Abortion is the number one issue for Kamala Harris in this election. It is about the only policy agenda item she has delivered and been clear on, while everything else on her slate is either a contradiction or a question mark. The topic of abortion dominates campaign ads from various PACS as a number of states have abortion amendments featured on the ballot this year, so clearly the Democrats believe this is a wedge issue.
And so does the press. In a sign of support for the party (a surprise to no one by this stage), the news outlets have been pushing out a series of tragic stories about the various abortion laws and the fallout from the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. But as these rendering reports are delivered across the news landscape, we have to ask a simple question in response:
If this matter is so obviously wrong, why does the press consistently have to lie about the results?
In the various news reports we have seen a pattern develop, and that is once you wade past the alarming headlines, the details of these stories reveal that the abortion law is almost always a non-factor in the events. The press has been literally manufacturing a series of nightmare scenarios which – just like those nocturnal horrors – prove out to be unreal.
Texas
ProPublica has been a source of many of these dramatic reports, and the latest is of a Texas woman who died from a sepsis infection following a miscarriage. It was claimed this was the result of doctors not wanting to care for her due to the risks from a pre-Dobbs Texas law putting doctors at risk of being sued for a later-term abortion procedure.
- The Facts: This was a miscarriage, so the law does not apply. That prior law concerned pregnancies where the heartbeat is present, but this involved a fetus without a heartbeat, and the doctors did in fact work to pass the remains. Her infection developed after being sent home.
Georgia
The case of Amber Thurman received widespread attention after her death, which was blamed on that state’s recently imposed stricter abortion laws. “Thurman’s case marks the first time an abortion-related death, officially deemed “preventable,” is coming to public light.”
- The Facts: Thurman had taken an abortion pill and following the termination, her body did not expel the remains properly. She required a D&C procedure to clear the remains, but it is said the hospital delayed this due to that being restricted. By that time the pregnancy had ended, and she needed the care to prevent the growing infection. It was not to perform a D&C abortion.
Florida
A South Florida woman suffered complications after her water broke at 15 weeks and was sent home before the hospital Ob-Gyn doctor was consulted. She later miscarried in a public restroom and had severe consequences that nearly took her life.
- The Truth: Florida’s 15-week abortion law had exemptions for procedures to be allowed at times in which the woman is imperiled, including the specifics of this very case. The newer 6-week abortion law retains those exemptions.
Nevada
Nick Kristoff, citing a Washington Post article, highlighted a case of a woman arrested for having a miscarriage, blaming this on oppressive abortion laws.
- The Truth: The woman took numerous steps to induce her miscarriage, including taking drugs, and buried her baby on her property. Moreover, all of this predated the Dobbs decision.
Texas again
In another overhyped case, a Texas couple endured a miscarriage scenario and the emergency facility issued Misoprostol so her body could expel the remains, but when that failed, they returned and were told further procedures could not be performed. The woman’s declining condition is blamed on the strict Texas laws.
- The Truth: They had been going to an emergency clinic that could not perform the needed D&C procedure and was limited in how much of the drug it could administer. At a hospital, she was issued more Misoprostol and later passed the remaining tissue at home. But in its gripping report, CBS News asserts that Texas law does not limit care for miscarriage scenarios: “Texas bans abortions at about six weeks unless there’s a medical exception for a pregnancy that threatens the mother’s life or health in a way that would result in “substantial impairment of a major bodily function,” according to the law. According to Texas law, abortions are illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected with exceptions for medical emergencies. The law doesn’t require there to be a medical emergency to perform a D&C if there’s no cardiac activity, like in Hamilton’s case.
Multiple Examples – AP
The Associated Press has a series of stories where it is clear that the tragic results were more due to hospital error than the law preventing care. A Texas woman with an unviable ectopic pregnancy was discharged despite a doctor saying she needed the care. In another case, an ectopic woman was sent home with the belief she would naturally miscarry rather than need an operation.
- The Truth: These were cases where, again, it was not an issue with abortions being blocked but problematic pregnancies and the needed care for the patient being allowed by the law.
CNN
The network came out with a report claiming that since abortion had been sent back to the states, we have seen a rise in infant mortality as a result. Then we saw how the network was playing games.
- The Truth: CNN makes two sleight-of-hand moves. Note the use of “more than expected” to justify its report. It also recognizes that cases of infant mortality have gone up, but that is a result of more births being carried to term. In truth, the mortality rate has fallen the past four years, but they imply that the number could have been even lower, and somehow this justifies the scare tactic.
That the media are not being forthright with these details spells out how they believe this is an issue to aid the Democrats. As a result, dutifully these scare tactics and exaggerated claims are delivered, which underscore the problem is not as bad as it is being sold. Once again, we see that something claimed as an obvious nefarious threat needs to be proven with fraudulent evidence.
This is the media complex currently mewling about misinformation being a threat to this election, all while they are perfectly content to deliver falsehoods in order to sway the vote to the side the press complex prefers.
