Giving Compass' Take:
- Ten states with abortion bans explicitly exclude mental health conditions as legal exceptions to abortion policies.
- Mental health advocates say this could put lives at risk for individuals with severe mental health disorders. How can donors help advocate for better mental health policy in reproductive rights?
- Learn how philanthropy can engage in reproductive justice efforts.
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More than a dozen states now have near-total abortion bans following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, with limited medical exceptions meant to protect the patient’s health or life.
But among those states, only Alabama explicitly includes “serious mental illness” as an allowable exception. Meanwhile, 10 states with near-total abortion bans (Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming) explicitly exclude mental health conditions as legal exceptions, according to an analysis from KFF, a health policy research organization.
Abortion rights advocates and mental health experts say those laws could put lives at risk. A report released last year by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzing maternal deaths between 2017 and 2019 found that that pregnant and postpartum people were more likely to die from mental health-related issues, including suicides and overdoses from substance use disorders, than any other cause. Mental health conditions in total accounted for 23 percent of pregnancy-related deaths with an identified cause.
The Alabama exception, which requires a diagnosis from a psychiatrist in practice for at least three years, doesn’t define “mental illness.” However, it specifies a diagnosis can only be used as an exception “if there is reasonable medical judgment” that the patient might engage in something that could result in their death or loss of the pregnancy.
Florida’s medical exception requires two physicians to certify an abortion is necessary to save the pregnant person’s’s life or avoid “serious risk” of substantial impairment to a “major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.”
Similarly, Tennessee’s law reads, “No abortion shall be deemed authorized … on the basis of a claim or a diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct that would result in her death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function or for any reason relating to her mental health.”
During a special legislative session on abortion in July, Iowa Republican state Rep. Shannon Lundgren defended the exclusion of mental health exceptions during a floor debate, after Rep. Austin Baeth, a Democrat and physician, cited the maternal mental health-related death statistics, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
“I would like to recognize that abortion isn’t a treatment for mental illness,” Lundgren said. “Obviously if we have someone whose life is in danger, a doctor should take an approach to make sure they immediately refer them to inpatient care.”
Read the full article about abortion bans and mental health decisions by Nada Hassanein at The19th.