Abortion Activists Are Lying To Scare Americans – The Federalist

Following the Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortion activists and their friends in the media rushed to attack pro-life states, not by defending abortion itself but by deceiving and distracting. Directly talking about abortion means proponents must answer what (or whom) is being aborted. Abortion activists seek to avoid the question entirely and instead scare Americans into supporting their position by conflating abortion with other issues, the most tragic of which is miscarriage.

Leftists and the corporate media wasted no time in disseminating harmful information about the threat abortion bans pose to women who suffer miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. Their propaganda campaign is not about saving women; instead, it highlights how they will go to any length necessary to preserve the ability to kill the babies nestled safely within the womb with impunity.

Elective abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by intentionally causing the death of a living unborn child. In a miscarriage, the child passes away naturally. Miscarriage care often involves similar terminology, drugs, and procedures as elective abortions. In a clinical setting, miscarriage is even referred to as a spontaneous abortion. They are differentiated, legally and morally, by intent. If a doctor prescribes mifepristone or uses a D&C procedure to treat a miscarriage, the intent is to remove the deceased childs body. The doctor does not cause the childs death in a miscarriage.

The media likes to point to Texas for their scare campaign because Texas, more than any other state, modeled a post-Roe America by enacting the Texas Heartbeat Act, which took effect in 2021. This law bans elective abortion once the preborn childs heartbeat becomes detectable. However, Texas law is exceptionally clear: Miscarriage treatment does not constitute an abortion.

As stated in the Texas Health and Safety Code, a procedure is legally considered an abortion if it is done with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant. The definition further clarifies that [a]n act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by spontaneous abortion.

This means that if a procedure is done to remove a deceased child who passed away by spontaneous miscarriage, there was no intent to end that childs life, and it is therefore not defined as an abortion. Additionally, under Texas law, removing an ectopic pregnancy is not considered an abortion. Texas law also does not prohibit removing a living child with the intent to provide treatment to the child or to save a mothers life, such as in an early induced delivery or a C-section.

Claims that miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy treatments are prohibited in states where elective abortion is banned or restricted are not only legally incorrect but also cause confusion among medical practitioners, policymakers, and pregnant women.

If the unfounded and blatantly false hysteria continues to proliferate, especially with the corporate media as the biggest accomplice, dangerous confusion can occur among pregnant women and physicians. We know the abortion-at-all-costs crowd wont let a little truth stand in their way of a useful narrative, so pro-lifers and the medical community must fill the gap.

National and state medical associations from the American Medical Association to the state-specific chapters such as the Texas Medical Association not only have a powerful lobbying presence in our legislatures but also have a responsibility to release guidelines and clarifications for practitioners when new legislation impacting the practice of medicine goes into effect. Unfortunately, these organizations have not used their vast financial and institutional resources to push back against the false narrative that has spread like wildfire in the pro-abortion media.

Instead of being silent or adding fuel to the fire, these organizations should pointedly educate the medical providers regarding their respective state laws. State legislatures across the country have anticipated these circumstances and included explicit provisions. Equating tragic situations such as miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies with elective abortion peddled by Planned Parenthood and radical leftists is despicable.

Miscarriages are incredibly heartbreaking to expectant families. Ectopic pregnancies are tragic and terrifying experiences, catching women and families by surprise, accompanied by very complex feelings. The emotional, physical, and psychological turmoil inherent in such instances deserves to be respected and acknowledged for what it is: an absolute tragedy.

These tragic situations do not deserve to be the rallying cry of woke leftists who demand abortion on demand for whatever reason, paid for by taxpayers, through all nine months of pregnancy.

Emily Cook is the General Counsel of Texas Right to Life.

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Abortion Activists Are Lying To Scare Americans - The Federalist