Cesarean Awareness & Personhood Laws

April is Cesarean Awareness Month. Because of that, I think it is the perfect time to talk about these personhood laws being promoted by Personhood USA. They currently have bills being presented in five states. These bills would give full rights to the fetus from the moment of conception. While that may not sound bad if you are pro-life, what they don't tell you is that the rights of the fetus then supersede the rights of the mother.

What this means for every pregnant woman is that a doctor or hospital can decide that you are making decisions for care that they do not agree with and can force you to have a cesarean. One woman in the video below was arrested at home while she was in labor because she wanted a VBAC. She was forcibly taken to the hospital and given a cesarean against her consent. She went on to have three successful VBACs at home later, proving the safety of VBAC and the integrity of her uterus.

Another woman was terminal. She wanted her husband to keep her alive as long as possible. The hospital decided it was against the baby's interest to do so and subjected her to a cesarean that neither she or the baby survived. Who's best interest was served here? Not the woman's... not the baby's... and not her family's.

Please... let your legislators know that this type of bill harms ALL pregnant women. If this bill is being presented in your state, actively oppose it. The states currently considering these bills include Montana, North Dakota, Mississippi, South Carolina and Maryland. Using pro-life arguments to undermine and remove the rights of the mother is unjust. These women in the video all wanted to carry their babies to term. They still fell victim to the courts, who ruled that they did not have the right to choose their method of birth or even get a second opinion. They lost the right to make their own medical decisions and to bodily integrity. Please take a stand for the women who give life to these precious babies. We are not just vessels from which to harvest children. Let us make the choices on how our babies enter this world.