evidence: As the threat of criminal prosecution looms over doctors and hospitals in the 15 states where abortion is illegal, medical professionals, erring on the side of extreme caution because of vaguely worded laws and few meaningful exceptions, are resisting abortion care, even in life-threatening circumstances. Fear of lawsuits, loss of medical licenses, hefty fines, and considerable jail time have driven doctors to jeopardize patient care, either by delaying or denying pregnancy termination. And as we now know, this also has meant performing medical procedures that imperil patients, including substituting C-sections for abortion care, an emerging pattern researchers and abortion providers say will only increase over time. [...] The decision to perform a C-section in lieu of abortion care is one that anti-abortion advocates not only applaud but explicitly recommend. For instance, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a large and influential anti-abortion group, writes that "cesarean section may be a more appropriate method of separation" than abortion, because it "shows greater respect for the human dignity of the fetus, even if she is too young or sick to survive." The American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, the largest organization of its kind in the world, recommend cesarean section – which they define as "morally good" as it "does not dismember" the fetus. "Many physicians are repelled by the idea of performing a cesarean section in order to avoid dismembering the fetus. However, it is AAPLOG’s position that classical cesarean delivery should not cause more repulsion than dismemberment or disarticulation of a living human fetus," they write in their ethical guidelines, nonetheless.