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Comment by Latty | Hacker News Reader

> The only sacrifice in that case would have been giving birth itself.

You say that like this is trivial. Giving birth is literally life-threatening.

My wife almost died earlier this year giving birth to our very much wanted child. She was in great health and had a normal pregnancy, then developed HELLP and related complications (DIC, kidney injury) while in labor.

This took place at a world-class hospital in a major American city. We both believe she would have died had she been anywhere else.

No should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, ever.

Maternal death during birth does happen, but odds are low.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2020...

It isn't so low it's reasonable to force someone to take that risk, and often in abortion cases (young mothers in particular) it's significantly higher.

So is driving to the store, give me a break.

Here ya go:

In 2020, 861 women were identified as having died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 754 in 2019

NHTSA projects that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year

It's good to keep some perspective when you say giving birth is, "literally life threatening."

Putting aside that completing a pregnancy is drastically more risky than a single drive to the store:

You are never legally forbidden from hitting the brakes and deciding that a particular drive to the store is too risky and that you aren't going to complete it. You should have the same right to choose not to complete a pregnancy.

Please stop trolling. Step outside yourself for a moment and realize this is precisely the kind of discourse which greatly degrades the quality of the discussion.

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