The recent news about the Dobbs case and its presumed threat to Roe v. Wade has poured more fuel onto the already-blazing abortion debate. But even without an impending end to Roe, the left hurls a lot of reasons to support the act of snuffing out the lives of innocent unborn children.
One that some on the pro-life side struggle with arguing against is the following claim: It is sometimes medically necessary to abort an unborn baby to spare the mother’s life.
But is that true?
No. The act of aborting a baby is never medically necessary to save the life of a woman.
Pro-life group Live Action has shared a video featuring Dr. Kendra Kolb, a neonatologist, in which Kolb debunks this myth.
“In situations where the mother’s life is truly in jeopardy, her pregnancy must end, and the baby must be delivered,” Kolb explains in the video. “These situations occur in cases of mothers who develop dangerously high blood pressure, have decompensating heart disease, life-threatening diabetes, cancer, or a number of other very serious medical conditions.”
Sometimes, these babies are delivered before they can survive on their own outside their mother’s womb — which is between 22 and 24 weeks after conception.
But this is preterm delivery, not an abortion. There’s a tremendous difference: doctors are not intentionally ending the life of the child.
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If it were an abortion in the second trimester, this would involve what’s called a dilation and evacuation procedure. This is an abortion procedure in which the provider prematurely dilates the cervix of woman in order to forcibly remove the baby and the placenta with forceps and other instruments.
An abortion in the third trimester means injecting the baby with a lethal dose of medication into his/her head or heart.
It’s a cold, violent, cruel, and painful end for the child. This is not what happens during preterm delivery, where the baby comes out with gentle hands and everything that can be done for him or her is performed.
No one in a preterm delivery situation is intentionally ending the life of the child.
If the baby passes away, the child is mourned and honored. It’s a genuine tragedy that cannot be avoided. The child is loved, respected, and cared for — just like any other person.
Christa Brown, director of Medical Impact for Heartbeat International, shared some eye-opening facts.
“Abortion to save the life of the mother is a reason some use to keep the door open to legal abortion on demand,” she said.
Brown provided important statistical information relating to terminating pregnancies:
Of the many abortions committed in the U.S. each year:
● 97% are for financial or emotional strain, or other undefined reasons.
● Only 1-3% are for the reason of rape, incest, fetal anomalies, and danger to the mother’s life.
● In addition, "life of the mother" is sometimes expanded to include "health of the mother," which can include any temporary discomfort —including stress.
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In a statement from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) they concluded: "Induced abortion, that is the deliberate killing of an unborn child prior to separating that child from the mother, is never necessary to save the life or preserve the health of any woman."
AAPLOG also supports the Dublin Declaration, a 2017 document signed by more than 1,000 physicians that clarifies the difference between abortion and medical treatments performed to save the life of the mother.
It states in part:
“As experienced practitioners and researchers in Obstetrics and Gynecology, we affirm that direct abortion is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman. We uphold that there is a fundamental difference between abortion and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatments results in the loss of life of her unborn child. We confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.”
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While the discussion around Dobbs and Roe remains intense and abortion advocates continue to use the flawed medically necessary abortion argument, the science — underscored by the Dublin Declaration and AAPLOG’s statement — provides an excellent life-affirming refutation and response.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
