Thread by @secularprolife

Abortion restrictions don't apply to treatment of missed miscarriage, meaning procedures or medications to remove the remains of a dead embryo or fetus. The laws aren't written ambiguously. For example here is Texas law: 🧵 https://t.co/2byuPUPMrJstatutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS…

Sometimes a woman has likely had a missed miscarriage but the doctor will delay offering D&C or mife/miso. People sometimes assume this delay is because of anti-abortion laws, but waiting is not uncommon even in states without restrictions. 2/

First, doctors may recommend waiting if they aren't absolutely certain the woman has experienced a missed miscarriage. Here are criteria for confirmed missed miscarriage (left) vs suspected but not confirmed (right). 3/ https://t.co/J8tr1aDvhqnejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

There are cases where doctors think a woman has miscarried but wait to be sure, and it turns out she hasn't. 4/

Second, D&Cs and mife/miso aren't without their own risks. Doctors may ask women to wait and see if their bodies expel the remains without intervention believing that's the safer option in given circumstances. If it doesn't work, they can still opt for D&C or pills. 5/

Women experiencing missed miscarriage have had their medical teams wait before offering D&C or pills since well before Dobbs and in places that currently don't have first trimester abortion restrictions. 6/

In contrast, women in Texas with early restrictions have still been getting treatment for missed miscarriage. 7/

Similarly women in other places with abortion restrictions are getting missed miscarriage care. 8/

The fact of a doctor suggesting waiting before treatment for missed miscarriage doesn't mean they're afraid of abortion laws (that don't prohibit this treatment to begin with). 9/