In Alabama, the overall maternal mortality ratio in 2018 was 11.9 per 100,000. Among white women, the 2018 maternal mortality ratio was 5.6; among black women, it was 27.6, making black women in Alabama almost five times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women. For the United States overall, the maternal mortality ratio was 20.7.

By comparison, a study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology on abortion mortality from 1998 to 2010 found that for the 16.1 million abortions performed during that time, the overall death rate was 0.7 per 100,000 procedures. The death rate for early-abortion procedures — those that took place within the first eight weeks of the pregnancy — was less: 0.3 per 100,000.

Pregnancy is dangerous; abortion can be lifesaving.

Alabama’s new law claims that it does not prohibit abortion if there is a “reasonable medical judgment” that the pregnancy poses a “serious health risk” to the woman. An abortion may be performed if a “reasonable medical judgment” “necessitates” that a pregnancy be terminated to “avert her death or to avert serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function.” The definition of a “major bodily function” is not given, nor is it distinguished from a minor bodily function.

But pregnancy itself poses a “serious health risk” — including the risk of dying and losing all bodily functions. A woman’s life and health are at risk from the moment that a pregnancy exists in her body, whether she wants to be pregnant or not.

All of the above raises multiple important questions: Could a doctor who determines that a woman is pregnant also determine, as a consequence of that pregnancy, that a “serious health risk” exists? Could that doctor then end her pregnancy without fear of prosecution? Who decides what a “reasonable medical judgment” is or what a “major bodily function” is? What are the criteria for these judgments?