Women's Rights across the country are being attacked, but one of the most egregious of these attacks is uneducated politicians who have no idea how pregnancy, the female anatomy, or infant loss works. The "pro-life" pendulum has swung so far that the movement is now an attack on women's health. 

The Legislation

Several states have either introduced or passed laws that criminalize miscarriages and/or ectopic pregnancies. Ohio, specifically, has introduced a law stating that if a doctor does not attempt to re-implant an ectopic pregnancy (a procedure that does not exist), the doctor or patient could be charged with murder. Ectopic pregnancies are serious, life-threatening, traumatic events and the introduction of this bill does nothing more than harm women. 

My Story

I personally was affected by a miscarriage and possible ectopic pregnancy this past year. It was extremely scary, and heartbreaking all in one. I did not even realize I was pregnant until I had a sudden, debilitating pain in my abdomen at approximately 2AM. At this time, I was also recovering from Covid-19, and still testing positive. I decided that I would take a pregnancy test, and if it was positive, I would go to the ER. It did end up being positive, so I hysterically woke up my husband and informed him of what was going on. We talked through our options and decided that because we had a baby who was sleeping, and the fact that he would not have been allowed in the hospital, that I would drive myself and he would stay at home with the baby. At approximately 2:30AM, I drove myself to the hospital, walked into the ER alone, and tearfully informed them that I suspected I had an ectopic pregnancy but that I also was covid positive so I felt like I shouldn't even be there. Everyone was extremely kind, understanding, and let me know I made the right decision to come in that night. 

They did a number of tests, blood draws, and multiple ultrasounds. It was confirmed that I was pregnant, but they were unable to locate the pregnancy. For this reason, it was undetermined whether or not the pregnancy was ectopic, so the end result was that I had to wait it out. I was instructed to come back 2 days later to test my HCG again. In a nutshell HCD doubling every 2 days is a healthy pregnancy, lowering means I am losing the baby, and raising/lowering by just a little bit would be more evidence of a possible ectopic pregnancy. In the end, my HCG dropped, and I began bleeding. I bled over the course of the next two weeks, and ultimately lost the baby. This is after I had already bled for a number of weeks only a few weeks prior. My entire body was attacking me and to this day, I still do not know why. 

Thankfully, everyone was extremely kind and understanding that night. But what if I had lived in an area that criminalized miscarriages? What if anyone I spoke with that night had suspected I harmed the pregnancy intentionally? What if I had been forced to endure a hypothetical, experimental procedure that would have risked my life? (Not to mention the mental and physical pain this would have caused). 

Why We Fight

My story is only one of many, but it is further proof that these uneducated politicians have no business making laws about items they do not understand. If you, or a loved one, have been in a similar situation please share your story using the hashtag #noimnotamurderer and if you understand how incredibly detrimental these laws will be to our society, then please support by signing this petition.

#imnotamurderer