(ProPublica) – Each year, hundreds of thousands of women enter pregnancy with chronic conditions that put them at an elevated risk of long-term complications and, in some cases, death.For those who live in states that have banned abortion, their options are now severely limited.  

Our reporting has found that abortion bans generally don’t include exceptions that cover these kinds of health concerns — or if they do, doctors aren’t using them. 

Instead, the exceptions are for the “life of the mother.” In practice, this often means doctors won’t act without strong evidence that their patients are very likely to die. Where there have been efforts to create broader health exceptions to cover a range of medical risks women can face in pregnancy, anti-abortion activists have fought against them. They argue that such exceptions are too permissive and could allow nearly anyone to get an abortion. (Read More)