Originally Posted by
Poptart
"6 weeks pregnant" doesn't mean what you think. The count starts from the first day of your last period, not the date of conception. Most women do not find out that they're pregnant until after they've missed their period. A woman is technically considered over 4 weeks pregnant at this point. Furthermore, menstrual cycles can vary in length from month to month. 28 days is the average, but its completely normal to have a sequence of cycles with lengths 28, 30, 33, 27, etc, which means that a woman might not be alarmed until many days after her first missed period.
Not coincidentally, states with 6 week bans on abortion have heavy regulations to limit the number of legal open clinics and create a shortage of available appointments. Before this case was brought to the supreme court, Mississippi had only one open abortion clinic in the entire state. As you might guess, that clinic was consistently fully booked two weeks out. States also have laws requiring women to attend a "counseling session", obtain multiple pelvic exams, or endure mandatory waiting periods before they're legally allowed to have the procedure. Basically they give you a minute to complete an obstacle course but start the timer at 50 seconds.