WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — With that leak from the supreme court, there are questions about the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade what it could have on abortions in certain circumstances.
According to Dr. Payal Kohli, there are many complications that can happen during a women's pregnancy, but some cause a threat to the mother's life
"Complications can be life-threatening, both to mom and to the baby. And sometimes terminating the pregnancy is the only option. So depending on what trimester these complications occur in, there are different ways to treat these complications," Kohli said.
Kristi Judkins, the Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life, said Iowa Right to Life doesn't take a stance one way or the other as far as advocating for a woman to have the baby, or not if complications due to the pregnancy are threatening her life
"Sometimes that's kind of labeled abortion, but in a situation where you have a mother who is in a life-threatening situation. And her choice would not necessarily be to terminate her pregnancy for convenience, there is a little bit of a difference," Judkins said.
Although Judkins sees a difference between a woman willingly pursuing the termination of a pregnancy as an act of personal choice compared to medical reasons, she isn't sure how that should be handled on a legislative level
"There are definitely different sides of opinions as it relates to whether there should be exceptions for laws in the state that govern abortion, and you know, threats to the mother is one of those. And I think that would be up to our elected officials to determine how that would move forward, " Judkins said.
Kohil is concerned with the impact these decisions have on the medical community.
"Creating this type of a legal framework where we're taking away autonomy from physicians and from patients in order to you know, create a legal barrier to doing something that may be necessary for that particular patient's life. I think it's a really dangerous thing and I'm very concerned about the precedent that this is setting for the medical profession," Kohil said.
Iowa Right to Life said they do not support abortion for reasons like down syndrome and/or other genetic defects or disorders.
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