OB/GYN on Facebook’s abortion ‘fact check’: I’ve never had to kill one patient to save another

Is abortion medically necessary? According to Facebook, the answer is yes — or so we are to assume, based on their blatantly biased “fact check” of Live Action. Live Action, as well as its founder and president Lila Rose, were accused by the social media company of spreading false news, specifically due to Rose’s statement that abortion is never medically necessary. Facebook employed two abortionists to argue incorrectly that abortion can be necessary in some medical situations — but now, an OB/GYN who has delivered over 5,000 babies has fired back.

In the so-called fact check, abortionists Daniel Grossman and Robyn Schickler gave numerous examples of complications that would necessitate an abortion, such as placenta previa, ruptured membranes, pre-eclampsia, and even hyperemesis gravidarum. These, however, are not reasons to commit an abortion, according to thousands of doctors, including Dr. Ingrid Skop.

Skop is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as an active member of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG). She has been practicing for nearly 30 years, and serves on the boards of Healthy Futures of Texas and Any Woman Can. Skop has delivered over 5,000 babies in her career so far.

In a statement to Live Action, she responded to Facebook’s outrageous “fact check.” “I didn’t have to kill any of my patients to save the lives of my other patients! In 27 years, I have never had to make that intentional decision,” she said, and continued:

The Grossman response made me nauseated. Abortion for hyperemesis is a travesty. With modern medicine, no woman should ever die from that problem. I still can’t understand why they are willing to recommend abortion for placenta previa. Intentionally placing a surgical instrument through a placenta gives me chills! I delivered a woman with previa yesterday. It’s an intense surgery, but a skilled physician can save both lives with standard obstetric techniques. While we do see early severe preeclampsia/HELLP on occasion, I have never seen it at such an early gestational age that the fetus does not at least have a chance at survival. They intentionally misrepresented the age of viability — they called it 24 weeks, but neonatologists call it 22 weeks. The only one of the scenarios they presented that may require fetal death is the previable premature rupture of membranes resulting in sepsis. This happens occasionally at our hospital. The uterus does need to be evacuated, and we do this by inducing labor, not by D&E. Any OB/GYN can induce labor, and thus care for their own patient. Additionally, because these women are sick, they need IV antibiotics and to be cared for in a hospital, where ICU and other interventions for sepsis are immediately available. Referring them to an abortion clinic, where most D&Es are performed, would subject them to a lower standard of care, and unnecessarily threaten the woman’s health.

Dr. Christina Francis, AAPLOG’s Chairman of the Board, has previously explained why some of the claims made by Grossman and Schickler were not just inaccurate, but were downright dangerous:

Placenta previa is a condition in which the placenta covers the cervix, making a vaginal delivery impossible due to the possibility of life-threatening hemorrhage if labor occurs. These are frequently diagnosed in pregnancy on ultrasound around 20 weeks, however approximately 90% of these will resolve on their own before delivery. If significant hemorrhage occurs due to a placenta previa (which again is so rare prior to viability that no incidence is even reported), the patient should be taken for an emergency C-section which is the most expedient way to get her bleeding under control. It would be medically dangerous and irresponsible to try to do an abortion since any instrumentation through the cervix would pierce the placenta and cause immediate massive bleeding. An abortion would take significantly longer in this case and be much riskier for the mother.

2,500 OB/GYNs with AAPLOG have testified that abortion — the purposeful, targeted killing of a preborn child — is never necessary to save a woman’s life. Over 1,000 medical experts also signed the Dublin Declaration, which affirms that abortion is not medically necessary, and, in part, reads, “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 treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child.”

READ: Abortion is never medically necessary, and it’s not health care

The truth is, abortion is not medically necessary, and it’s not health care. Even abortionists have admitted this, like Don Sloan, who said, “The idea of abortion to save the mothers’ life is something that people cling to because it sounds noble and pure – but medically speaking, it probably doesn’t exist. It’s a real stretch of our thinking.”

Though a pregnancy may be forced to end due to an ectopic implantation or a premature delivery, this is not an abortion — it is not a direct attack on the baby’s life, or an act of intentional destruction. When a woman is facing a medical emergency, like HELLP syndrome, a real doctor is not going to waste multiple days to commit a late-term abortion when the baby would need to be delivered right away.

Yet Facebook ignored all of this, relying instead solely on the word of two biased individuals who each have a vested interest in ensuring abortion remains widespread and legal. As Live Action president Lila Rose said in response:

With thousands of OB-GYNs and medical professionals on the record agreeing with us that the direct killing of a child is never medically necessary, it is telling that Facebook decided to fact-check our information, which we have posted about for over three years, using two abortionists for their sourcing.

Not only did they fail to get disinterested perspectives, they appear to have gone out of their way to find pro-abortion activists whose public opposition to our views is indisputable. This is clear evidence of bias and discrimination against our over three million strong Facebook community members and an outrageous act of censorship on the part of Facebook.

“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!