What’s it like to care for mothers under Idaho abortion ban? Doctors weigh in
About once a year, in recent years, Dr. Becky Uranga has found herself in the same high-stakes situation: The Meridian OB-GYN sees a patient whose water has broken around 20 weeks into her pregnancy. At that stage, the chances of the fetus surviving are low, “but not zero,” Uranga said. In a best-case scenario, she and her team can get the mother on antibiotics and keep her and the fetus in a “holding pattern” for a few more weeks, increasing the likelihood that the baby could survive with time in the neonatal intensive care unit. But it’s a high-risk proposition: Once the mother’s water has broken, the risk of infection or other complications dramatically increases. If those occur, doctors must induce labor to protect the mother. Inducing labor around 20 or 21 weeks, when the fetus is periviable — an “in-betweenie time,” Uranga called it — could kill the fetus. If doctors induce and…