USA – The Pseudoscience That Could Kill Women

MAR. 15, 2022
By Sarah Jones, New York Magazine

Here is a scientific fact: Ectopic pregnancies are not viable. They occur when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, which dooms the pregnancy and, without treatment, can doom a woman, too. Ectopic pregnancies can lead to hemorrhage and are the leading cause of death for women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Here’s another fact: There is one way to save a woman from an ectopic pregnancy, and that is through termination — an abortion.

A proposed Missouri bill ignores these facts outright. H.B. 2810 would make it a felony, punishable by ten-years-to-life in prison, to perform an abortion after ten weeks of pregnancy, including in cases of ectopic pregnancy, the Springfield News-Leader reports. The bill’s architect, state representative Brian Seitz, offered a familiar justification for his work. “This bill is about protecting life,” he told the newspaper. In a confusing email to Bloomberg News, Seitz claimed that his bill had been misrepresented by critics and that it would do nothing “to curtail that LEGAL activity, as it can present a clear and present danger to the mother.”

Continued: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/the-anti-abortion-movements-deadly-pseudoscience.html


USA – The Anti-Abortion Movement Can’t Use This Myth Anymore

Covid-19 may end up inadvertently speeding up abortion progress in America — and exposing conservative hypocrisy along the way.

May 13, 2021
By Jessica Valenti, New York Times

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration announced that people seeking abortion pills during the Covid-19 pandemic will no longer have to visit a doctor’s office to get a prescription. Under the Trump administration, patients were required to receive the first of the medication’s two doses in person, a mandate upheld by the Supreme Court in January. The new policy instead allows for telemedicine consultations and pills sent by mail.

The decision is a practical one for the Covid era: It reduces unnecessary face time in doctor’s offices, which cuts down the potential for exposure. It could also be a huge blow to the anti-abortion movement. Groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have been pushing the Biden administration to make the F.D.A.’s decision permanent. Last week, in a legal filing, the agency announced it was reviewing their restrictions on the medication.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/opinion/abortion-pill-fda-covid.html


Jamaica – Did the abortion cause my infertility?

Did the abortion cause my infertility?

Published: Sunday | April 19, 2020
The Jamaica Gleaner

Q I am 20 years old. I had an abortion two years ago, and now I’m having difficulty getting pregnant again. What could possibly be the cause?

A Many women who have had an abortion in the past usually blame the abortion as the reason they are unable to conceive. However, this is a possible but unlikely cause, as there could be many reasons that you have not been able to get pregnant again.

Continued: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/outlook/20200419/did-abortion-cause-my-infertility


USA – Abortion advice should be as safe as abortion itself

Abortion advice should be as safe as abortion itself

By Tracey Allyson Wilkinson
January 31, 2020

It’s completely reasonable for people to disagree about the morality of abortion. It’s completely unreasonable — and unethical — for medical professionals and those masquerading as them to give potentially life-endangering misinformation about it.

Abortion by medication has been available in the United States since 2000, when it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The regimen consists of two pills taken 24 to 48 hours apart. The first pill, mifepristone, blocks the hormone progesterone, which is required for pregnancy. The second pill, misoprostol, causes the uterus to empty. This two-pill approach is currently used in 39% of all abortions in the U.S., a proportion that has been increasing over time.

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/31/abortion-advice-should-be-as-safe-as-abortion-itself/


USA – Pregnancy Kills. Abortion Saves Lives.

Pregnancy Kills. Abortion Saves Lives.
Every pregnancy poses a “serious health risk” to the mother.

By Warren M. Hern
May 21, 2019

Pregnancy is a life-threatening condition. Women die from being pregnant. We have known that for thousands of years.

They die from hemorrhage, infection, pre-eclampsia (which can lead to fatal seizures), obstructed labor, amniotic fluid embolism, thromboembolism, a ruptured uterus, retained placenta, hydatidiform mole, choriocarcinoma and many other causes that fill the obstetrics textbooks. Modern medicine can prevent and treat many, but not all, of these conditions. Some potentially fatal problems cannot be foreseen or prevented. Pregnancy always comes with some irreducible risk of death.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/opinion/alabama-law-abortion.html


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/


USA – Six Facts About Abortion to Counter March for Life’s Junk Science

Six Facts About Abortion to Counter March for Life’s Junk Science

Jan 16, 2019
Laura Huss

This year's March for Life claims that “being pro-life is not in opposition to science," though many of its positions fly in the face of evidence.

The 46th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., has adopted “Unique from Day One” as its theme, an apparent declaration of the extreme anti-choice position that life begins at conception. The event not only asserts this view as a moral position but also claims that “being pro-life is not in opposition to science.”

This co-opting of science is in line with a strategy and infrastructure that the anti-choice movement has been building for some time.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/01/16/six-facts-about-abortion-to-counter-march-for-lifes-junk-science/


USA – Our research on abortion laws shows they are not based on facts and can even harm women

Our research on abortion laws shows they are not based on facts and can even harm women

Sarah Roberts, Opinion contributor
Published June 26, 2018
Our new study shows clinics and offices are as safe for abortion as surgical centers. Laws requiring them aren't rooted in fact and can even harm women.

Policymakers tout women’s health and safety when creating restrictive abortion laws, but new research from me and my colleagues unequivocally shows that restricting abortions to one type of facility makes no public health sense. Our work, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds that abortion is no safer in an ambulatory surgical center than it is in a clinic or doctor’s office.

ASCs are fully equipped facilities for performing same-day surgeries. The Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt two years ago found that the Texas law requiring that all abortion facilities meet the very specific and often stringent requirements of ASCs was unconstitutional.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/06/26/abortion-laws-not-fact-based-can-harm-women-column/730938002/


How to Talk About Abortion

How to Talk About Abortion

Laurie Shrage
THE STONE MARCH 19, 2018

When moral philosophers and others take up an issue that is at the center of public debate, we tend to frame it as a matter of individual ethics. Is it morally permissible to eat meat? To offer money for sex? To have an abortion? Yet, such questions often fail to focus on the issues that are important and relevant for public policy and, as a result, can derail productive public debate.

The problem is that questions like these oversimplify the issues. Consider, for instance, that “abortion” is really an umbrella term for a number of different medical procedures — appropriate for different stages of pregnancy — each with significantly different health risks. Abortion is first and foremost a medical service or procedure, not an individual action, and thus a more important and relevant question for public policy is, Under what circumstances, or for what reasons, should a government prohibit properly trained medical professionals from performing an abortion? This is a question that fellow citizens can productively debate, and that may lead to a consensus.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/opinion/abortion-arguments-morality-policy.html


US Report: Abortion Is Safe but Barriers Reduce Quality of Care

Report: Abortion Is Safe but Barriers Reduce Quality of Care
Review finds abortion is very safe but that women face delays, false medical information depending on where they live.

March 16, 2018
The Associated Press
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortions in the U.S. are very safe but getting one without facing delays and false medical information depends on where women live, says a broad examination of the nation's abortion services.

Friday's report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine shows abortion increasingly is performed early in pregnancy, when it's safest. The risk of maternal death is higher from tonsillectomies, colonoscopies and childbirth, according to the independent panel, which advises the government on scientific issues.

Continued: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/colorado/articles/2018-03-16/report-abortion-is-safe-but-barriers-reduce-quality-of-care