that the Pro-Life movement legislators’ agenda didn’t actually energetically address during its 49 year quest what its name implied. They continually resisted attempts to pass legislative funding to provide a support system for better quality care for mothers during pre-birth and for the child after its birth. This is particularly evident in the states with the most stringent abortion restriction laws.
Hopefully, the Pro-Life movement won’t just fold up shop and ride off into the sunset now that’s its myopic focus has been accomplished.
But I seriously doubt much will change in the Republican controlled abortion restriction states regarding the quality of prenatal care and child rearing assistance as a result of this historic Supreme Court decision. I suspect it will just worsen.
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