
It’s no secret that I like American politics. Most of my friends think I’m crazy (although some ask for election updates), but I just can’t help but find it fascinating. I think it started with the abortion debate. In the UK, we generally accept that our country is pro-choice by default. There is no mainstream political party that runs on a pro-life platform, and it just doesn’t cross the minds of most that abortion is something we should restrict, or even that it’s wrong on any level.
I like the US, because they at least have the debate. It’s talked about, and because it’s talked about (and regularly exposed for what it really is), far more of the US population are pro-life when compared with the UK.
However, is it a fair debate?
On the 10th of September, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris took to the debate stage for the first time. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade the Democrats have made “reproductive rights” a key pillar of their campaign. So it was no surprise that Harris came out swinging on this issue (with help of moderator and sorority sister Linsey Davis).
Death, taxes and lying politicians!
Trump categorically stated (as he always has) that he believes strongly in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, and praised the six supreme court justices who voted to return abortion regulation back to the States. He rightly pointed out that it’s now “the vote of the people” that determines abortion policy state by state.
After being asked about his position on abortion (particularly his changing opinions and voting intentions in Florida), Donald Trump made the claim that pro-abortion politicians want it to be legal even “in the ninth month”. He was referring here to one of six proposed amendments to the Florida State constitution (amendment 4), which states that:
“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
Had there been a live audience, I’m sure there would have been gasps of horror when he referenced babies allegedly being left to die after failed abortion attempts. He spoke about the testimony of the previous Governor of Virginia (Ralph Northam) saying that Northam had claimed “that the baby will be born and then we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words we will execute the baby”.
Trump went on to say that Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, thinks that “abortion in the 9th month is absolutely fine”. With Harris shaking her head in denial, Trump continued: “he [Walz] also says execution after birth - it’s execution no longer abortion because the baby is born - execution is ok”.
Trump was immediately “fact checked” by moderator Davis who said that “There is no state in this country where it’s legal to kill a baby after it’s born”
Unsurprisingly, Harris responded by calling him a liar and focussing heavily on the minority of pro life laws, which make no exception for rape. She also implied that Republicans want to block women from receiving care after a misscarriage, saying:
“Pregnant women who want to carry to term, a pregnancy, suffering from a misscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because their healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn’t want that.”
“Understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand in his Project 2025 there would be a national…a monitor, that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages”
She later agreed with Davis and stated “Nowhere in America, is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion, that is not happening, it's insulting to the women of America”. She has also stated that under Trump's abortion bans, couples are being denied IVF treatment.
Trump’s response was to state:
“It’s a lie. I’m not signing a ban and there’s no reason to sign a ban…the states are voting”. What she says is an absolute lie, as far as the abortion ban, no I’m not in favour of an abortion ban but it doesn’t matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states”.
True or False?
Ok, so we all know politicians will say anything to win votes, but my reason for detailing the exchange between Harris and Trump, is because this time the difference between a truth and a lie, could be life or death.
So who’s telling the truth? Are the Democrats really in favour of third trimester abortions and leaving babies to die? Are women bleeding out in parking lots and being denied misscarriage care? Was the moderator correct in fact checking Trump that no states allow babies to be killed after birth?
Well, Trump was in fact correct on his first point. The proposed Florida amendment WOULD allow abortion in the ninth month. The wording explicitly states that abortion after viability would be permissible “to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider”.
However health is not defined, it is being left up to the “healthcare provider”. This amendment would therefore allow a third trimester abortion on the grounds that a woman’s mental health might be more negatively impacted by a live birth than by an abortion. As long as her “healthcare provider” (abortion clinic worker) was of that opinion.
Trump was also correct about the Former Governor or Virginia.
On a podcast in January of 2019, Northam was asked about third trimester abortions and the proposed lifting of restrictions on late term abortion (which had recently been discussed at a committee meeting). He was asked about a hypothetical scenario when a woman is “in fact dilating and ready to give birth”.
He said: “Decisions such as this should be made by providers and mothers and fathers”. “When we talk about third trimester abortions these are done with the consent of a physician - more than one physician by the way - and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s not viable. So in this particular example [dilating and ready to give birth], I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother”.
It’s worth noting here that Northam stated only a few moments later that he is a member of a Baptist church!
So what about Trump’s allegations regarding Tim Walz, Harris’ VP pick? Well, again, Trump had rock solid evidence for making this claim.
Just last year (Jan 2023), Tim Walz signed two Minnesota bills into law. The first, the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which allows abortion in Minnesota, through all 9 months of pregnancy…for any reason!
The second bill signed by Walz, removed the previous requirement that reasonable measures be taken to “preserve the life and health” of born alive infants, and replaced it with a requirement for “care”. The bill’s author Tina Liebling, described this as mere “comfort care”. Under this law (Omnibus Bill SF 2995), infants can now legally be denied life saving care and be left to die.
So why then was Kamala shaking her head in denial when Trump pointed this out? Her running mate actually signed these bills into law…both of them.
The second bill also removed Minnesota reporting requirements for infants born alive after failed abortions, and whether those infants received life saving care. This means that as of January 2023, we no longer know how many infants in Minnesota are being left to die after being born alive following a failed abortion attempt.
However we do know that during Tim Walz’s tenure as governor since 2019 (before he signed the law repealing these requirements); 8 babies died after being born alive and not receiving life saving care. 3 in 2019 and 5 in 2021.
Six of one and half a dozen of the other
I suppose you could argue semantics about Trump's use of language. He said that Northam and Walz are in favour of allowing the “execution” of babies born alive. When in fact they are (as far as we know) only in favour of denying them medical care and attention that would save their lives and simply allowing them to die. Not to mention, giving them a blanket so they can die with “comfort care” rather than being drowned or left naked in a cold steel pan, as was common practice before the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (2002) was passed. I mean, that makes all the difference in the world…right?
There are 4 abortion clinics in the US that publicly advertise third trimester abortions, and many more who offer them when asked. So yes Kamala, they do happen.
So what of Harris’ claim that women are being denied life saving care after miscarriages, and are being left to bleed out in parking lots? Well, graphic imagery aside, it seems likely that Kamala is referring to a specific case which was reported in 2022 from Ohio, one of the states with a heartbeat bill in effect.
Christina Zielke from Washington DC had sadly suffered a misscarriage which was confirmed during her first ultrasound scan. She was advised of her options (surgical procedure, medication or allow nature to take its course) and she opted for the natural route. However, after several weeks she was still bleeding heavily and things took a turn for the worse while visiting Ohio for a relatives wedding.
After some very heavy bleeding in the car, she ended up in an Ohio ER where again, an ultrasound confirmed there was no heartbeat. One Dr apparently mentioned that sometimes a D&C was needed in these cases, but she wasn’t offered one and was discharged against her will. Again, she was bleeding profusely in the car on the way home and ended up back in the same ER (by ambulance this time) later that night.
Christina’s case is tragic, but she has asserted that the hesitancy to treat her may have come from uncertainty among the medical staff relating to the abortion ban. However she has no evidence for this, and there is absolutely nothing in the Ohio legislation which would prevent doctors treating a woman for a misscarriage. For Kamala to use this case - and others like it - to wrongfully claim that these laws endanger women’s lives, is not just an egregious lie…it is downright dangerous!
Full force propaganda
This has become even more evident in the last couple of weeks since the debate, as the media has started running stories (entirely coincidently I’m sure), about several cases relating to abortion bans supposedly harming women.
The most prevalent of these cases is that of Amber Nicole Thurman, and it has been all over the news and social media for the last week or so.
Amber, a 28 year old mother to a 6 year old son, discovered she was pregnant with twins in 2022. As she lived in Georgia (which has an abortion ban in effect) she drove to North Carolina where she had made an appointment for a surgical abortion. Due to a traffic jam, she was late for her appointment so the clinic offered her abortion pills instead, which she accepted. Amber then drove back to Georgia where she suffered complications, as her body had not expelled all of the parts of her dead twins.
Amber was seen by two doctors who both stated that she needed a D&C, but she did not receive one. After 20 hours of delayed care, Amber was septic and tragically died in surgery.
Amber’s death is indeed harrowing, but the media have claimed that it was caused by a “lack of access to abortion care”. Atlantic magazine reported that: “Some tragedies are impossible to prevent or even to predict. The death of Amber Thurman was not one of them. She was perhaps the first woman killed by the overturn of Roe V. Wade.” This is demonstrably false!
Amber Thurman was killed by LEGAL abortion pills prescribed legally by an abortion clinic, as were her twins. Medical malpractice at a subsequent hospital, meant that - heartbreakingly - her life was lost. However, this had nothing to do with Georgia’s abortion legislation. This bill makes clear provision for the treatment of women. To save their lives in a medical emergency, to treat a misscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or incomplete abortion.
In fact, there is no legislation anywhere in the United States, either proposed or currently in effect, that would prevent a woman from receiving treatment to save her life. Nor for treatment for a misscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or incomplete abortion.
Amber’s case is not the only death that the media are blaming on abortion bans. Another devastating case is that of Candi Miller (also from 2022). Candi was 41 and a mother of three. Several serious health conditions meant that she had been advised not to risk another pregnancy. Finding herself pregnant again, she ordered abortion pills online and sadly suffered a similar complication to Amber. However Candi eschewed medical help entirely, and self medicated at home. An autopsy found that as well as suffering from an incomplete abortion, she had lethal levels of painkillers in her system, including fentanyl.
ProPuplica reported this case last week and stated (of the care that could have saved her life): “In many states, this care, known as a D&C, is routine for both abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, performing it had recently been made a felony, with few exceptions.”
Again, this is demonstrably false!
A D&C is simply the name of a procedure which can be used to treat different conditions. If it is being used for the purpose of ending the life of an unborn child through abortion, then yes, this is illegal in Georgia after 6 weeks gestation unless under exceptional circumstances (which include saving the mothers life).
However, it is not illegal to treat a failed abortion if the baby has already passed. In this case, it would not have been illegal even if the child had survived the medical abortion, as the mother’s life was at risk.
The media however don’t seem to care that their relentless lies and propaganda might actually lead people like Candi, to mistakenly believe that if they went to hospital, they would be charged with murder! Google Amari Marsh. You will get 2 pages of results that all begin with similar headlines “Woman accused/jailed for murder after miscarriage”.
All of these articles spin the same story. A tragic young woman who didn’t know she was pregnant and gave birth in the toilet, panicked and shocked.
What they won’t say is detailed by a Live Action report. Amari had visited a Planned Parenthood 4 months earlier and received abortion pills. Now we don’t know whether the abortion failed or if she didn’t take them, but her viable daughter was indeed born in a toilet and then covered in dirty used toilet paper. She had even visited the hospital earlier that day due to abdominal pain, where they confirmed that she was pregnant and that her baby had a heartbeat. She chose to leave the hospital anyway and return home.
The indictment against her notes that she waited 15 mins before calling 911 and then ignored the instructions of the operator to remove her daughter from the toilet. When medics arrived and removed the baby from the water, she was still alive. They did their best to preserve her life, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Amari was not charged because she had a miscarriage, she was charged because there was evidence to suggest she had tried to end the life of her newborn daughter. Now eventually, Amari was acquitted. Think of that what you will, but it’s difficult to make the argument that she shouldn’t have been fully investigated given the facts of the case, which prosecutors explicitly stated had nothing to do with South Carolina's abortion laws.
Actions speak louder than words - personality or policy?
There are many Christians on both sides of the pond who seem to be viscerally allergic to Donald Trump. To some extent, I can empathise. He is definitely an imperfect person, but aren't we all?
It’s also worth pointing out that he has been inconsistent on abortion. As the moderator in the debate stated, he has said both that he’s proud to be “the most pro life president in American history” and more recently that “his administration would be great for women and their reproductive rights”. He has also said he is not in favour of heartbeat bills banning abortion from 6 weeks, as he feels that doesn’t grant enough time.
Harris has accused him of being in favour of a national abortion ban; I wish he was but unfortunately he’s not. However, his policies are still markedly more pro-life than those of Harris. I could make the argument that he’s better for a number of other policy positions as well, but I think I have probably tested your patience for long enough.
Whatever you think of him, the truth of the matter is that no women have been killed by abortion bans in the US since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. However, at least 2 HAVE been killed by abortion pills. We need look no further than Malta or Poland to see concrete evidence that making abortion illegal, does not in fact cost the lives of pregnant women.
In 2023, 1 million babies lost their lives to abortion in the United States. If Harris is elected, the 21 states that have managed to pass pro-life legislation will be completely railroaded. It is probable that abortion will be codified into federal law, and may very likely become even more accessible than it was before the overturn of Roe.
Donald Trump may be a blunt instrument, but a Republican victory would likely block the pills by post scandal that has facilitated greater abortion levels in pro-life states, and allow the Dobbs decision to save many thousands of lives.
As the saying goes, I’ll take some mean tweets in exchange for the lives of tens or even hundreds of thousands of unborn children any day….will you?
Debbie Mountford discusses abortion and the US election further on the About Abortion, Brephos podcast below:
https://youtu.be/DmVzgTEiM7c?si=ikV88XHpPUjElQ0Y