THE PRESS IS FALLING FOR ANTI-ABORTION “FETAL HEARTBEAT” PROPAGANDA

Reporters are parroting — and spreading — sentimental falsehoods.

Judith Levine
May 27 2023

“ONCE A FETAL heartbeat could be detected, typically around the sixth week of pregnancy … ”

When I read this phrase in the New Yorker, referring to Texas’s first abortion ban, I shot off a letter to the editor. “This is misleading,” I wrote. “There is no heartbeat at six weeks because the fetus does not yet have a heart. As San Francisco OB-GYN Dr. Jennifer Kerns told NPR: ‘What we’re really detecting is a grouping of cells that are initiating some electrical activity. In no way is this detecting a functional cardiovascular system or a functional heart.’” I noted that “a six-week fetus is about the size and shape of a baked bean.”

Continued:  https://theintercept.com/2023/05/27/abortion-fetal-heartbeat-propaganda-press-coverage/


As millions were stripped of abortion rights, mainstream outlets uplifted these five anti-choice leaders behind Roe’s reversal

WRITTEN BY JASMINE GEONZON
PUBLISHED 01/09/23

2022 marked an unprecedented assault on abortion rights, as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June and multiple states quickly moved to restrict or outright ban abortion and other reproductive care. While millions of Americans navigated under these new harsh abortion restrictions, the largest newsrooms in the country gave their platforms to the leading figures behind the effort to reverse Roe and demonize abortion care.

Marjorie Dannenfelser (Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America)
As the president of anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser has been key in backing anti-choice political candidates and supporting the passage of legal restrictions against reproductive rights. Late last year, for example, Dannenfelser stood alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) when he introduced legislation to implement a 15-week national abortion ban.

Continued; https://www.mediamatters.org/health-care/millions-were-stripped-abortion-rights-mainstream-outlets-uplifted-these-five-anti


Ecuador: An historic achievement to advance access to abortion

by Paulina Ponce, Program Officer, Planned Parenthood Global
8 September 2021
CWRSA Blog (republished by International Campaign for Safe Abortion)

Over the past five years, Ecuador has seen marked change. For the first time in the country’s history, Ecuador’s legislature supported an earnest and public debate on the importance of decriminalizing abortion in cases of rape during the criminal code reforms in 2019, and shortly thereafter, Ecuador’s highest court ruled that to criminalize abortion in cases of rape was unconstitutional.

This life-changing court ruling opens up the possibility for all women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence to freely access an abortion, if they choose, and marks a milestone in the fight for access to legal abortion in Ecuador. Even more importantly, women’s organizations prompted a shift in the way abortion is discussed in the media, what we call the “social destigmatization” of the right to choose.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/8-sept-2021?e=372dd34034


Philippines – ’Give women options’: Advocates push for decriminalization of abortion

OCT 26, 2020
BONZ MAGSAMBOL

'There are a lot of reasons why women need to get an abortion. It's not just unwanted pregnancy. There are victims of abuse and rape,' shares one guest.

"We want to give women options whenever they face a particular situation, and that’s not something we can judge them for."

This was what Shiph Belonguel, youth reproductive health rights advocate, said during the 3rd episode of Spilling the Tea, a webinar series held by Rappler and SheDecides Philippines, a movement that promotes the fundamental rights of adolescent girls and women.

Continued: https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/relationships/advocates-push-decriminalization-abortion


Nepal – ‘Media coverage of safe abortion, marriage equality insufficient’

Kathmandu, August 20

A media monitoring study has concluded that mainstream daily newspapers of the country have not given sufficient space to the issues related to safe abortion, and marriage equality.

Yuwalaya, a youth NGO, says it made the conclusion after monitoring the news reports published in 10 daily newspapers published from Kathmandu throughout 2019. The report was made public in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

Continued: https://english.onlinekhabar.com/media-coverage-of-safe-abortion-marriage-equality-insufficient.html


Abortion Media Coverage Is “Deeply, and Problematically, Politicized” Says Study

7/1/2020
by Zoe Larkin

Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, anti-abortion advocates have capitalized on the chaos to attack reproductive rights.

Although abortion is time-sensitive, officials throughout the U.S. declared it a nonessential service, denying women the right to reproductive justice under the guise of pandemic control. The move was swiftly condemned by many major medical organizations—but opportunistic attacks on reproductive freedom remain abundant.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/07/01/abortion-media-coverage-is-deeply-and-problematically-politicized-says-study/


Addressing stigma while moving a national campaign: Spotlight on Malaw

Addressing stigma while moving a national campaign: Spotlight on Malawi

Posted June 4, 2019
by inroads Comms, with Andrew Mdala, Boniface Mbewe, Francis Makiya and Mackson Harawa

In this Spotlight, Mackson Harawa, Francis Makiya, Boniface Mbewe and Andrew Mdala, four inroads members, tell us more about the barriers or stigma that still need to be addressed in addition to fighting for legal reform in Malawi.

Although some liberal religious clerics and communities have given a nod to the need for a reform of the abortion law in Malawi, what are the many other socio-cultural obstacles that are yet to be combatted?

Boniface Mbewe (Chipembere Community Development Organization– CCDO): In Malawi there are still many socio-cultural obstacles hindering access to safe abortion services in health facilities. These obstacles include: condemnation emanating from cultural and religious beliefs as the person undergoing the abortion is perceived as sinner. For instance, some believe that abortion is an act carried out by non-believers, sex workers and promiscuous girls in the society; attitude, stigma and discrimination among health service providers towards the people seeking abortion or post-abortion care services also prevent women from seeking services; the legal implications associated with current laws around safe abortion do not necessitate the availability and accessibility of the services to those in need of them. The cost of abortion services and distance to get them (pre-and post-abortion services) are some of the challenge women are facing in Malawi.

Continued: http://makeinroads.org/making-inroads/2019/June/addressing-stigma-while-moving-a-national-campaign-spotlight-on-malawi


USA – Reporters Must Do Better on Abortion: Six Facts You Should Know

Reporters Must Do Better on Abortion: Six Facts You Should Know
Reputable newspapers and TV news outlets are supposed to care about facts and evidence to help inform the public. And they continue to fail miserably when reporting on abortion.

Feb 5, 2019
Jodi Jacobson

Media coverage of abortion care in the United States is — to be blunt — abysmal. Too much news coverage and analysis of abortion is devoid of fact, and instead relies on the faulty premise that the abortion debate involves two sides arguing in good faith, when in reality one side is rooted in evidence and clinical experience and the other in flat-out lies and ideology.

Much of what passes for conservative commentary in outlets like the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and numerous other mainstream publications fails to engage any facts at all.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/02/05/reporters-must-do-better-on-abortion-six-facts-you-should-know/


Why I ‘Stand in Awe of all Mná’ Voting to Repeal the Eighth

Why I ‘Stand in Awe of all Mná’ Voting to Repeal the Eighth
Regardless of the result on Friday, Irish women have started a rebellion, and women everywhere are grateful.

May 23, 2018
Colleen Hennessy

The Ireland where I lived and worked for ten years, from 2005 to 2015, didn’t have abortion. That Ireland took pride in the Eighth Amendment, added to the nation’s Constitution in 1983 by popular vote, in which the state gave fetuses the same rights as pregnant people in all medical and legal circumstances.

Conversations about abortion were of course happening, and Irish women have and will always need abortions. Every day at least ten women and girls travel from Ireland to UK abortion clinics, but these are lonely journeys without one’s community of doctors, family, or friends.

continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/05/23/stand-awe-mna-voting-repeal-eighth/


Abortion in South Africa: A reporting guide for journalists

Abortion in South Africa: A reporting guide for journalists

08 May 2018
Bhekisisa team

Bhekisisa's new manual provides handy information on abortion data in South Africa, how procedures work and what the law says.

Abortion has been legal in South Africa for decades. Until 1997, however, access to termination of pregnancy services was extremely limited and largely confined to white women.

continued: http://bhekisisa.org/article/2018-05-08-00-abortion-in-south-africa-a-reporting-guide-for-journalists-media-1