The real-world harms of misleading women about pro-life laws

An unfortunate trend of misinformation and disinformation has been adopted by abortion advocates since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. One recent Newsweek piece gives a perfect example of the media’s failure on this front.

Spreading easily-debunked falsehoods is not a victimless crime, and the people who pay for it are women seeking medical care. 

The Narrative: Pregnant women are refused treatment because of pro-life laws

As Renee Jefferson tells her story in Newsweek, she found herself pregnant at the age of 50, a time in life that comes with more medical complications in pregnancy. She called her OBGYN’s office, who performed her routine testing. During her ultrasound, she writes, she was found to have an ectopic pregnancy. However subsequent laparoscopic surgery found it was not an ectopic pregnancy, but a molar pregnancy located in her uterus. 

A complete molar pregnancy – sometimes called a hydatidiform mole – is not a preborn baby; it happens when something goes wrong at fertilization. Instead of a baby, a tumor of fluid-filled sacs forms in the uterus. Although usually non cancerous, there is a small chance that it could become cancerous, and usually needs to be removed via a D&C procedure. To hear the media tell it, D&Cs are only used for abortions — but this isn’t true at all.

Predictably, the author uses her own story as a jumping-off point to parrot misinformation, repeating debunked claims that pro-life laws have caused women to be turned away from medical care. She specifically brought up a case in Texas where Kyleigh Thurman claimed she was refused treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, and Jaci Statton was allegedly refused treatment for a partial molar pregnancy – not even the same situation. Recently, the two ideology-driven ProPublica pieces on women in Georgia made similar claims about Georgia’s now-overturned heartbeat law. There are many such stories that have been repeated so often that even Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris has repeated them on the campaign trail. 

The Truth:  Pro-life laws explicitly allow for treating pregnant women in all cases

But when people tell these stories in the mainstream media, they aren’t telling the truth: treatments for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies are legal in every state, as Live Action News has shown. It’s not even a matter of interpretation, as most laws specifically state that the removal of an ectopic pregnancy is legal–because they are not abortions, something even abortion giant Planned Parenthood knows. 

In Kyleigh Thurman’s case, sec. 171.205 of Texas’ heartbeat law states that it does not apply “if a physician believes a medical emergency exists”; Texas’ Health and Safety code states “An act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to: … remove an ectopic pregnancy.” Georgia’s heartbeat law stated that “any such act shall not be considered an abortion if the act is performed with the purpose of […] removing a dead unborn child caused by [miscarriage]; or removing an ectopic pregnancy.” The list goes on for every single heartbeat or other pro-life law. 

These explicit allowances for emergencies — for removing ectopic pregnancies, etc. — are no secret to journalists reporting on these topics, and it’s their job to read these statutes and report on them accurately.

The Result: Lies about pro-life laws inflict real harm and suffering on pregnant women

These objectively false claims are not said in a vacuum. When so many high profile media outlets constantly give easily-debunked, provably false lies about pro-life laws so much air time and circulation that even presidential candidates are parroting them from the campaign trail, the truth gets drowned out.

And that has serious, real-world consequences that hurt vulnerable pregnant mothers.

Some women suffering miscarriages — not knowing that a D&C is not usually the first line of care for a miscarriage — are showing up to urgent cares and ERs demanding D&Cs. When they’re given other first-line treatments instead (like a prescription drug), or are instructed to utilize watchful waiting to naturally complete the miscarriage (unless certain symptoms of infection appear), they complain to the media that they’ve been denied miscarriage care — and the supposed reason is always because of pro-life laws. The media’s agenda-driven spreading of this disinformation then spreads fear to other women, who then panic if they miscarry and can’t get a D&C immediately, when in reality, they may be in no danger. 

The lies told in the case of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller regarding Georgia’s pro-life law are also misinforming women and misrepresenting pro-life laws entirely. ProPublica claimed, “[Georgia] had made performing the procedure [a D&C] a felony, with few exceptions.” In no state is a D&C procedure – which is used routinely on non-pregnant women to treat various conditions – illegal. What’s illegal is directly ending the life of a preborn child using any procedure or pill at all, including a D&C procedure. 

Even the Associated Press admitted earlier this year that its own analysis revealed: “Serious violations that jeopardized a mother or her fetus’ heath occurred in states with and without abortion bans….”

Sadly, too often doctors and hospital administrators also internalize these lies, and that can affect the care that they give. This, too, hurts women.

If any physician mistakenly believes that performing D&C or prescribing a medication for miscarriage is illegal, or that treating an ectopic pregnancy is illegal, or that an early delivery in a life-threatening pregnancy situation is illegal, it is likely because 1) that physician has been listening to dishonest media reports, and 2) that physician hasn’t been informed by anyone (nor has that physician chosen to educate himself or herself) about the laws of the state in which he or she practices.

It is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a tragic circle: When hospital staff believe the media claim that pro-life laws will cause women to be turned away from receiving legal care, what do those hospital staff do? They negligently turn women away from receiving care. Then, the media picks up the story and reports it as one in which women were turned away from legal care on account of pro-life laws, when all along, the plain language was in the law that allowed the treatment. 

The moral responsibility rests on the media to read and understand what they’re reporting (and to direct readers to the actual text of the law) and tell it faithfully and truthfully. The media’s lies about pro-life laws are a clear and present danger to women.

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