Friday, July 15, 2022

In re: Definitions Matter

Nice work, if you can get it.  And some people are determined to get it:
The fiery exchange came during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing this week, during which Erin Morrow Hawley, Senior Counsel at the right-wing Alliance for Defending Freedom, was questioned about the dangers of ectopic pregnancies. (Ectopic pregnancies occur when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, putting the carrier in life-threatening danger.)

"When an ectopic pregnancy ruptures, what are the chances it can be carried safely to term?" Pressley asked Hawley.

Hawley acknowledged that an ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition, but added, "That's why the treatment for ectopic pregnancies is not an abortion."

"Again, can you just answer the question," Pressley shot back. "When an ectopic pregnancy ruptures what are the chances it can be carried safely to term? And you know what, just to make this clearer, I'm looking for a number between 0 and 100."

"I believe zero ectopic pregnancies – even those that do not rupture – have a chance of successfully being carried to term," Hawley replied. "That's why the treatment for them is not an abortion."

Pressley then told Hawley that she had a "deficit in her understanding," citing official guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that treatment for an ectopic pregnancies requires ending that pregnancy.

"That's not an abortion because it does not have the intent to end the life of the child," Hawley snapped backed.

"Reclaiming my time," Pressley responded. "I'm now going to turn over to the real experts."

That definition of "abortion" does not appear in any statute that I know of, nor in any medical text.  And on the subject of "ectopic pregnancies":

Ohio passed a six-week abortion ban last year, but the law was blocked by a federal judge. More than 20 state representatives have since introduced House Bill 413, which bans abortion outright and defines a fertilized egg as an “unborn child.”

The bill would require doctors to take “all possible steps to preserve the life” of an unborn child, including “attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus.” Doctors who do not perform the non-existent procedure would face charges of “abortion murder.”

An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition in which the embryo attaches outside of the uterus. Doctors quickly pointed out on Twitter that reimplanting an ectopic pregnancy is not medically possible.

“That’s impossible,” wrote Ohio OB/GYN Dr. David Hackney. “We’ll all be going to jail.” 

Medically, life does not begin at conception (fertilization of the egg), appealing as that medieval notion of human biology may be (because it's all up to the man, and once he's done his part, it's the woman's duty to bear his child), life begins at implantation.  Which is how we get to the subject of ectopic pregnancy.  What Ohio seeks to do is effectively criminalize gynecological care for the sake of children who will literally never be born.  Which, you know, makes sense if you think life begins at fertilization; and the woman is obligated through all means necessary (even if not possible) to bear that child.

What hath got wrot, indeed?  Well, since there's nothing in tradition about that, I guess the quasi-medieval view is sound because it is more "traditional," right?  Long as we can define the impossible as necessary, we're fine, right?

Gym Jordan's definition of "responsible" is always: "Not me!" Nice job. And staying on the subject of expertise, I feel Popehat's pain: Pretty much the same quality of legal expertise as all the screaming on Twitter for DOJ to lock up Trump BY NOW GODDAMMIT!
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