Cancer coincides with roughly 1 in 1,000 pregnancies. But medications and other treatments can be toxic to the developing fetus or cause birth defects.
, cancer physicians are wrestling with how new state laws will influence their discussions with pregnant patients about what treatment options they can offer., melanoma, cervical cancer, lymphomas, and leukemias. But medications and other treatments can be toxic to the developing fetus or cause birth defects. In some cases, hormones that are supercharged during pregnancy fuel the cancer's growth, putting the patient at greater risk.
"Is that a medical emergency that necessitates the abortion? I don't know," Nduom asked, trying to parse the medical emergency exception."Then you end up in a situation where you have an overzealous prosecutor who is saying, 'Hey, this patient had a medical abortion; why did you need to do that?'" he said.
"You need treatment urgently," she said."You can't wait three months or six months to complete a pregnancy." When cancer strikes individuals of child-bearing age, one challenge is that malignancies tend to be more aggressive, said Dr. Miriam Atkins, an oncologist in Augusta, Georgia. Another is that it's unknown whether some of the newer cancer drugs will affect the fetus, she said.
It's difficult to fully assess how physicians plan to handle such dilemmas and discussions in states with near-total abortion bans. Several large medical centers contacted for this article said their physicians were not interested or not available to speak on the subject. The bottom line, maintain some, is that termination remains a critical and legal part of care when cancer threatens someone's life.
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