“If you knew the following were true” is how the lie started in the survey paid for by the NSRC (National Senatorial Republican Committee) and managed by an agency called OnMessage, Inc. I’m sure this phrase flew over the heads of many people taking this survey. The above slide is from a slide presentation of the survey’s results. It’s a good example of abortion lies we hear coming out of anti-abortionist activists. The U.S. abortion law before Dobbs was framed by Roe vs. Wade, which does not allow abortions to be performed for any reason, up until the very moment of birth. To say Roe allowed that is a lie. The response to the question above is, but that is not true. I know it’s not true. You know that’s not true, too.
The pernicious lies Anti-Abortion folks spread are main stream. The average person in the street believes them. They are repeated so often the liars believe them. For 50 years Roe vs. Wade was the parameter governing abortion. Up to 12 weeks, available to anyone for any reason is true. Between 12 weeks 1 day and 24 weeks, available under some restrictions to ensure the health for the pregnant person, but still for most reasons. After viability (the court determined to be 24 weeks in 1973), abortion is only available for very good reasons like 1. The pregnant person is very ill or dying. 2. The fetus is in serious distress, non-viable or dying. 3. Both the pregnant person and fetus are in serious ill health or dying. Human rights activists say this decision is best made between the patient and their physicians and I agree with this position. Nobody’s personal situation fits in a neat box. There’s always the possibility of anything can happen. The anti-abortion advocate wants the right to second guess the patient and their physicians. They want to say, “That’s not a good enough reason”. This nosiness is unconscionable. The ill-defined aspects of “saving the life of the mother” does not cover alleviating the suffering of a pregnant person should the pregnancy progress to severe complications. This decision is best made between the patient and their physicians.
What is not in the 1973 court decision, but is de facto done by every Ob/Gyn I have ever met is at 36 weeks if the pregnancy runs into serious complications threatening the life of either the pregnant person or baby; that’s going to result in a C-Section or induction of labor. The end result will be either a still born or a live baby.
Unfortunately, fetal demise or a maternal issue can occur at any time. When that happens, the retained products of conception must be removed or sepsis is a serious risk. Only about 31% of people who have sepsis survive. Early enough, medication alone is used. later a D&C. Sometimes the pregnant person is at serious imminent risk of one permanent problem or another, which also, can occur at any time. At this point the medical decision making is intense, complicated and time constrained. How many weeks along is the pregnancy? Is the fetus viable? Is sepsis or stroke an imminent concern? Can the pregnancy continue for 5 more days to get the medication that stimulates surfactant development, so the fetal lungs will work in air be administered effectively? It depends upon so many issues at this point that it’s best to let the parents and doctors decide what to do. Adding a layer of anti-abortionist regulations won’t help the pregnant person or their family. Once a decision is made to end the pregnancy, how should it be done safely? Again, how many weeks is a major factor. Medication abortion drugs are often used along with surgical means to end the pregnancy with minimal side effects between 24-28 weeks.
Perinatal death is when a fetus dies after the 28th week up until 7 days post birth. This is the one of the saddest vital statistics the U. S. monitors. It’s sad because pregnancies that progress to this stage are generally wanted babies. No doctor will perform an abortion after the 28th week “for any reason”. It has to be a legally acceptable reason. To avoid sepsis is an acceptable reason. It must be a reason that fits within the Roe vs. Wade framework. If the fetus is not viable or the pregnant person is near death; then the decision is made according to the situation as what is best. Best is a relative word here. It could mean a C-section, labor induction or another course of action.
So, when Congressman Mike Johnson R-Louisiana, asked Dr. Yashica Robinson about terminating a pregnancy with the baby half-way out of the birth canal, Senator Johnson was using a lie to make a cruel emotional point. Dr. Robinson was pointed in saying she’d never been in that circumstance. I think I heard her say that doesn’t happen, or something like that. As several Ob/gyns have explained to me, it is rare to go to term without the doctor and parents knowing the health status of the baby. If there are health issues; it’s rare the Ob/gyn isn’t aware of them or at least the possibility. They make a birth plan. It can go sideways, but not usually deathly sideways. Sideways usually means C-Section. It is rare for a baby to spontaneously and unexpectedly die in the perinatal period. During labor, the doctor would be rendering a strenuous medical intervention whether it was expected or not. If the medical team were not successful in helping the baby to live, it would be considered a perinatal death. Either way, the parents are usually inconsolable. Senator Johnson’s question would be rubbing salt into the parent’s wounds no matter how long ago this happened to them. Perinatal death leads to peer review, medical director reviews, an investigation, risk management review, nurse auditor reviews, coding audits and multiple managerial reviews and the entire maternity unit would be devastated along side the parents. All the reviews are to guide the doctor and the facility to improve their maternity services.
To suggest an abortion actually takes place at 40 weeks of pregnancy is worse than a lie. It’s a fraud perpetrated by a ruthless anti-abortion zealot. Can the baby die that late? Yes, but it’s rare and usually they do an emergency C-Section to prevent the death. I know of no doctor who would perform an abortion this late. It just isn’t done. Ever. Yet people like Senator Mike Johnson believes it because his good standing with the GQP depends upon it.
Over the last 10 years the anti-abortion message has morphed from “we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned pregnancy” to criminalizing miscarriages and abortion complications. (Link is from the 2012 GOP Platform, use find for abortion. This clause is soon after the 8th time abortion is used in the document.) Maybe they were genuine in 2012, but I was suspicious of the GOP in regard to women’s rights then. Today confirms my suspicions. The anti-women agenda is in high gear. Once they successfully roll back women’s rights…. everyone’s civil rights can be rolled back.
The abundance of lies anti-abortionist advocates spew range from the fantastic to the absurd. No aspect of reproductive health is safe from spin at the very least. I will not repeat the lies. I will be listing the truths below. I don’t do myth busting because people remember the myth, not the truth.
- Abortion is a safe procedure. Very safe. So safe, anti-abortionists have to make up health hazards that don’t exist to promote their anti-abortion position. Legal abortion is safe. It is the highly restricted or illegal abortions that are done in unsafe conditions that are unsafe— and even then, not all the time.
- Legally induced abortion is demonstrably safer than child birth. Like 14 times safer overall. The caveat is the later the abortion, the more risks occur. If you look at this “fact check”, which does see this issue; they have to go back 18 and 28 years (17 &27 years when this was written) to cherry pick the data they want. Since 1994, abortion surgery is more safe as newer and safer methods were implemented.
- There are no confirmed long term health consequences of having an abortion.
- Medication abortions need to be completed, once the first drug, mifepristone, is taken. Skipping the second drug, misoprostol, or worse taking a large does of progesterone is not advisable for a couple reasons. The results of taking only the first drug is not well studied. No ethical medical professional would suggest this as an acceptable practice. The consequences of doing this are not known. Only a an unconscionable liar would suggest doing this.
- There are plans to outlaw multiple forms of birth control. All you have to do is search for abortifacient here. The devilish details is how to define abortifacient. Don’t take my word for it read what the anti-abortion activists have said in their own words. So when a Republican or anti-abortion activist says there is no plan to outlaw birth control pills, IUDs, Plan B, the ring, they are lying.
- Anti-abortion activists define and IUD as the use or prescription of any instrument or device or of an abortifacient. The National Right to Life Committee defines: [An] “Unborn child” means a living individual organism of the species homo sapiens throughout all stages of the unborn child’s development within a pregnant woman’s uterus from fertilization until birth. The key phrase is “from fertilization to birth”. The uterus word is there for confusion purposes.
- Anti-abortion activists consider Plan B an abortifacient and it would be outlawed by the model law.
- The Bible doesn’t forbid abortion. It was known and practiced using abortifacients. The word, abortion, doesn’t appear at all. In fact according to the books of Moses, life doesn’t begin until the baby takes it’s first breath. Life began for Adam when God breathed breath into him (Genesis 2.7). No anti-abortion activist wants anyone to know this. The want you to focus on the 10 commandments.
- It doesn’t matter what the Bible or any other sacred text says about abortion. The United States is NOT a theocracy.
- Most women don’t regret their abortions. The 5% who do are very loud about it drowning out the 95% who primarily express is relief. The 95% say the decision they made then was the right one for them. We should not dismiss the 5% who do have regrets, but I will say these women would be best served by seeking care from qualified, licensed mental health professionals, not licensed anti-abortionist clergy that will shame them. I would further suggest their regrets are more due to the negatives directed at them from anti-abortion activists.
- Denying a woman an abortion has far more lasting mental health and economic consequences. This finding is covered in more than one study done over many years. This one is for comparing wanted vs. unwanted children born in the 1960s.
- People with religious agendas tend to promote abortion regret. Not all peer reviewed studies disclose their bias. Some are better than others. The problem with studying the aftermath of abortion is in grouping the women seeking abortion. Determining if the mental issues are due to the abortion, or if the problems were present before the pregnancy. Is there a history of an abusive partner, abusive religious practices, previous mental health issues, or or life long living in poverty? Controlling for these variables is difficult to do in these studies. Abortion regret is not as simple as presented.
- The pregnant person generally gives accurate information to their doctors and other professionals when seeking abortion care. The dates can get fuzzy, but the info is correct. Medical professionals, however, must be accurate in their medical record keeping. Errors there leads to regulatory oversight, fines, loss of licensure and worse. I know of no healthcare professional who would falsify the records of a person seeking abortion care. Why would they? It’s legal. ...at least it was legal. It still is in several states. 1
- State lawmakers have legislated multiple state laws requiring doctors to tell lies to abortion seeking patients about abortion care.
Be clear. Denying a person abortion care is a forced pregnancy. Taking away a woman’s human right to end her pregnancy is forcing her to remain pregnant.
From the ACLU:
Forced Pregnancy laws include:
- All bans on abortion
- Medically unnecessary restrictions designed to shut down clinics so that people have to travel further to get abortion care
- Creating medically unnecessary hoops to jump through in order to discourage and block people from getting an abortion
- Laws that require insurance plans to exclude abortion coverage
- Laws designed to run out the clock that force people to delay their abortion care
- Medically unnecessary laws that increase the cost of care but do nothing to increase patient safety
- Denying people under 18 years of age access to confidential care by requiring the consent of others
Ask:
How do abortion bans “assist women with an unplanned pregnancy”?
How does an exception for the life of the mother parse out?
Why is it acceptable to force a people to remain pregnant until she becomes septic?
Why must a person remain pregnant with a known, doomed pregnancy until the fetus heartbeat ceases?
Why must a person remain pregnant until they have a stroke?
Why must a person wait until permanent damage is done to their body before an abortion can be done?
If you want fewer abortions, why don’t anti-abortion activists promote presumptive paid obstetrical care for all pregnant people, presumptive medical care for the child, WIC, SNAP, paid child care — all the things parents need to successfully raise a child? (The answer of course, is that it’s never been about life, so much as it’s been about control and punishment.)
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I added the last truths due to stargaze” comment below.
It is Congressman Mike Johnson or Louisiana not Senator.