RIGHT TO MATERNAL/FETAL HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION to stabilize the abortion issue

Regarding abortion, I propose a well-researched, comprehensive, widely appealing policy package centered around a federal exception law that resolves top concerns about abortion and pro-life laws, holds medical providers accountable for treatment delays, dispels harmful misinformation and offers small pro-life concessions with NO bans or interference with states’ set gestational limits/states’ rights. If implemented well, it would end the most polarizing aspects of this debate, and abortion would no longer be an effective wedge tool for future elections.

The content of my proposal shall follow after these disclaimer paragraphs, and my intro letter to the MAHA/MAGA team:

Disclaimers
Readers must understand that this proposal is specifically tailored for an inevitable Trump administration, and Trump has repeatedly said that he will NOT pass any abortion bans whatsoever, but that he does support exceptions for rape and the mother’s life. No law is permanent, and legislators are free to make changes or pass additional measures in future years.

A word about constitutionality of federal abortion laws
The Dobbs decision does NOT say anything about abortion being a “states-rights-only” issue. It merely ruled that the constitution does not grant a right to abortion, and even Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion said that it is now up to “elected lawmakers” in both the “state” and “Congress” to choose their laws. Leaders from BOTH the pro-life and pro-choice movement agree on one thing: Federal laws regulating abortion ARE constitutional, and in fact many federal, medical and insurance-related regulations exist, and were affirmed by Trump’s conservative-majority Supreme Court, such as the ACA and EMTALA, despite Republican challenges to those laws’ constitutionality. The 14th amendment allows the federal government to regulate inter-state commerce, and also to protect a PERSON’S right to “life, liberty or property.” In the context of abortion, “person” can include the pregnant woman and/or the unborn child.

Also, abortionists routinely avoid giving the fetal digoxin shot, or any fetal pain relief/fetal anesthesia, so thousands of viable, fully formed second-trimester babies, are dismembered while alive and awake to feel the whole thing, every year, and sometimes born alive, then left to die via medical neglect or worse. Women are not being told full information beforehand and suffer traumatizing consequences. Many states do not accurately or fully report their maternal/fetal outcome related data. Only federal legislation can prevent states from continuing these human rights violations, can offer exceptions that aren’t covered in certain states and dismantle any perception or localized barrier to women seeking life-saving pregnancy care.

TO AVOID MISUNDERSTANDINGS, BEFORE YOU MAKE A REPLY, PLEASE FIRST READ MY PROPOSAL IN ITS ENTIRETY, AND MY COUNTER-RESPONSES TO OTHER COMMENTERS.

Dear Mr. President, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Shanahan, Senator Vance, Ms. Gabbard and EVERYONE on the MAHA team:

I am a pro-life, working-class, single mother and a welfare eligibility worker from California, advocating for viable, broadly appealing legislative measures based on data, facts, compassion and common sense. Due to my extensive research on all subtopics related to abortion, and my personal experience, I am extremely knowledgeable and personally close to ALL aspects of this issue.

My legislative ideas reflect my deep research and insight on the matter. It reflects all of the top re-occurring complaints I’ve heard about abortion laws, would remove needless barriers to quality maternal healthcare, confront the negative perception of pro-life laws, and offer small pro-life concessions, WITHOUT BANNING ABORTIONS, OR INTERFERING WITH STATES’ GESTATIONAL LIMITS/STATES RIGHTS AT ALL. If you were to announce support for these positions, you would amaze everyone from all sides of this issue and clench the popular vote.

There is so much misinformation surrounding these issues, and I’d be happy to arm you with ALL the facts of the matter and my strategic ideas.

I can tell you one fact: This misinformation is DELIBERATE, PERSISTENT, and DANGEROUS, and it will never go away until the Democrats pass abortion-until-birth in ALL 50 U.S. states. People continue to spread lies about pro-life laws harming women, the majority of Americans are completely falling for these lies, and “states-rights only” rhetoric is not enough to overcome the very real harms of these lies. We must take away the Democrats’ top wedge issue, so that everyone can re-prioritize other important issues.

I propose we call this new law, “Right to Maternal-Fetal Healthcare & Education.

Mr. President, you said you wanted to be our protector. Senator Vance, you said you wanted to get our trust back. Mr. Kennedy, I was incredibly impressed and touched when you listened to pro-lifers on late term abortion and updated your position. And I’m begging you with my full heart, mind and soul. This is the way:

Right to Maternal Healthcare

Develop a federal exception law, in collaboration with OB-GYN’s, neonatologists, fetal anesthesiologists, state medical boards and lawyers, from both pro-choice and pro-life backgrounds, to allow clear, objectively defined exceptions to states’ abortion bans for:

  • protection for the mother’s life and her life-sustaining body organs
  • nonviable pregnancies;
  • severe/non-viable fetal abnormalities;
  • mothers under the age of 14; and
  • incest or forcible rape, up to 15 weeks gestation (with either a valid police report or medical record)

These federal exceptions shall NOT include mental health, financial health or threats of self-harm.

Law will clearly explain that the inevitability of physical harm to the mother as the key qualifier for emergency pregnancy care, not necessarily its imminence. (This clause is necessary in order to defeat persistent false claims that life exceptions force doctors to wait until the mother is at “Death’s door.”)

The law will:

  • Direct state medical boards to publish best practices and standards of care based on all hypothetical case scenarios presented by the OB-GYN’s in that state;
  • Direct state attorney generals to publish their legal assessment of the medical board’s best practices and standards of care, the legal effect of a physician’s compliance with Board guidelines;
  • Fund the construction and provision of maternal healthcare facilities & NICU’s in “maternity healthcare deserts;
  • Require Medicaid and medical insurance companies to cover the cost of legal, medically-indicated abortion/miscarriage care services that meet a federal medical exception;
  • Guarantee this narrow scope for funding and that NO COLLECTIVE FUNDS ARE USED FOR AN ELECTIVE procedure;
  • Require the medical/abortion provider to maintain applicable documentation on file as part of his/her certification of the patient’s qualification for the federal medical exemption;
  • Allow charges of fraud against those who purposefully falsify medical records to qualify for an exemption; and
  • Mandate more accurate and comprehensive state data reporting and studies of pregnancy, fetal and maternal outcomes.

Accountability for Medical Providers

  • Allow reasonable fines against medical providers who knowingly and unnecessarily delay or refuse to provide a medically necessary/life-saving legal abortion or miscarriage care treatment, or sending the patient away to another state against the patient’s location preference, for a medically necessary maternal healthcare service that the provider and/or facility had the capacity to provide safely and timely.

  • Doctors who refuse to provide medically necessary maternal healthcare, must document & explain that decision to the patient in writing.

  • Allow fines against hospitals and medical institutions who advise their employees and contracted medical professionals to knowingly and unnecessarily risk the mother’s life/physical health by delaying or refusing medically necessary maternal healthcare services, or turn their maternal patients to other locations or states, against the patient’s location preference, for potentially urgent or medically necessary maternal health services, miscarriage care or a legal, life-saving abortion, even in times that the facility had the capacity to provide it safely and timely.

  • Allow fines against medical providers who violate the maternal patient’s informed consent prior to a procedure.

  • Fund medical malpractice lawsuits against medical providers for women who were harmed by a medical provider’s unnecessary refusal or delays to provide medically necessary/life-saving maternal care, as explained above.

  • Require medical providers to inform their maternal patients, and for high schools and colleges to inform their students, and for Medicaid and insurance companies to inform their recipients, about their maternal health care rights outlined in these proposed laws, and their adoption options.

Limitations on State’s Excessive and Ineffective Abortion Penalties

  • Ban the criminalization against the maternal patient because of illegal abortions performed by the abortion doctor or taking an abortion pill illegally supplied to her.

  • Limit the maximum amount of fines or sentences that states can order against abortion providers for illegal abortions. (Texas’ laws’ threat of lifetime imprisonment or a million dollar fines are simply overkill because they drive irrational fears among doctors & patients, feed narratives against pro-life laws and are simply unnecessary to enforce abortion bans.)

  • Invalidate all “bounty hunter” laws, lawsuits against non abortion-providers for “aiding and abetting" the abortion provider’s illegal abortion, or any attempts to criminalize/litigate against anyone for providing information about legal and/or out-of-state abortions in cases where that service wasn’t available/legal to that provider. (Bounty hunter laws have proven to be ineffective and fruitless, except to allow opportunistic citizens to pursue excessive litigation. In addition, sometimes, medical professionals hesitate to assist a doctor legal, medically necessary procedure, for women meeting the life exception, or even avoid just talking about abortion with their patient, out of fear of being accused of “aiding and abetting.” Only people actually performing/supplying an illegal abortion or falsifying information should face criminal penalties.)

Right to Fetal Healthcare

  • Require that abortion pills can only be dispensed directly to the maternal patient, in-person, and only after an ultrasound rules out ectopic pregnancy, verifies that her pregnancy is within the recommended gestational time-frame and that the patient’s informed consent was obtained.

  • Require fetal pain relief/anesthesia for all abortion procedures occurring after 12 weeks gestation.

  • Ban the use of a feticidal agent/feticide (such as dismemberment, the digoxin shot, intra-uterine instillations and umbilical cord transactions) against viable babies, determined likely to survive outside of the womb based on the child’s current medical/developmental circumstances and available medical measures. (Does not ban inducing delivery/terminating pregnancy at any stage; does not ban the use of feticide for legal abortions of pre-viable/nonviable babies.)

  • AMEND/pass the “Protect Babies Born Alive Act” to mandate full medical treatment for viable babies born alive who are likely to survive with available measures.

  • Mandate full criminal investigations, autopsies and justice for suspected violations of the “Born Alive Act,” and/or violations of anti-partial-birth laws (starting with the 5 late-term aborted infants found in DC by pro-life activists and believed to be victims of an illegal “partial-birth” abortions).

  • Informed consent for every elective abortion requires, among other things, that abortion appointment may not be scheduled any earlier than 48 hours from the time that the pregnant woman was given an ultrasound; an explicit description of her child’s developmental stage, the abortion procedure & the risks involved; her right not be coerced into abortion; her available options/resources, and (if applicable) a warning about false positives for fetal abnormalities. The 48 hour waiting period shall be waived when it would place the abortion appointment outside of the state’s gestational time limit or the mother’s medical emergency (if applicable). (Disclaimer: this paragraph was not added until 10/14/24 evening, after getting 32 votes.)

Alleviate fear and apprehension of choosing life for mothers of disabled babies

  • Fund healthcare services, surgeries and treatments necessary for patients with Trisomy 18, and track/study their progress/health outcomes, in order to uncover their survivability when receiving full medical interventions that are often denied to them, and improve standards of care.

  • Fund the adoption legal fees for pre-screened families for babies with major disabilities (such as Down Syndrome). Give birthmothers a federal right to choose adoption for newborns & visitation rights in adoption agreements.

  • Commit to policies and regulations to help protect disabled and seniors from abuse and neglect. Fund and authorize increases in caregiver and nursing staff to patient/resident ratios in group homes, nursing homes and long term care facilities. Assign a social worker to check in with disabled and senior patients/residents and ensure they are connected with their best available options and resources. Allow Medi-Care to fund in-home caregiving in cases in which the patient qualified for nursing or long-term care.

Right to Education and Coaching on Management of Pregnancy and Parenting

  • Require high schools to offer an awareness class, taught by a non-ideological, independently contracted source, regarding: fetal & child development; abortion procedures; physical/psychological risks/experiences of pregnancy & abortion; resources/options available to low-income families; the maternal/fetal healthcare rights; adoption; parenting skills & perspectives; primary attachment theory; child’s need for routine, care & attention; causes/examples/harms of: toxic stress, absent fatherhood, counter-parenting, all forms of abuse, coercion & exploitation; biological sex differences between men & women; various disabilities and disorders (including Down Syndrome, ADHD & Autism).

  • Mandate that Medi-Caid and health insurance offers parents of newborns, as well as recently separated parents, access to an in-home parental coach (independently contracted and selected by the mother), to provide direct, real-time information, advice and assistance to the parents, at their homes, regarding all of the above mentioned topics. These (limited allowable) visits may be free or have a co-pay based on each parent’s income. The parenting coach can also advise separated parents on developmentally appropriate parental custodial schedules. (Disclaimer: This paragraph was not added to my proposal until 10/14/24 evening after having received 32 votes.)

TO SEE A SAMPLE OF MY RECCOMENDED SOCIO-ECONOMIC POLICIES, VIEW THEM HERE: Federal Paid Maternal Leave, Unpaid Intermittent leave & College flexibility**

TO SEE A DETAILED SUMMARY ON THE BACKGROUND ISSUES, COUNTERING THE WIDESPREAD MISINFORMATION, THE REASONS WHY THESE POLICIES ARE NECESSARY, ALONG WITH MY SOURCES/LINKS/SCREENSHOTS, VIEW THIS GOOGLE DOC:

TO VIEW MY INFORMAL ONE PAGER ENTITLED “MY TOP 16 DISCOVERIES ABOUT THE ABORTION DEBATE,” CONTAINING ALL THE FACTS I WANT YOU TO KNOW, THEN PLEASE GO HERE. (At the end of that one-pager google doc, there is another link taking you to my super-detailed abortion factsheet with all my links/sources/informal videos.)

TO SEE MORE DETAILS/STIPULATIONS THAT I WOULD SUGGEST FOR THE ABOVE LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS, VIEW THIS GOOGLE DOC:

Thank you!

34 Likes

I don’t want my tax dollars paying for Infanticide. Please make a policy that if a young lady finds herself in trouble, she must have a mandatory Tubal Ligation immediately after the child is born. In the future when she demonstrates she is capable of acting responsibly, she may undergo a Tubal Ligation Reversal. Please make abortion not an option as a convenient, Federally funded means of birth control.

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This bill would not fund infanticide and offers strong protections against feticide and post-birth infanticide for viable babies-born-alive likely to survive. Among other things, pro-life concessions include a limit to feticide against viable babies in late term terminations, and a mandate to protect babies born alive. Those two measures alone would dissuade women from late term elective abortions knowing that their baby won’t be killed. But it also preserves the ability for women to deliver early when it’s necessary to protect her health or for cases of severe/fatal fetal abnormalities, and effectively negates any allegation that it would interfere with a woman’s “bodily autonomy.”

Widespread “infanticide” is already happening, and it will only get worse if we do nothing. This policy proposal gets a pro-life foot in the door, while still protecting women, honoring Trump’s “states-only” campaign stance, give MAHA the upper hand on this issue, and help Trump win by wider margins.

Thanks for reading and I encourage to read more of the details.

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This is the most detailed one I’ve seen for the abortion issue with both pro life and pro choice in mind. I am in the medical field in Obstetrics and I agree with this. At MINIUM we must have a federal law protecting the exceptions (mothers life, baby’s viability, rape, and incest) and a maximum gestational age.
then the states can come up with their own reasonable laws regarding elective abortions.

No more late term elective abortions or refusals to save the infant that IS viable outside the womb. There’s zero excuse for an elective abortion past 15-20 weeks.

I really hope Trump and his team take this and other similar proposals into careful consideration and come up with the best policy that will help save babies AND mothers.

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Thank you so much! Follow me on Twitter, too. @realAshleyLuna

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If abortion is wrong (it is) then it’s wrong in all circumstances.
Elective abortion is the deliberate killing of unborn babies.
Removing an ectopic pregnancy is not an abortion, the deliberate killing of the baby; it is to save the mum who would die without intervention.
Former abortionist Dr Anthony Levatino said there is no medical condition that warrants killing an unborn baby to save their mother’s life, it is safer, quicker and easier to deliver them.
In cases of rape and incest, let’s punish the perpetrators NOT the babies, who are innocent victims just like their mothers.

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Trump said he absolutely will NOT support any federal abortion ban.

He also said that he supports a rape/incest exception.

Let’s work with what we got.

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@JaySavino would you please review my proposal above. It’s aligned with your idea, but has more details that I think are necessary.

Also, this was my feedback to your now-deleted idea. (I started typing it and then realized half-way that you had erased your proposal.)

<<I agree, except we should support a 15 week limit to the rape/incest exception.

In addition, there are other exceptions that should be added. I have binge-researched all the scenarios that women and OB-GYN’s are complaining about that aren’t covered or are gray areas that they would like covered.

Also, due to widespread accusations that exceptions are too vague or confusing, the exceptions must be drafted very clearly and specifically. A federal bill must be bullet-proof to withstand all scrutiny.

Finally, there needs to be teeth in this bill, enforcement against medical providers who refuse to provide timely, lifesaving abortions/miscarriage care.>>

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@Momo @marija @RealAngelCPA would you please view my policy package related to maternal/fetal healthcare/abortion, and if you like it, can you please vote on it? I have a more informed approach.

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I think that all women should receive an ultrasound where she can see her baby. If you go to the dentist, he’ll show you your X-rays. Let’s make sure women have the full information.

I also think that women should be educated as to how an abortion is performed. There are plenty of videos explaining this online. They should know that their baby will often be broken into pieces.

I also support a waiting period. No tax dollars to pay for abortions under any circumstances, and no tax dollars to organizations ie: Planned Parenthood that perform abortions.

I think we should also have tax policies that encourage women carrying their baby to term, and federal funding of adoptions. Women should be fully informed of this before having an abortion.

Crisis Pregnancy centers must be supported, and any practices to harass them, put them out of business, etc. should be illegal.

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Also, require reporting for any baby that is born alive from a botched abortion. Doctors should do all they can to provide life-saving measures to the baby.

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To add onto this, I agree with a lot of @Lynne is saying should be added. To be specific, I agree that ultrasounds should not only be required but that they must be shown and described to the patient. This is already required in a few states and there is proof that just an ultrasound alone can change the opinion of some on whether or not to have an abortion. Alternatively to how an abortion is done, I would instead argue that consequences to not only an abortion, but birth control, a vasectomy, and anything remotely similar have to be explained. Notably, there seems to be a huge amount of people who do not realize the side effects of birth control (such as depression) simply because doctors NEVER tell you. Similarly, a worrying amount of people, both male and female, think a vasectomy can just be undone with zero consequences and quite often only learn afterwards that this is not the case.

Moreover, there must be something in place so that doctors cannot just abandon babies that survive botched abortions.

I know Trump and Vance have both spoken about this, but adoption does need to be made cheaper. Too often people look to other countries to adopt because of how much harder it is to adopt here. It should not be so costly to adopt even though there should definitely be a rigorous process to go through.

I am mostly adding this because too often it feels like giving the child up for adoption is not even considered an option. Some of this, I imagine, undoubtedly has to do with cultural problems that no law could fix (i.e. a certain degree of women now seem to not want to suffer through pregnancy for superficial reasons, such as their appearance) and that we as a society have to solve. However, making adoption cheaper so that it effectively is not open to just the upper middle class and wealthy may make it seem like a better option.

Moreover, it is well known that there are just a lot of problems with the parts of the government that deal with these things. CPS has been infamously corrupt for decades (and I can attest to this, as my own mother used to work in it and only has negative things to say). Foster care actually needs a lot of improvement. There is likely more than this, but to put it simply this entire part of the government is one I would say does not necessarily need to be destroyed but clearly needs serious revision and doing so may make women with unwanted children feel less like they’re throwing the kid into the lion’s den.

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My proposal includes almost all of that.

  • Requires an ultrasound to determine gestational age and rule out ectopic pregnancy, before dispensing the abortion pill. (I would certainly agree that ultrasounds should be mandated for all abortions.)
  • Mandates a high school awareness class teaching about things like fetal development, what abortions are really like, adoption awareness and parenting skills.
  • Mandates that all viable babies must be actively treated.
  • Funds the legal fees for adoptions for disabled babies, like Down Syndrome, so that the mother will feel more confident in her choices. I don’t think the government has a legal interest in funding the legal fees for adoption of non-disabled children. There are 2-3 year waitlists for that; those mothers have plenty of choices and I don’t care for my taxes to save adoptive parents money.
  • I don’t know enough about Foster Care to comment on it.
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I agree. Was in OBGyN field for 8+ years. We can protect women and save babies through reasonable laws. Decisions to keep the baby or not should be made early and if not, the baby must be protected. Then we need to put in place help for women to care for the baby without ruining her life. Support Life !

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Mandatory tubal ligation is not the solution. How many traffickers are going to have their female sex slaves go through the process for a free tubal ligation? How many victims of exploitation are going to go unnoticed because of such policies? Tubal ligation is not reversible. Should any young lady be permanently sterilized? The only time sterilization should be used is for compelling life-saving reasons.

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Thank you for presenting a detailed, well-thought-out proposal to maternal/fetal health! You clearly put a lot of effort into this. What you have outlined aligns with most of my hopes for this subject.

I’d ideally like to see the following:

*Family planning/health education that includes a distinction between elective abortion and medically necessitated termination of a pregnancy.

  • Exceptions must exist for maternal life and fetal abnormalities. No woman should have to make the decision to potentially or certainly end her life to carry a pregnancy to term. No woman should be forced to carry a baby to term that is incompatible with life.
  • I personally feel that rape and incest should be exceptions. Asking a woman to deliver a child from a violent, traumatic, etc event can cause significant long-term mental health complications. I would liken it to forcing a soldier/veteran with PTSD to spend 9 months confronting a trigger to their PTSD. That being said, I understand the grounds of the “It’s not the baby’s fault.” argument.
  • No elective abortions after fetal viability. I think it’s important to phrase based on viability rather than a set number of weeks because viability changes. Healthcare innovations can lower the age of viability.
  • If fetal development has progressed to the point that it can feel pain, then pain medication needs to be administered.
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Can someone give me one example of why a woman would need an abortion to save her life? Can’t think of anything and please don’t say mental health

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What is the definition of abortion that you are going off of? (People use “abortion” to mean different things.)

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I agree (with Brandi) and my proposal reflects ALL of those things, with one caveat.

Regarding your suggestion that late term elective abortions be banned: I fully agree, BUT Trump has said he will not sign any abortion ban (although I hope the next president will support a 15 week restriction).

Here is my alternative suggestion that I mentioned in my policy idea: Since Trump won’t sign a ban, how about simply banning the use of feticide & medical neglect against viable babies? For example, ban dismemberment, digoxin shots, intrauterine instillations & umbilical cord transections, and all other forms of violence, against unborn babies determined to be viable & likely to survive infancy. Mandate full medical treatment for viable babies born alive.

These alternate suggestions would accomplish four things: (1) it would dissuade a lot of women seeking late term elective abortions, (2) preserves the option for those who need to deliver for health reasons, (3) ensures the survival of more babies and (4) eliminates the common Democrat claim that an act to protect babies born alive would just cause suffering for families and nonviable babies more likely to die or suffer a severe physical condition.

1 Like

I agree with adoption policy reform. Having family and friends go through the nightmare of adoption, the heartbreak of a birth parent deciding to reclaim the child or extorting the adoptive family is unreal, the incredible expenses, it’s hard to find joy in the process of giving a much wanted child a family.

1 Like