War on Women’s Health
Abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy. It can be performed surgically or with medication – typically mifepristone and misoprostol. While public debate often focuses on elective abortion, the reality is broader: abortion care includes emergency life-saving procedures for treating ectopic pregnancies, severe infections, or incomplete miscarriages. Without access to these abortion procedures, a woman could die from complications (1).
Reproductive care options are limited in Tuolumne County. Many must travel long distances for OB-GYN services. But if Project 2025’s policies are implemented, access could become nonexistent, even in emergencies (2).
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a sweeping right-wing agenda created by the Heritage Foundation and more than 100 conservative groups. It proposes to:
- ban abortion pills nationwide by revoking FDA approval of mifepristone and misoprostol (1);
- reactivate the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that criminalizes mailing abortion medications or contraceptives (3),
- block emergency abortion care, overriding current federal requirements (1),
- and limit contraception access, allowing employers to deny coverage based on beliefs (3).
These changes would devastate not only reproductive rights but also urgent medical care.
The Impact in Tuolumne County
If these proposals are enacted in California, doctors may legally deny care to a woman suffering a miscarriage until they are certain the fetus no longer has a heartbeat, even if she is hemorrhaging. If emergency contraception is banned, it could force a teen survivor of sexual assault or child molestation to carry a pregnancy to term. Our rural hospital, with no nearby alternative, may refuse to perform life-saving abortions, citing “conscience” clauses (2).
The consequences are deadly. A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study found that states with abortion bans saw higher maternal mortality rates (4).
Take Action
- Get educated: learn more about reproductive health at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Health Access California.
- Contact local officials and urge your representatives to protect reproductive and emergency care access.
- Support local advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and Access Reproductive Justice. They need your support.
Abortion care is not just political—it’s medical, essential, and often lifesaving.
NOTES
- “The Top 5 Ways Project 2025 Would Destroy Abortion Access,” Center for Reproductive Rights, Sept. 18, 2024, Accessed April 16, 2025.
- “Protecting Reproductive Health in California: What’s at Stake,” Health Access California, 2024, Accessed April 16, 2025.
- “Understanding Project 2025’s Radical Anti-Abortion Policies,” National Women’s Law Center, 2024, Accessed April 16, 2025.
- “Maternal Mortality and Abortion Access,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 329, no. 4, pp. 345–356 2023, Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.