Treatment for Ectopic Pregnancy is Not Abortion
So stop telling mothers who experience pregnancy loss that it is
The first thing my sister said to me when I told her I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy was, “Aren’t you glad you live in a state where you have access to health care for women?” She was referencing the myth that certain hospitals in the red states will not treat women with ruptured fallopian tubes from an ectopic pregnancy because of abortion laws. I was on the phone with her, and so drained from crying my entire ride home from the doctor’s office, that I just said nothing.
The next person I told about my pregnancy loss was my other sister, who, after finding out I was six weeks pregnant when the baby’s heartbeat stopped and I had to take methotrexate to dissolve the gestational sac and embryo back into my body, said to me, “Well, it’s just a clump of cells.” I was driving us somewhere, and just kept my gaze on the road. There was no point saying anything; I didn’t want to burst into tears or blow up in anger and risk getting into a car accident.
Finally, months later, while at dinner with a two girlfriends, one brought up that her mother had an ectopic pregnancy and almost bled to death. She said, “I still can’t understand why my mom is so anti-choice when she almost died from her ectopic pregnancy.”
“Right,” said the other friend. “Because removing an ectopic pregnancy is basically an abortion.”
This time, I had to speak up. “No, actually, treating an ectopic pregnancy is not at all an abortion.”
I mean, how stupid were the women in my life? Or were they just being brainwashed by progressive media that has begun redefining words and telling lies in order to push their political agenda?
“In almost all cases of an ectopic pregnancy, by the time it’s been discovered that the embryo implanted in somewhere besides the uterus,” I said, “there is no longer a heartbeat. And in the few cases the embryo continues to develop, there is absolutely zero chance the baby will continue to grow safely. It is never a viable pregnancy.”
The tension was palpable. I tried to speak calmly and kindly, but I could feel my body shaking. I’d confided in one friend about my pregnancy loss. How badly I wanted that baby. How scary it was to find out I was having an ectopic. How I asked over and over again, “You’re sure there’s no heartbeat?” before I let the nurses inject methotrexate into my hips. “I’m not killing my baby?” I asked, sobbing. “No,” they reassured me. “There is no heartbeat.” She knew how awful I felt for months after the chemotherapy treatments I’d received to dissolve the pregnancy back into my body (my one glimmer of hope: my baby was part of me again, and I’d always carry that baby with me). And yet, there she was claiming ectopic pregnancy treatment was abortion.
For what purpose?
First of all, no doctor considers the treatment of an ectopic pregnancy—whether the embryo or fetus (depending on the stage of development) has a heartbeat or not—as abortion. It will never be a viable pregnancy. Secondly, no state—no matter how strict their abortion laws—considers treatment of an ectopic pregnancy to be an abortion.
Because it isn’t.
No doctor or state considers surgery to remove a miscarried fetus an abortion.
So why, praytell, are people telling others—especially the mothers who have lost babies they’ve desperately wanted—that they’re “basically” all abortions?
My only guess is that lumping together all surgeries to remove live or dead unborn babies as abortions bolsters pro-choice arguments for the necessity of abortion.
But it’s all lies. And who do the lies hurt? The women the pro-choice movement pretends to care about. Or maybe the pro-choice movement doesn’t care about mothers who want their babies?
What is the difference between a miscarriage or pregnancy loss such as an ectopic pregnancy and an abortion? A miscarriage is when a baby dies naturally in the womb, an ectopic pregnancy is also when a baby dies naturally outside of the womb, or is unfortunately terminated before it dies naturally in order to save the life of the mother. An abortion is the termination of a viable pregnancy. Many times women need life-saving procedures to terminate a nonviable pregnancy that is continuing to develop. Is that abortion? A majority of Americans and laws support terminating a pregnancy to save the life of the mother when the baby cannot safely continue developing or safely be delivered. But that’s not what abortion advocates are really fighting for.
Abortion advocates want us to look at all unborn babies as “clumps of cells” whether we want them or not, whether they were miscarried or terminated. They want all surgeries to remove viable and unviable fetuses to be considered abortion. Because that’s how they’ll get everyone on board with their view that abortion is not only a necessary right but also something to be “basically” celebrated.
When people in my life could barely muster the sympathy to say, “I’m so sorry for your loss” after I experienced an ectopic pregnancy, I felt disheartened. But when people suggested I’d had an abortion to dissolve my pregnancy, I felt disgusted. How dare they take my pain and use it to try to win an argument.
Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy loss are not the same as terminating a viable fetus for any possible reason. Stick to the facts. And for God’s sake, have some feeling when you hear of a woman who has suffered from pregnancy loss.