Mental crises excluded from some state abortion exemptions

Mental health advocates say there’s a cruel quirk in abortion bans in several states: There are exemptions for life-threatening emergencies, but psychiatric crises don’t count. 

It makes no sense to an Arizona mother of three who became suicidal during her fourth pregnancy and says an abortion saved her life. Or to researcher Kara Zivin, who nearly died from a suicide attempt in pregnancy and whose work suggests these crises are not uncommon. 

Zivin had a healthy baby, but she sympathizes with women facing mental health emergencies who believe their only option is to end a pregnancy. 

“People often try to treat mental health as distinct from physical health, as if your brain is somehow removed from the rest of your body,” said Zivin, a University of Michigan professor of psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and health management.