Abortions in the case of severe developmental disability in the fetus.

Did you hear about the recent case in Afghanistan where the Taliban are forcing a woman to carry a baby with severe developmental disability to term even though the baby will die shortly after birth and the woman is suffering bodily harm from the pregnancy?

j/k, this is happening in Texas.

Even the Taliban allow abortions in the case of severe developmental disability in the fetus, as well as when the parents are too poor to support the child.

The Texas attorney general and Supreme Court have both come down on the side of not allowing this woman, Kate Cox, to have an abortion. (Technically, the Supreme Court is blocking the abortion while they think more about whether they will allow it) This seems like a really weird hill to die on -- it's an absolutist view disconnected from reality, and common sense dictates that of course you prioritize the health of the mother if the baby is going to die almost immediately after birth, even if you don't generally support abortion. Surely this case will show the ridiculousness of the law.

Every culture has its costly signaling, where you do something that seems like a bad idea in order to prove your ideological purity and consequent membership in the tribe. Maybe prohibiting abortion even when it's absolutely obviously the right thing to do under nearly all moral frameworks is evangelical Republicans' version of this. Unfortunately, it's a costly signal they inflict on other people, causing others to suffer so they can assert their moral purity.

Texas bans abortions after six weeks unless the mother's health is in serious danger. There's enough ambiguity in the "serious danger" part, and the penalties are large enough, that doctors are generally not willing to perform abortions unless the mother's death is imminent. Furthermore, since it's rare to even know you're pregnant at six weeks unless you're actively testing, this law essentially amounts to a ban on abortion except when the mother is about to die.

Elected officials are supposed to represent the will of the people. It's interesting to see what public opinion polls in Texas say. (see attached image) If we lump the first two bars ("never" and "before six weeks") together:

• 28% of Texans do not support abortion even if the mother's health is seriously endangered.
• 35% do not support abortion if there's likely a serious birth defect.
• 36% do not support abortion in the event of rape

So the Texas law as written does not have the support of the majority of Texans. However, there's still a sizable minority in the state who likely agree with the court's decision. This is so far from my own moral framework that it's hard to comprehend. It's as if they're treating Kate Cox's nonviable fetus as a fully formed adult, and Kate's health outcome as an irrelevant consequence of preserving the fetus's life at all costs even though the fetus is about to die anyway.