Woman declared legally dead is being kept alive due to state’s abortion laws

'weakly anti-abortion' is not this horror show. Let her be.

Frankly I'm anti-abortion, especially the ease in which it is carried out in most countries and the lack of respect to life this entails, AND I am also pro-women's choice, which trumps the former so I would not dream of making my opinion into a legal reality.

It's not all black and white.
There is nuance imo.

No, I would feel exactly the same way and I say this as someone whose mother died when I was young. No child should bought into this world without a mother. (Am against surrogacy too).

Speaking as Devil's Advocate I wonder if the reaction would be different if the Guardian's headline said "Doctors battle to save life of unborn child by keeping mum alive".

It is absolutely grotesque. At nine weeks, the foetus would not survive if born, and when it comes to term, will be severely underdeveloped, particularly in terms of brain function.

Will the state be taking responsibility for all medical fees, not only in terms of while the foetus is developing, but once born? I suspect not. It never fails to astound me that the US pro-lifers give zero fucks once the birth occurs.

It depends what you mean by 'dead' really. Brain death is a concept created out of advances in medical technology.

The baby isn't being gestated in a decomposing corpse, but in a body that is kept alive, with no awareness.

In the Czech case, the mum had lots of daily physio to help with blood flow etc, and the family would sit by her bedside and read fairy tales to the bump. Her dad was ready to raise her, and the family were in agreement.

In a society where most if us would agree that it would be fab if that mum could donate her organs whilst brain dead but being kept alive, to save lives, why is the idea of her giving the gift of time, to save her own child grotesque?

The point though is that both should be gifts freely given, not taken against the family's will.

Land of the free

There is no "left" in America - only various grades of radical and liberal right-wing capitalists and individualists.

In the best possible way, I hope the pregnancy isn’t viable and doesn’t continue. This is terribly sad for all involved.

Agree, all those things are a possibility.

And aside from all of that the child could grow up and read about all these articles online

Too bad every lawmaker who voted for that anti abortion garbage isn't responsible for paying all current and future medical bills raising from this grotesque travesty.

This is a woman as incubator.

@ElizaMulvil Someone did some research and found out the Tories are more left leaning than the Democrats!
But yes, a lot of left wing people don't believe in gender woo woo nonsense. I'm a sodding Commie.
Keeping a woman alive with machines in order for her to give birth to a baby that may or may not survive is horrific no matter which way you slice it.

Wait. What? Does the child she has, have a decent quality of life? Or are they riddled with health issues?

Horrific. That poor family.

All kinds of fucked up.

You genuinely think it is preferable for a foetus to gestate in a dead body? To be subjected to all the medicines that are required to keep a corpse "alive"? Do you know that the body starts to rot after brain death, despite all the "life support"? You'd want that for a child? And you'd want that child to be born without a mother and potentially with devastating disabilities? That's the better option in your view?

Depends which state you are in, as far as I can make out.

Allowing a woman to die, with the result that an unformed foetus in her uterus also dies, is not an abortion either; abortion is an intervention, and not keeping someone alive when they are brain-dead is not an intervention, it's the opposite of intervention.

I think abortion is sad, I'm against it based on stupid reasons (like sex selection, see China) and think the legal cut off point being 24 weeks is pushing it a bit, although I think in the UK medically necessary ones are allowed up to 40 weeks, which is fair. Those babies are very much wanted, and that's just heartbreaking.

Treating an ectopic pregnancy is not an abortion.

So you'd kill my mum, my cousin, and my children's old babysitter - who would have died of ectopic pregnancy, haemorrhage, and extreme hyperemesis with complications.

If the government (law) insists on keeping her alive in order for the baby to survive and it’s against the families wishes then the government should be paying the hospital fees and any care for the child thereafter if he / she is disabled etc

Yes of course, I feel for her family too. I cannot imagine what they are going through.

It's so awful. I watched her mother talking on the news the family weren't consulted. And the doctors don't know if the baby will be brain damaged or severely disabled, or even if he'll survive. It's horrific. She also said the medical bill is escalating and they're planning to keep her alive for another month at least. I actually can't believe this is happening in 2025