The case for third-trimester abortions

Why is it so difficult for Democrats like Northam and this political consultant to make a confident, affirmative case for third-trimester abortion as essential health care and a woman’s right? One reason is that a fetus in the third trimester of pregnancy looks like a newborn baby. If a third-trimester fetus is healthy, there’s a good chance it could survive outside the womb—and Roe v. Wade, as it’s widely interpreted, only guarantees a woman’s right to abortion up until fetal viability (usually around the end of the second trimester) or in cases where her life and health are in danger. This eliminates the “constitutionally protected” argument that undergirds a lot of the rhetoric of abortion-rights groups.

There’s also the fact that the experiences of pregnancy, birth, and human development don’t lend themselves easily to the broad yet hyperspecific generalizations that pieces of legislation require. Every body—of a pregnant woman, of a fetus—is different, as is every set of life circumstances that might lead a woman to choose abortion as the best option for her and her family. Arguing for the right to third-trimester abortion means arguing that the exceptions should become the rule: Even though third-trimester abortions are extraordinarily rare, if restrictions on them are too strict, they could prevent women in unimaginably difficult and dangerous situations from getting the care they need. But it’s hard to convince the general public that loosening abortion restrictions to account for these few cases won’t then allow all manner of women to wait until they’re 30 weeks pregnant to request elective abortions. The reality is, there’s no reason why any woman would decide of her own free will to opt for a more dangerous, painful, and wildly expensive procedure over an earlier, easier one. But in a culture that believes women to be fundamentally irrational and untrustworthy—in issues of sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination as well as reproductive health—an If they can, they will argument is more convincing than the simple truth of They won’t.