How Zika could change the politics of late-term abortion
The virus causes birth defects, a factor that might influence some views on abortion.
By Jennifer Haberkorn
08/22/16 05:35 PM EDT
Updated 08/22/16 05:16 PM EDT
For years, most Americans have opposed abortions late in pregnancy.
Zika could change that, potentially undermining support for a national ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy as more women infected with the virus find themselves in the crosshairs of the abortion wars if they choose to end their pregnancies.
Pregnant women with the Zika virus are at risk of giving birth to babies with devastating brain damage, which can be detected only around 18 to 20 weeks — and often much later than that. More than 1,200 pregnant women have been diagnosed with the virus in the U.S. so far, mostly in Puerto Rico. And with the numbers climbing in Florida, the nation’s top health official urged pregnant women and their sexual partners to avoid nonessential travel to all of Miami-Dade County.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/zika-abortion-politics-227285