It’s Problematic to Provide a List of Exceptions

Recorded:
Feb 2023
Speaker
Dr. Jonas Swartz
Duration
00:00:54
AUDIO CLIP
TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Jonas Swartz: It’s problematic to provide a list [of exceptions to lawmakers] because then we are endorsing the idea that it’s okay to ban abortion beyond that gestational age, but there’s these conditions that make it justifiable. If you just thought about the health conditions, there’s no way that you would not miss out on something that you don’t know of on the fetal health side or the maternal health side. It’s a fatal infant condition [that qualifies as an exception]. So they want to ban– there are a few conditions, but there are some that you wouldn’t. And fundamentally, who’s the person to decide that you would have a child that has severe neurological impairment? Or severe impairment, would require multiple surgeries but would live, and that the right thing is to make that kid suffer? The parents should make that decision, not the state.

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