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/

USA – Abortion misinformation from both medical, nonmedical professionals common on social media

May 20, 2023

BALTIMORE — Instagram is being used to distribute accurate and inaccurate medical information about abortion by both medical and nonmedical professionals, researchers reported at the ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting.

“We know that misinformation exists on social media, but the sheer amount of misinformation we found in this study was surprising: 37% of the posts we analyzed had recommendations that were inaccurate,” Kaylee Potter, DO, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Advocate Aurora Health System, Milwaukee, told Healio during a poster presentation.

Continued: https://www.healio.com/news/womens-health-ob-gyn/20230520/abortion-misinformation-from-both-medical-nonmedical-professionals-common-on-social-media

20.05.2023

Research

ACO

Advocate Aurora Health System

anti-choice lies

anti-choice misinformation

Instagram misinformation

Republicans Are Testing Abortion Restrictions to See What Sticks

Kelsey Butler, Bloomberg News
May 11, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Republican-led state legislatures are increasingly road-testing restrictive abortion rules that fall just short of total bans, to see how far they can limit reproductive health-care without generating political backlash.

States such as Florida and Georgia have passed laws banning abortions after six weeks, before many people realize they are pregnant. Others are trying out slightly longer gestational limits. North Carolina’s Senate Republicans earlier this month advanced a bill that would restrict abortion after 12 weeks, while Arizona has a 15-week ban in effect.

Continued: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/republicans-are-testing-abortion-restrictions-to-see-what-sticks-1.1918824

11.05.2023

News

A Woman’s Choice

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice misinformation

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice restrictions

Canada – Fake crisis pregnancy centres infringe on reproductive freedom

We need transparency instead of deception

By Peak Web
March 23, 2023

Content warning: mentions of pro-life rhetoric.

Masquerading as support services for pregnant people, clinics known as crisis pregnancy centres (CPC) are dangerous and deceive those that require support services to deal with unwanted pregnancies. These centres operate under the guise of neutrality. In reality, they often have religious affiliations and anti-abortion motives. This should be illegal. However, if they continue to operate, they should at least be monitored for bias and medical malpractice. Using vague and misleading rhetoric to advance an anti-abortion agenda imposes on people’s ability to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. While knowing about abortion alternatives is valuable, they must be discussed alongside abortion as a viable option. Anything less is deceptive.

A new report from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) showcases how they impose anti-choice ideals onto individuals that unknowingly seek out help from them.

Continued: https://the-peak.ca/2023/03/fake-crisis-pregnancy-centres-infringe-on-reproductive-freedom/

23.03.2023

Commentary

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

anti-choice deception

anti-choice lies

anti-choice misinformation

BC Humanist Association

CPCs

crisis pregnancy centres

Canada – Study Finds “Crisis Pregnancy Centres” mislead and manipulate

March 8, 2023 • For immediate release
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / BC Humanist Assoc.

NATIONAL – A new study of unlicensed pregnancy counselling centres across Canada finds that they often conceal an anti-abortion agenda and provide medical misinformation to pregnant clients.

Co-developed by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) and the BC Humanist Association (BCHA), the study reviewed websites of the nearly 150 so-called crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs) across Canada to identify the presence of misleading information, and compared the results to a similar 2016 study conducted by ARCC to better understand changes over time.

“We found that the websites of most CPCs in Canada share biased, misleading or outright false information,” said Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of ARCC. “Even though these agencies present themselves as unbiased counselling centres, most are anti-abortion and religiously affiliated. A key goal for them is to dissuade clients from having an abortion. Our report highlights the urgent need for increased regulation and oversight of CPCs to ensure that pregnant people are not subject to harmful misinformation or coercion.”

Continued: https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/study-cpcs-mar8-2023

08.03.2023

News

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

anti-choice deception

anti-choice misinformation

BC Humanist Association

crisis pregnancy centres

Joyce Arthur

Olivia Jensen

Teale Phelps Bondaroff

Canada

Activism

Anti-choice

Abortion UK: Women ‘manipulated’ in crisis pregnancy advice centres

Feb 27, 2023
By Eleanor Layhe & Divya Talwar, BBC Panorama

Women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the UK, according to evidence from a Panorama investigation.

The centres operate outside the NHS and tend to be registered charities. Most say they don't refer women for abortions, but offer support and counselling for unplanned pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64751800

Google adverts direct pregnant women to services run by UK anti-abortion groups

The tech giant is carrying adverts styled to look like real internet search results for women seeking pregnancy advice

Shanti Das
Sat 25 Feb 2023

Women seeking online advice about abortions are being directed to pregnancy counselling services run by anti-abortion campaigners, an Observer investigation has found.

Google adverts that are styled to look like real search results and appear above genuine listings are routinely being shown to people searching key terms relating to pregnancy and abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/25/google-adverts-direct-pregnant-women-anti-abortion-groups

Undercover in US-Backed Anti-Abortion Clinics in Uganda

VICE News
Jan 25, 2023
17:06 minute video

VICE News goes undercover in Uganda to investigate misinformation and coercion inside the American-backed centers that are convincing teenagers to keep their pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzqEXa2SrI

USA – The Inside Story of Bumbling Extremists’ Sad Crusade Against Abortion Pills

They used to blockade abortion clinics. Now they try to find the elusive headquarters of a pill company—and are targeting pharmacies next.

Sofia Resnick
Jan. 15, 2023

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney ditched his usual jeans and Converse for the dark blue suit and the brown shoes he considers bougie before boarding the Amtrak in Washington D.C., to New York City last March. He wanted to look presentable for the speech he’d be giving at the New York mayor’s interfaith anti-gun violence summit. But he also needed to blend in with the other suits as he later entered an office building in Midtown Manhattan off of Fifth Avenue. Briefcase in hand, the Presbyterian minister walked confidently past the empty lobby, mashed the elevator button, and slipped inside.

He had another mission, and it had nothing to do with guns.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bumbling-extremists-sad-crusade-against-abortion-pills

UK – Alleged profitable ‘abortion industry’ is a dangerous myth

Despite claims from opponents, no one is profiting from an ‘abortion industry’ in the UK, writes Gemma Clark

By Gemma Clark
December 27, 2022

The overturning of Roe v Wade in America (which ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion) has had a ripple effect across the world.

Anti-abortionists have become emboldened, and abortion rights activists are working harder than ever to safeguard reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/opinion/5203114/buffer-zone-scotland-abortion-industry-myth-opinion/