Few issues polarize this country like abortion. Most Americans believe these intensely personal decisions should be made by families and doctors, not politicians. But even those who call themselves “pro-life” usually believe some exceptions should be made — in the case of rape, when it’s a matter of saving the mother’s life, or when doctors determine the fetus has no chance of survival.

But we’ve seen time and time again that “exceptions” don’t work.

Right now, in Georgia, a tragedy is playing out before our eyes. A young woman named Adriana Smith suffered multiple blood clots in February and was declared brain dead, but because she was 9 weeks pregnant at the time, the hospital is keeping her hooked up to machines until doctors believe her fetus can survive on its own.

It’s important to know that Adriana isn’t in a coma or even a vegetative state — legally and medically, she’s dead. Her body is being kept alive by more machines and medicines than you can imagine, all because of Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban. Imagine being Adriana’s mother. Watching your daughter’s body hooked up to all those machines, kept in this horrible middle space between life and death, not for days or weeks but for months. In interviews, she’s called it “torture.” And her family was never given a choice.

If Adriana, or Amanda Zurawski, or a ten-year-old rape victim aren’t exceptions to abortion laws, who is? And why should politicians get to decide? We can’t change the Dobbs decision, but we can push for an end to state abortion bans. We’ve already seen it work, like a 2023 constitutional amendment in Ohio. It isn’t easy, but we owe it to Adriana, Amanda, and all of the women whose stories have yet to be written.

For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected].

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