Pro-lifers aren’t trying to ban abortion because it’s ‘gross’

Abortion advocates will do whatever they can to undermine the pro-life movement. From claiming that pro-lifers are anti-woman to framing abortion as “health care,” it seems there’s no tactic they won’t try.

Vox is trying one that’s fairly surprising. They’re trying to convince people that pro-lifers are trying to ban abortion by “grossing people out”.

The article, written by Emily Crockett, complains that pro-lifers won’t stop talking about the unpleasant details of abortion.

D&E bans are quickly becoming the latest trend in anti-abortion lawmaking at the state level. They have colorful names like the “Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act.” And some advocates and lawmakers are using them to focus on the lurid details of later abortion procedures, in hopes of turning more Americans against abortion and making the procedure easier to outlaw or restrict.

Crockett even defended partial-birth abortions, something that only the most extreme of abortion advocates would dare to do, claiming that “the focus on the unpleasant details of the procedure helped to sway the public against it – and even to sway more people against abortion in general for a time.”

She then goes on to complain about how D&E abortions are also called “dismemberment” abortions:

It would be no surprise, then, if abortion opponents wanted to build on that success and use it to try to ban abortion much more broadly. And so it comes as no surprise that anti-abortion advocates have rebranded the regular D&E procedure as a “dismemberment abortion,” which is also not a medical term.

Abortionists may not refer to D&E procedures as dismemberment abortions, that’s true. But it isn’t a lie to say that preborn babies are being dismembered during these abortions, because that is what happens.

Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains the procedure: The abortionist puts laminaria into the woman’s cervix to aid in dilation. 24-48 hours later, when she returns to the abortion facility, he opens the cervix more using metal dilators and a speculum. He then drains the uterus of amniotic fluid and gets to work on the preborn baby.

Using a sopher clamp, the abortionist grasps the baby’s limbs and tears them from the baby’s body, one by one. He then will move on to the baby’s body parts – the baby’s intestines, spine, lungs, heart – and finally, the head.

2nd Trimester Surgical Abortion: Dilation and Evacuation (D & E)

These details aren’t pointed out because they’re “gross.” People should, at the very least, know the realities of abortion and what it entails – even if it’s gross. Women should have the right to basic knowledge of the procedures they consider.

It is true that most people are horrified by the details of D&E dismemberment abortions, yes (because, after all, it’s pretty horrifying to find out abortion includes ripping the arms and legs off a living human being). But that doesn’t mean the answer is to hush up people giving the details. (To clear up common misconceptions about D&E abortions, go here.)

Abortion activists naturally want to keep this part of the debate quiet. They don’t want people to hear the gruesome details because, as Crockett complains, and as the video below shows, it makes people less likely to support abortion.

Watch their minds change on abortion

Pro-lifers should not be quieted because the details of abortion are “gross.” Plenty of things are “gross” – rape, murder, molestation – but we don’t oppose them because we think they’re yucky. We oppose them because they’re wrong. Violence against other people is wrong. No one is shy about giving people the details about things like the cold and flu, or worse, the Zika virus or Ebola, even though the details are downright disgusting and awful to hear.

It’s vital for people to be informed. Yet if we’re talking about abortion, the pro-abortion extremists want to keep people in the dark as much as possible. They don’t want people to know the details of what happens during abortions, because, if they do know them, they invariably oppose it – a fact that Crockett laments.

Abortion advocates may want to keep women uninformed on abortion because that keeps it legal. But pro-lifers aren’t trying to gross women out. We’re the ones keeping women informed, and pro-abortion extremists like Crockett don’t get to undermine that just because it doesn’t suit their agenda.