Republican lawmakers in Ohio are vying for the most extreme anti-abortion legislation in the nation with a bill that would see fetuses treated as people and doctors who abort them facing aggravated murder charges, Newsweek.
Included in the bill's language, however, is a measure that's come under considerable scrutiny because it requires doctors to do the impossible.
In an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg implants itself somewhere other than the uterus, usually a fallopian tube, and left untreated, it can be fatal. However, there is no procedure to re-implant an ectopic pregnancy.
"We just don't have the technology," Dr Daniel Grossman explained. "So I would suggest removing this from your bill, since it's pure science fiction."
As Dr Grossman explained on Twitter, "Unfortunately, ectopic pregnancies cannot continue to a live birth. If untreated, as a pregnancy grows, the Fallopian tube (where 96% of ectopics develop) gets stretched to the point of rupture & can cause massive bleeding. 4% of maternal deaths are related to ectopic pregnancy."
"There is no procedure to re-implant an ectopic pregnancy," Dr Chris Zahn of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists told The Guardian. "It is not possible to move an ectopic pregnancy from a fallopian tube, or anywhere else it might have implanted, to the uterus.
"Reimplantation is not physiologically possible. Women with ectopic pregnancies are at risk of catastrophic hemorrhage and death in the setting of an ectopic pregnancy, and treating the ectopic pregnancy can certainly save a mom's life."
The bill categorizes a fertilized egg as an "unborn human" and doctors performing abortions could be charged under the law. They can avoid prosecution only in cases where "it is highly probable that the pregnant woman will die from a certain fatal condition before her unborn child is viable," but they must take "all possible steps to preserve" the fertilized egg, including re-implantation, the Independent reported.
Which means that HB 413 is the second bill proposed in 2019 that requires doctors to do the impossible. HB 182 sought to ban insurance companies from covering abortion costs "except when necessary to 'reimplant the fertilized ovum' or to save a pregnant person's life."
As Dr David Hackney wrote on Twitter, "I don't believe I'm typing this again but, that's impossible. We'll all be going to jail."
The state made headlines for its "heartbeat bill," Senate Bill 23, which sought to ban abortions after a heartbeat could be detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman even knows she's pregnant. SB 23, signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine, was recently blocked by a federal judge.
h/t: The Guardian, Newsweek, Independent
