By Kimberly Kruesi | Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In Republican-led states across the U.S., conservative legislators are refusing to reevaluate abortion bans — even as doctors and patients insist the laws’ exceptions are dangerously unclear, resulting in denied treatment to some pregnant women in need.
Instead, GOP leaders accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point. At the same time, however, some states are taking steps that they say will provide more clarity about when abortions can be legally performed.
The Republican-controlled South Dakota Legislature wants to create a video in which medical experts — and the state’s attorneys — would explain to doctors and patients when abortions can be legally performed. The measure was passed last month and is now awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, who has indicated she will sign it.
The first-in-the-nation idea is wholeheartedly supported by SBA Pro-Life, one of the country’s largest anti-abortion groups, which says the video will help to combat “confusion caused by the abortion industry.”
“South Dakota is showing the rest of the nation how to protect women’s lives from the misinformation surrounding abortion laws,” said the organization’s public affairs director in South Dakota, Kelsey Pritchard.
Oklahoma and Kentucky are also taking steps to clarify their abortion bans, though in both states the attorneys general, not physicians, are the ones dictating the terms.
In Oklahoma, the AG sent out a memo in 2022 informing prosecutors and police that doctors should have “substantial leeway” to provide certain abortions. Last year, the office added that patients don’t have to be “septic, bleeding profusely, or otherwise close to death” — but reiterated a past warning that doctors should be prosecuted if there’s evidence…
Read the full article here
