The facts of a tragic abortion case highlighted by the Biden campaign are undermined by the mother’s legal testimony, analysis finds
(Daily Wire) The latest ad from President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign mischaracterizes the pregnancy of a Texas woman to say that her life was threatened by the state’s abortion law, according to a longtime obstetrician-gynecologist in the state and an analysis of facts presented by the woman’s own lawsuit.
The ad, titled “Forced,” tells the story of Dr. Austin Dennard, an OBGYN who decided to get an abortion after she learned that her unborn child had a fatal condition called anencephaly, in which the baby’s brain and skull fail to fully develop. She left Texas to go to an east coast state without the same heartbeat restriction as Texas where she could get an elective abortion, and says in the ad that staying in Texas would have put her “life at risk.”
There is, however, no medical evidence that this is an accurate characterization of her case. While anencephaly is a fatal condition for the baby, it does not add any substantial risk to the mother, according to Dr. Ingrid Skop, an obstetrician-gynecologist who has practiced in Texas for more than three decades.
Skop said that not only does anencephaly not typically cause any life-threatening complications, but that Texas law allows abortions when the mother faces complications that could impact her health.
“The fetal diagnosis does not, in and of itself, place the mother at risk,” Skop told The Daily Wire. “These are tragic conditions, but they do not threaten the woman’s life. If she develops complications that threaten her life, that law clearly allows intervention.”
Tweet This: The fetal diagnosis does not, in and of itself, place the mother at risk. Texas law allows intervention should complications develop.
“It is incorrect for her to say that she had to leave Texas to protect her life,” Skop said. “The reality is she left Texas because she wanted to terminate a baby who had a life-limiting condition.”
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Because Dennard is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state of Texas, the facts of her case are part of the public record. The lawsuit makes no mention of any complication beyond anencephaly. In fact, it states that Dennard decided she wanted an abortion immediately upon learning of the diagnosis at her 11-week ultrasound, and began researching options in other states.
“At Dr. Dennard’s 11-week ultrasound visit, however, her baby was diagnosed with anencephaly,” her lawyers write in the lawsuit. “Dr. Dennard knew immediately the prognosis for both her and her baby. Her doctor confirmed that the condition was not compatible with survival and that in Texas, all they could offer her was additional ultrasound scans. Dr. Dennard decided she wanted an abortion.”
“Dr. Dennard knew that due to Texas’s abortion bans, she would need to travel out of state. Dr. Dennard immediately started researching her options and calling friends and colleagues for advice. She decided to travel to the east coast for her care,” the lawsuit states.
Neither the Biden campaign nor the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Dennard in her lawsuit, responded to requests for comment.
Tweet This: A Biden campaign ad says a Texas woman's life was threatened by the state’s abortion law with no medical evidence that this is an accurate.
A 2019 study conducted by the Journal of Clinical Medicine Research of anencephalic pregnancies that are not aborted found that none of the 28 pregnancies studied resulted in maternal deaths, and complications were all treatable. Six of the cases developed polyhydramnios, in which there is too much amniotic fluid in the womb, but only two of those cases required treatment. In 17 cases, vaginal delivery was successfully induced. In two of those cases, the baby’s shoulder got stuck in the delivery, the researchers believe due to diminished head size, but both were successfully delivered with routine rotational maneuvers.
Reputable health resources such as the Cleveland Clinic also make no mention of severe health risks associated with carrying an anencephalic baby.
Skop said that though no severe complications are directly linked to anencephaly, it is certainly possible, as with any pregnancy, that life-threatening issues could arise. In all those cases, doctors are legally permitted to act.
“The Texas law, and every other law in the states protecting unborn life, clearly allow doctors to perform an intervention if it is needed to protect the life of the mother,” Skop said. “The law does not allow an intervention to end the life of a child with a life-limiting condition.”
There have already been dozens of abortions performed in Texas to protect the health of the mother, a rare occurrence that Skop believes is being manipulated by abortion advocates.
“This is the abortion industry using heartbreaking, tragic, rare circumstances to try to overturn laws protecting life, when in fact 95% of abortions in our country are ending unborn life for financial and social reasons,” Skop said, adding that the tragic cases in which women put themselves at risk are “not the fault of the law, but the fault of the doctors who have not had the law explained to them well.”
Tweet This: The abortion industry is using rare circumstances to overturn laws protecting life when 95% of abortions are for financial & social reasons
The Biden campaign is leaning into abortion as it gears up for a difficult reelection campaign — this week, it dropped this nationwide ad featuring Dennard, sent Vice President Kamala Harris on a “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, and centered Biden’s first campaign rally of the year on abortion rights.
The ad was rolled out on women-centric television channels across the country this week, including during the season premiere of ABC’s The Bachelor, according to the Biden campaign.
The ad was also promoted heavily by the media, with the New York Times parroting the unproven claims by Dennard that appear to be undermined by her own lawsuit. Reporter Lisa Lerer, in the midst of writing a “deeply reported examination” of the abortion fight, wrote in her headline that it was a “dangerous pregnancy,” and in the opening paragraph that it “put her life at risk.” The claims are not explained in the piece.
Lerer did not respond to a request for comment.
Editor's note: This article was published by the Daily Wire and is reprinted with permission.
