Jessica Valenti - This is How They Kill Us: The rise of post-Roe c-sections [View all]
https://jessica.substack.com/p/this-is-how-they-kill-us
Trigger warning for discussion of traumatic medical procedures
I remember the feeling of hands inside me. Pulling, tugging, moving things aside. My emergency c-section wasnt painful, but that feeling of being invaded was somehow worse than physical hurt. For years, the thought of the surgery would send me into a PTSD panic, my knees literally buckling and vomit coming up the back of my throat. In my memory, my arms are tied down while Im being cutbut I know thats not true. Its just my brains way of making the powerlessness of the moment seem tangible.
Because I was so early in my pregnancy, just 28 weeks along, doctors had to cut me both horizontally and vertically, making it life-threatening for me to have a vaginal birth in the future and increasing my risk for uterine rupture. I didnt know it then, but I would never have another child.
So when I see anti-abortion groups blithely suggesting that women with life-threatening pregnancies should be forced into c-sections rather than easier, safer, and less traumatic abortionsit feels personal. Because I chose my medical nightmare; it was necessary to save both my life and my daughters. I cant imagine the horror of going through such a thing unnecessarily, or at 16 weeks pregnant instead of 28. What if my tied-down arms werent a post-traumatic illusion, but a legal reality?
For nearly a year, Ive been tracking this growing strategy: Some of the most powerful anti-abortion organizations in the country are using carefully-worded legislation and seemingly-credible clinical recommendations to codify medical atrocitiespushing doctors to force pregnant women into unnecessary labor and c-sections, even before fetal viability and sometimes even when a fetus has died.
*snip*