{"id":193788,"date":"2019-01-02T07:49:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T13:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=193788"},"modified":"2019-01-07T23:52:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T05:52:46","slug":"utah-educate-abortion-informed-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/utah-educate-abortion-informed-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah women now have informed consent before abortion. Here’s why that matters."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Going into effect on January 1, 2019, Utah now has a law ensuring that women choosing to undergo abortions<\/a> have informed consent. The law requires a woman to complete an online module which would educate her on childbirth (including fetal development, with photos), abortion (including a section on fetal pain), adoption, and other aid resources available to her before she makes her decision about her pregnancy.<\/p>\n

According to an article from the\u00a0The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a>, “SB118<\/a> would abandon the state\u2019s current abortion education materials \u2014 including a brochure and a lengthy 1980s-era video \u2014 in favor of the module, which would be viewed on a digital tablet such as an iPad. Medical professionals who don\u2019t provide the program and certify a woman has viewed it could face a class A misdemeanor charge….”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Unsafe: Judge halts Indiana law requiring reporting of abortion complications<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

While the\u00a0informed consent website<\/a>\u00a0is extremely informative and will be extremely helpful for many women, it does contain some statements that don’t tell the whole story. It claims<\/a>, “A woman\u2019s risk of dying from a legal abortion is very low…. Women who have an abortion do not have any known increased risk of problems in future pregnancies. Women who have complications… have a low risk of problems in future pregnancies.”<\/p>\n

While risk of death is<\/em> low, deaths from legal abortions do<\/em> occur. A Centers for Disease Control report<\/a> shows at least 36 deaths from legal abortions in just a four year period, from 2008-2012. There have been more since then. The numbers are also likely higher than reported, as half of U.S. states aren’t even required to report complications<\/em> from abortions<\/a>, and deaths that occur as a result of abortion may be counted against pregnancy instead of abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, there actually\u00a0are<\/strong>\u00a0increased risks to future pregnancies, especially if a woman has more that one abortion<\/a>. A\u00a0study of more than 300,000 women in Finland<\/a>\u00a0found that “[w]omen who had three or more were up to three times more likely to have a future baby early \u2013 even before 28 weeks in the womb \u2013 and of a poor weight.\u00a0Those who had two abortions before their first child also had a greater chance of giving birth prematurely.” A five-year\u00a0Tel Aviv study on 15,000 deliveries<\/a>\u00a0(published in the Journal of\u00a0Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine) found:<\/p>\n

… abortion creates a 30-percent greater likelihood of future pregnancy complications…. [W]omen who have had just one abortion<\/strong> \u2013 even in the early stages of a first-trimester pregnancy \u2013 have significantly higher rates of C-sections (25 percent to 18 percent), slightly higher rates of labor complications resulting in induced labor (seven percent to five percent), and higher rates of a retained placenta (when the “afterbirth” fails to deliver) (seven percent to five percent)…. [W]<\/em>omen who had a previous abortion more commonly needed fertility treatments and were more likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Opponents of Utah’s legislation claimed<\/a>\u00a0the bill treats women as if they haven’t done their research before having abortions. However, abortion facilities have a history<\/a> of deceiving<\/a> women<\/a>\u00a0— especially regarding fetal development. Industry employees have stated that they find ways to get around giving women information on all their options<\/a>, even when required to do so. Employees of Planned Parenthood<\/a> have been caught on video<\/a> giving inaccurate information to pregnant women who come to them considering abortion.<\/p>\n