Mental crises excluded from some state abortion exemptions

By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

Abortion bans in several states allow exemptions for life-threatening health emergencies, but they say mental health crises don’t count. Some abortion foes say the laws target women who fake mental illness to get doctors to agree to end their pregnancies. But critics say it’s an example of how mental illness is often disregarded, as if the brain were somehow distinct from the rest of the body. They note that life-threatening mental health crises happen more often in pregnancy than some realize. A U.S. government report released in September shows mental health conditions recently became the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related deaths.