Abortions at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy are rare. This corresponds to 1% of all abortions in the country. These types of abortions are more likely to occur later in pregnancy because severe fetal abnormalities are not usually detected earlier by tests or ultrasound. They may also occur because a life-threatening emergency occurs later in pregnancy.

Virginia Law Then, as now, the law also allows for cases in which continuing a pregnancy would cause “irreparable harm” to a person’s mental health. During a committee hearing on Tran’s bill, Republican Rep. Todd Gilbert of Shenandoah asked if the bill would allow abortion even if the woman was already in labor. Tran answered “yes,” but later admitted she had slipped up.

Tran told the Washington Post “I should have said, ‘Definitely not, because infanticide is not legal in Virginia and what would have happened at that moment would have been a live birth.'”

Holsworth says Tran “messed up the answer.”

“When Northam tried to rectify the situation, he only made it worse.”

Northam had explained that miscarriages occur later because the fetus’ chances of survival are limited. He added that birth would also occur when labor began.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The baby would be born,” he said.

He then added what emerged from the anti-abortion messages in the years that followed:

“The baby would be fine. If the mother and family wished, he would be resuscitated and then a discussion would take place between the doctors and the mother.”

Although the accusation exposed Over the years it has repeatedly found a mythical and persistent origin in political disputes.

Susan Swecker, chair of the Virginia Democratic Party, declined to comment on Trump’s rhetoric toward Virginia before a national audience, and Virginia Republican Party Chairman Rich Anderson also did not respond.

Abortions and the need for palliative care will continue

Virginia abortion providers have reported a Increase in patients from other statesAnd sometimes patients had to travel as far as Maryland.

Diane Horvath, an ob-gyn, said her Maryland clinic is seeing an increasing number of patients who need late-term abortions. Her clinic offers the procedure regardless of how early or late in the patient’s pregnancy.

Because surrounding states have almost total bans or restrictions in place starting at six weeks of pregnancy, patients sometimes have to travel to areas where abortion is legal. Some women may not know they are pregnant early in their pregnancy, and others may need time to schedule appointments, leave work, or find child care.

In cases of fetal abnormalities that could cause a woman to seek an abortion, patients may not find out until after their state’s abortion deadline has passed, and some tests that detect abnormalities are not performed. until after the 15th week of pregnancy and it can take about two weeks for results to become visible.

Horvath said that when parents are faced with severe fetal abnormalities, abortion may sometimes be the easier solution, while for others the easier solution is to first deliver and then bury their child, who died of natural causes after palliative care.

Horvath said the allegation of infanticide was “a deliberate misrepresentation of an incredibly difficult situation that some families go through when their baby is diagnosed as dead.”

As abortion continues to be a political debate, she hopes lawmakers will consider patients’ experiences.

“If you ban abortion at a certain point in the pregnancy, it causes the pregnancy to progress even further. Some women still need an abortion, they just have to work much harder to get it,” Horvath said. “It takes a lot of time and a lot of resources and is just hard on people – no one would do it if they didn’t absolutely need it.”