Media misleads about woman allegedly denied a ‘life-saving abortion’

One of the women at the center of a pro-abortion lawsuit against the state of Tennessee has announced she is running for the State House. Allie Phillips said she entered the race after she was denied an abortion due to state pro-life laws. The pro-abortion mainstream media is claiming Phillips was denied “a life-saving abortion” — yet this is inaccurate.

Was Phillips denied a ‘life-saving abortion?’

The Independent headlined an article about Phillips’ campaign, which was picked up by Yahoo. It reads, “Allie Phillips was denied a life-saving abortion. She’s now running for office in Tennessee.” In the article, the claim is made that Phillips’ life was at risk from the pregnancy, but Tennessee wouldn’t allow her to have the “life-saving” abortion she needed. Yet, Tennessee law states that when a mother’s life is at risk, an abortion may be carried out.

The state’s trigger law took effect after the fall of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022. This law made abortion a felony but abortionists faced with prosecution could provide an “affirmative defense” that they had performed the abortion to prevent the death of or any harm to the mother. Phillips learned she was pregnant that November, and at 19 weeks her daughter Miley received the diagnosis of holoprosencephaly (HPE). The baby girl also had a two-chambered heart and issues with her kidney and bladder.

Doctors gave Phillips the choice of carrying to term or abortion but told her that she could not legally have an abortion in Tennessee. This would indicate that there was no immediate risk to Phillips’ life or health.

Still, The Independent, Yahoo News, Time Magazine, AOL, and more have reported that Phillips required a “medically necessary” and “life-saving abortion” and that she was forced to travel out of state for an abortion. (When she reached the abortion business in New York, Miley had already died in utero.)

Dr. Ingrid Skop, a board-certified OB/GYN who has practiced in Texas for more than 25 years, told Live Action News:

Yahoo News’ description of Allie Phillips’ heartbreaking pregnancy complication misrepresents the truth.

Every state with legal protections for unborn children, including Tennessee, contains an exception permitting abortion if it is necessary to save a mother’s life or prevent a serious risk to her health. Yet, based on their reporting (I have not seen Allie’s medical records), she did not have a complication that presented a serious risk to her life or health. Her unborn child, Miley, had life-limiting fetal conditions, which ultimately resulted in her death before birth.

An abortion was not necessary in this case.

Allie’s obstetrician could have continued to provide quality care, including providing perinatal palliative care, so that the family and child could be supported and loved in the brief time that Miley would live.

Once her death was diagnosed, no law prevented medical care in that circumstance.

2nd Trimester Abortion | Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) | What Is Abortion?

Induced abortion is never ‘life-saving’

There is no law in any state preventing doctors from carrying out a preterm delivery via induced labor or emergency C-section to end a pregnancy when the mother is facing medical complications that put her life at risk. These procedures, if not intended to kill the child, are not induced abortions and are, therefore, not prohibited by any law, explained Dr. Skop in an article regarding appropriate treatment for medical emergencies during pregnancy. Doctors can end a pregnancy without taking the time to intentionally kill the preborn child prior to delivery.

Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child — is not medically necessary. In fact, an emergency C-section takes less than an hour and allows doctors to work to save both mother and child while an abortion takes far longer — potentially as long as three days. If a child must be delivered too young to survive outside the womb, this is not an induced abortion. It is an induced delivery. A doctor never has to take the time to actively kill the baby through dismemberment or forced cardiac arrest in order to save the mother.

Any claim that it is ever medically necessary to directly and intentionally kill a preborn child through an induced abortion is a complete fabrication.