None of the pro-life laws that states have passed in the two years since the end of Roe v. Wade prevent women from receiving medical care for a miscarriage or another pregnancy-related emergency.
(NCR) A recently released political ad features a fictional woman’s bitter final words to her father, a supporter of Donald Trump, as she lay dying from an implied pregnancy complication.
“It didn’t have to end this way, Dad,” the woman says. “You knew what he’d do. You knew his politics would end my freedom, my rights. You chose hate over me.”
The woman isn’t the only thing that’s fictional about the ad. None of the pro-life laws that states have passed in the two years since the end of Roe v. Wade prevent women from receiving medical care for a miscarriage or another pregnancy-related emergency.
The ad, from an anti-Trump political action group called The Lincoln Project, drew a swift condemnation from pro-life leaders.
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Shame on you @ProjectLincoln for spreading blatant lies. Every law in the country allows for OBGYNs like me to intervene immediately when a woman has a potentially life-threatening condition. Stop intimidating people with lies. Prolife laws protect women and girls https://t.co/RBChQdq01N
— Dr. Christina Francis (@DrFrancis4Life) October 13, 2024
“Shame on you, @ProjectLincoln for spreading blatant lies,” Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs, wrote on X. “Every law in the country allows for OBGYNs like me to intervene immediately when a woman has a potentially life-threatening condition. Stop intimidating people with lies. Prolife laws protect women and girls.”
“The claim that any pro-life law would not permit treatment for a miscarriage is false,” Katie Daniel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Prolife America, told the Register. “It’s an insult to tell women they have something to fear.”
Tweet This: The claim that any pro-life law would not permit treatment for a miscarriage is false.
Yet the frequency of these claims by Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates suggests the strategy is proving effective, on some level.
Recently, Daniel heard from someone who had a miscarriage who told her that a family member asked her, “Are you even going to be able to get care?”
“We need to do more to push against this narrative,” Daniel said.
Louis Brown, executive director of the Christ Medicus Foundation and board member and vice president of public policy of the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance, agrees.
“Abortion, the intentional killing of an unborn child, is never medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant mother. Catholic medical professionals and Catholic hospitals in the United States have cared for tens of millions of mothers and preborn children in all sorts of circumstances without having to perform an abortion,” he told the Register. “Every pro-life state law and every proposed pro-life federal legislative proposal seeks to protect pregnant mothers and preborn children in the event of pregnancy complications. Every single pro-life state law in the country allows medical professionals and health-care entities to provide medical care for pregnant mothers in circumstances of miscarriage or other unexpected medical difficulties. The abortion industry and pro-abortion elected officials are intentionally attempting to confuse the American people by conflating abortion with miscarriage and other pregnancy complications. The abortion industry is also lying about pro-life health care, Catholic health care, and the impact of pro-life state and federal laws that restrict abortion.”
Tweet This: Abortion, the intentional killing of an unborn child, is never medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant mother.
He added, “The truth is that faithfully Christ-centered Catholic and pro-life medical professionals and hospitals provide excellent medical care for both pregnant mothers and their preborn children. The truth is that states with pro-life abortion restrictions are the safest places for the life, health and dignity of pregnant mothers and preborn children. Both pregnant mothers and preborn children deserve quality medical care that respects and protects the dignity of them both. Contrary to the deceptions of the abortion industry, chemical and surgical abortions are amongst the greatest dangers to the life, health and safety of pregnant mothers.”
Scare tactics
According to Daniel, no pro-life group supports laws that punish women. “Women are being lied to constantly, such as being told their baby is not a human being, or that they won’t get medical care, or they will face legal consequences if they get an abortion.”
She encourages people to actually read the abortion law in their state and realize how frequently pro-abortion politicians are willing to lie to push their agenda. “The pro-life side has written these laws to protect women and their children,” Daniel said.
Daniel pointed to pro-abortion groups using the death of 28-year-old Amber Thurman in Georgia to push their agenda.
Thurman had taken an abortion pill and suffered complications but delayed going to the emergency room. Some media outlets and politicians are misleading people by claiming Georgia barred doctors from saving her life. That is false. The Georgia Department of Community Health issued a statement regarding misinformation on their abortion laws. “In the State of Georgia, abortion is permissible at any stage of pregnancy to save the life and health of the mother in the event of an emergency.” The statement said further that failure to provide lifesaving treatment “may constitute medical malpractice,” adding: “Physicians are reminded that Georgia law requires life-saving medical care to a mother without delay.”
“Another woman, Alyona Dixon, who died of the same complications in Nevada, which has liberal abortion laws, is never mentioned because her story doesn’t serve their agenda,” Daniel said. “So she will not get mourned because she’s not a useful political tool to the other side.”
Daniel wondered if Thurman had been told there is a 1-in-20 chance for complications from the abortion pill. “The drug label says there is a 1-in-20 chance,” she said. “Many businesses that are selling abortion have been cited for not providing the proper informed consent.”
Women Speak Out, a political action committee partner of Susan B. Anthony Prolife America, has launched ads to combat such misinformation.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony Prolife America, uses scientific, statistical and medical research to educate on the value of life from fertilization to natural death. Its 2023 annual report found that pro-life laws exempt women from prosecution in all states that have strong gestational limits on abortion.
Tweet This: Every law in the country allows for OBGYNs to intervene immediately when a woman has a potentially life-threatening condition.
Doctor’s perspective
Dr. Sudheer Jayaprabhu, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Texarkana, Texas, who is a member of AAPLOG Action advocating for both mothers and their children, noted that there have been no changes in the regulations in Texas for dealing with miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies.
“In fact, the Texas law (Section 245.002) clearly states that removing ‘a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by a spontaneous abortion’ (i.e., miscarriages) does not constitute an act of abortion. This is the same way that we have practiced medicine both before and after the Texas heartbeat bill,” he said.
When a baby has a heartbeat, but there is a threatened miscarriage because the mother is bleeding, Jayaprabhu explained that it is referred to as a threatened spontaneous abortion. “The accepted treatment is to wait until the cervix is opened or there is no heartbeat,” he said. “If an infection is noted — known as septic abortion — we would of course treat appropriately. Therefore, there is no change to the law as to how miscarriages are treated in the state of Texas.”
“There is a lot of miscommunication,” he added, “and it is rather frustrating.”
Clarifying amid confusion
Monica Miller, founder and director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, explained the crux of the miscarriage misinformation: “To a minimal level, there has been some confusion as to what doctors can do to treat ectopic pregnancies. I don’t think these laws are vague, but whatever confusion there is, let’s get it fixed and move past that.”
Miller said that situations of misapplication, misunderstanding or confusion on abortion bans are being used as an excuse to push for abortion to be legal all nine months of pregnancy. “It’s completely disingenuous,” she said. Miller pointed out that Oklahoma issued a statement clearing up any confusion after the state banned most abortions. It was clarified that the abortion ban does not apply to ectopic pregnancies or IVF and stated, “Medical doctors, in particular, should be given substantial leeway to treat pregnant women experiencing life-threatening or emergency physical conditions, using their reasoned medical judgment.”
For the sake of clarity, Miller likened laws banning abortion to homicide laws. “There are very rightly laws that forbid homicide — however there are cases when such laws were misapplied — and indeed totally innocent people have ended up serving time in prison, sometimes for decades, until they were exonerated. And surely there have been cases when innocent people were actually executed for murders they never committed. What is the remedy for such injustice? Shall we just make murder legal, so these misapplications do not happen? That’s the same thing, really, with supporting abortion on demand because banning such killing might lead to misapplications of the ban. Listen to their rhetoric that leads to the situation where every unborn child could be subjected to extermination. Why don’t they instead say, ‘Let’s clarify the laws’?”
As a media expert and host of EWTN Radio’s Catholic Connection, Teresa Tomeo expressed frustration at the misinformation coming from media sources in particular, leading to Catholics and others falling prey to these scare tactics. “People sometimes react emotionally as opposed to thinking things through and doing some homework,” she said.
“Given recent media scandals involving major outlets, such as CBS News altering interviewees’ responses to put forth certain narratives, voters are hopefully realizing the legacy media cannot be trusted to provide their audience with basic facts,” Tomeo said. “They reinvent narratives to push agendas, especially when it comes to the hot-button issue of abortion this election season.”
“Voters need to find alternative sources for their information, debunking the lies of the abortion industry concerning the impact pro-life laws are having on pregnant women who find themselves in an emergency situation,” she said. She suggested Susan B. Anthony Prolife America in conjunction with the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “Turning to fine organizations, along with solid Catholic news sources, can help voters as they discern on their way to the polls."
Editor's note: Reprinted with permission from the National Catholic Register – www.ncregister.com.
