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Even for proponents of the abortion-rights position, the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable abortion date restrictions can cause hesitation. As the expected delivery date draws nearer and nearer, many abortion-rights supporters jump ship along the way. Some draw the line at six weeks; our President draws it at 16; others draw it at 24; and some suggest that a third-trimester abortion should only be legally permissible if the pregnant person and their doctor can prove the abortion is an absolute medical necessity.

Let’s be clear: If the goal of abortion is to allow the pregnant person to have complete autonomy over their own body and health, abortion must be legalized without restriction in all trimesters.

As believers of the abortion-rights position, it is silly and counterproductive for us to bog ourselves down in a debate of personhood. If a fetus is a person at six weeks, why not five weeks and six days? Why not five weeks and five days?

Instead, I’ll accept the anti-abortion premise that a fetus is a human. Let’s say from the moment of conception onward, the pregnant person is carrying a person in their womb.

As Judith Jarvis Thomson argued in her 1971 work “A Defense of Abortion,” the personhood of the fetus is not what determines whether the pregnant person may receive an abortion; it is the person’s right to autonomy over their own body and health that allows them to make the immensely difficult decision to undergo such a procedure. 

The right of the pregnant person to make decisions — with their doctor — regarding the their bodily autonomy is vital. As restrictions and laws are imposed upon this essential right, the health and autonomy of the pregnant person is instantly jeopardized — this is what makes removing restrictions from third-trimester abortion so important.

Despite what the anti-abortion position often argues, no abortions are happening in the third trimester for fun or leisure.

A procedure conducted in the first trimester is by far the cheapest, least invasive and safest form of abortion. Prior to 10 weeks of pregnancy, the pregnant person is able to undergo a medically induced abortion rather than a surgical one. This would reduce the self-pay cost of an abortion to a median cost of $568, according to data collected between 2017 and 2021 by the University of San Francisco. If the pregnant person simply did not want their child, this would be the stage in which a majority of those abortion cases would happen.

A third-trimester abortion, however, is a much more expensive, invasive and dangerous procedure. In addition to potentially costing up to $25,000, a late-pregnancy abortion is a decision that is made while bearing in mind life-threatening side effects, whether the procedure is done via dilation and evacuation or via an induction abortion — two options that pose significantly higher risk than a medical abortion.

An abortion done so late in pregnancy is not a decision one would take lightly nor one that most people would make — and the data supports this. In 2021, an abortion surveillance study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found abortions past 21 weeks of gestation account for less than 1% of all reported abortions. In comparison, the period of six weeks or prior accounted for the most reported abortions, tallying 44.8%.

So why are these 1% of cases so important to protect? Let’s consider the two most prevalent reasons behind these late abortions: medical necessity and financial insecurity.

At around 18-22 weeks, a pregnant person undergoes a routine examination known as the 20-week anatomy scan. Through this scan, medical professionals can observe structural fetal abnormalities that would not have been present earlier in the pregnancy — fetal abnormalities that could lead to the death of the fetus or the birthgiver. The date of this examination goes far beyond most proposed restrictions on abortions, yet the complications discovered in these examinations could certainly lead to the pregnant person and their doctor choosing abortion as a necessary step.

Financial insecurity is another prevalent factor in late-term abortions. Even for the cheapest form of abortion, an expense of that nature can present financial challenges for many Americans. According to the Federal Reserve Board, 32% of Americans could not pay an unexpected emergency expense of $400. For pregnant people in this group, saving the money to be able to cover an abortion can be a long, arduous journey. A pregnant person dealing with that level of financial hardship does not need another hoop to jump through at the legal level.

Many proponents of term restrictions concede the point of medical necessity and propose that, along with their restrictions being put in place, there should be an exception if the pregnant person can prove an abortion is medically necessary.

This manner of thinking, while a step in the right direction, is still harmful.

In addition to leaving behind those who need the abortion out of financial necessity, these restrictions harm those who have a pregnancy that is actually medically necessary. In cases such as a cancer diagnosis that needs immediate treatment, requiring the pregnant person to jump through hoops to receive an exception for their abortion deprives them of precious time needed for their care.

That’s not to mention the prevalence of medical racism in the reproductive healthcare system. In 2021, out of all non-Hispanic populations, American Indian and Native Alaskan persons experienced a pregnancy-related mortality ratio of 118.7; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander persons experienced a ratio of 111.7; and Black persons experienced a ratio of 69.3. In comparison to this, the pregnancy-related mortality ratio of white persons was 24.3. The only way to ensure universal, nondiscriminatory care for pregnant people is to remove all barriers to late abortions.

Reach Will Engle at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @WillEngle44.