Republicans Are Spreading the 'Post-Birth' Abortion Lie
7.31.24
Click to skip ahead: In Book News, my first review! In Anti-Abortion Language Watch, Trump’s ‘post-birth’ abortion lie gains Republican steam. In the States has news from Utah, Iowa, Idaho, California and more. Ballot Measure Updates looks at the Republican attacks on democracy across the country. 2024 news looks at Republican fear and Harris enthusiasm. Finally, In the Nation gets into fetal personhood, criminalization, and Project 2025.
Book News
I promise I won’t do this every time, but I just had to share this (starred!) review from Publishers Weekly of “Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win.” They called my book “clarifying and incandescent” and wrote that it’s a “critical resource for the coming election season.” I couldn’t possibly be more thrilled. And remember, if you haven’t pre-ordered the book yet, now is a perfect time!
Anti-Abortion Language Watch
Well, this is distressing. We all know that Donald Trump has been repeating the dangerous and false talking point that Democrats allow ‘post-birth’ abortion. Last week, he even said that Vice President Kamala Harris supports “the execution of a baby.”
This kind of rhetoric has gotten people killed, yet Trump’s messaging has gone largely unchecked by other Republicans. At times, it’s even gone unremarked on by media outlets. Because the disgraced former president says so many wildly untrue things, the ‘post-birth’ abortion lie seems to be tacitly accepted as just Trump being Trump. But now his campaign team is joining in on the bizarre lie.
Check out what Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary, told a Michigan paper this week:
"Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”
Just to be clear: This is the press secretary of the Republican presidential candidate accusing their political opposition of executing newborn babies. Perhaps some will find this less troubling than the candidate himself making the false claim. But to me, this is worse.
As horrible as it is, the country has largely accepted the fact that Trump says onerous lies as easily as he breaths. The fact that Leavitt is willing to say this—a demonstrable falsehood that puts people’s lives in danger—is a sign that his message is becoming more normalized.
In the States
We’ll have big news tomorrow out of Utah, where the state Supreme Court will rule on whether or not the state’s total abortion ban will stay blocked while a lower court decides on its constitutionality. Right now, abortion is available until 18 weeks of pregnancy.
But don’t go thinking that means abortion is easily accessible. In May, I told you about the online quiz abortion seekers have to take, after sitting through an inaccurate and shaming lesson put out by the state health department:
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that tomorrow’s decision could keep the current restriction in place, or the Court could allow the total ban to go into effect. In that case, abortion would only be allowed if someone’s life is in danger or if there’s a fatal fetal abnormality. Abortions for rape victims would be allowed up until 15 weeks. As we know from bans in other states, those ‘exceptions’ are largely impossible to get because of deliberately vague language in anti-abortion laws.
Despite the block on the total ban, Republican lawmakers have tried other ways to limit abortion in Utah—including passing a ban on abortion clinics, which was also blocked. Legislators even sent cease-and-desist letters to abortion providers, telling them they’d be prosecuted if they continued offering legal care.
I’ll keep you updated as I find out more, but my fingers and toes are crossed.
While Iowa Republicans are trying to pretend as if the 6-week abortion ban that went into effect on Monday is some sort of ‘reasonable’ compromise on the issue—one state Senator called it a “commonsense” law—anti-abortion groups aren’t bothering to hide their ultimate goal.
A representative from Dubuque County Right to Life, August Christensen, said this week that they’re fighting to ban abortion at conception:
“We all know this is not the finish line for Iowa. We need to continue until abortion is unthinkable in every state…and that includes no exceptions for rape and incest.”
At least they’re honest, I suppose.
Meanwhile, abortion providers and patients are dealing with the fallout of the 6-week ban. Chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States Dr. Sarah Traxler says the ban won’t just impact abortion care, but pregnancy and maternal health care:
“We now live in a reality where politicians have control over Iowans’ bodies and futures. Its impact will be widespread and generational. We are tired, of course, but we are not defeated. Instead, we stand strong with Iowans in this moment.”
There’s also an expectation that OBGYNs will leave Iowa in the same way they’ve left other anti-abortion states. (Idaho, for example, has lost nearly a quarter of its OBGYNs.)
Speaking of Idaho, Idaho Matters has interviewed a spokesperson from Idahoans United for Women and Families, a coalition seeking to restore abortion rights:
An anti-abortion group touting unproven and dangerous abortion ‘reversal’ is suing California for what they say is an attack on their free speech. It’s a tactic we’ve seen anti-abortion lawmakers and groups use in suits opposing buffer zones, as well.
Worse than anti-abortion groups claiming they have a First Amendment right to harass abortion patients, though, is their co-opting of feminist rhetoric. Peter Breen, one of the attorneys representing Culture of Life Family Services, said, “Attorney General Rob Bonta refuses to recognize a woman's right to reverse an abortion in progress when she has changed her mind about the procedure.”
Anti-abortion groups have been doing this more and more often—from fake ‘pro-choice’ ballot measures to an anti-abortion ad campaign that features a woman saying, “I’m in control of an unplanned pregnancy.” Just plain weird.
Quick hits:
Mylissa Farmer is suing the Kansas hospital that denied her health- and life-saving abortion care;
Three anti-abortion activists who blocked access to a Tennessee clinic have been given three years of probation;
And Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law to expand coverage for both abortion care, and doulas and midwives to help close the Black maternal mortality gap.
Ballot Measure Updates
Both The Hill and POLITICO have roundups of some of the recent Republican attacks on pro-choice ballot measures—from the claim of ‘inactive’ voters in Montana to the financial impact statement in Florida. If you’re a regular reader, none of the attacks outlined in the pieces will be new to you, but there is something really valuable seeing them all put together. (Also, there’s something great about seeing mainstream outlets pick up on stories that AED has been covering for months—it’s super validating!)
Axios reports on the massive spending for abortion rights ballot measures across the country. Hopefully they don’t mind that I snagged their graph, but it really is telling.
Something to note on spending for pro-choice amendments: more than a few abortion rights activists—especially those who work directly with patients—have expressed frustration to me that so much money is being spent on ballot measures while patients can’t afford care.
Abortion funds are suffering a huge drop in donations right now. That decrease in ‘rage-giving’ is happening at the same time that both the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood’s national Justice Fund put a 30% cap on costs for abortion patients (down from a previous 50% limit).
Obviously, we need to be able to fund both patients and politics—but I can understand the anger and frustration when one seems to come before the other.
2024
Speaking of ballot measures: this ABC News piece wonders whether all of the excitement over pro-choice amendments will translate into support for Democrats. Republican voters, for example, may support a pro-choice ballot measure but draw the line at voting for a Democratic candidate. And reporter Nathaniel Rakich points out that abortion as an issue is more popular than Democrats are. (Which is something feminists have been screaming from the rooftops forever!)
I tend to think that abortion is powerful enough to bring home both ballot measures and candidate wins. After all, voters understand that who represents them matters when it comes to reproductive rights. And I really do think a lot of political reporters are underestimating just how pissed off women voters are.
I meant it when I said nobody likes JD Vance: I’m still convinced Trump is going to fund a way to get rid of him. In the meantime, hundreds of doctors have come out against the Ohio Senator.
Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights has published a letter opposing Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, who they slam for “threaten[ing] our rights and freedom.” One of the doctors who signed onto the letter, Dr. Lauren Beene, told Mother Jones that despite Donald Trump’s attempts to seem moderate on abortion rights, picking Vance as his running mate “is very telling as far as the true goals of their presidential mission.”
Democrats also warned in Michigan this week that Trump’s claims of being reasonable on the issue are plain bullshit. (Okay, they didn’t use that word but they might as well have.) From U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette:
"Don't listen to his lies. Listen to what he did. And what Donald Trump did was appoint three justices to the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade. That's what we can expect to see from him."
While Trump and Vance try to run from their extremism, Vice President Harris seems to be having a great time at her rallies. In Atlanta this week, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee mocked Trump for being too afraid to debate her, saying, “If you got something to say, say it to my face.” Whew.
“This is the reality that people understand in this country—if you don’t control your reproductive life, you don’t control anything. When you have that control, then you can do everything that you dream up, with your job, with your education, with your family. That is the freedom that every single person in this country deserves.” - U.S. Senator Tina Smith, at a Minnesota event for Vice President Kamala Harris
Oh, and if you want to know just how badly Republicans are shitting their pants over Harris, consider that Fox Business dedicated an entire segment this week to how abortion isn’t really that important to women voters. Maybe they think if they repeat it enough times they can manifest it?
In the Nation
Stateline has a good piece today on the danger posed by fetal personhood laws. It’s a worth a read in its entirety, but it was the section about the criminalization of self-managed abortion that stuck out to me most. From OBGYN Dr. Daniel Grossman, the director of ANSIRH at the University of California, San Francisco:
“Before Dobbs, people were arrested and criminally prosecuted for allegedly trying to end a pregnancy on their own. I’m already concerned that’s going to become more common, especially in places with fetal personhood laws.”
This is something I hit on briefly yesterday in relation to the new study showing an increase in self-managed abortion. We’ve already seen criminalization of pregnancy outcomes on the rise; just this month, Georgia police investigated a woman’s miscarriage, sending her early miscarriage tissue out for an ‘autopsy.’
Conservative news outlets are still on their anti-Pete Buttigieg tear, claiming the U.S. Secretary of Transportation said that abortion makes men free to be assholes and “sexual deviants.” (Here’s a reminder of what he actually said.) The fact that this is their big abortion story of the week tells you everything you need to know about how desperate Republicans are on the issue. It’s also a reminder of what kind of world anti-abortion activists want for women.
Andrea Trudden of Heartbeat International, for example, complained that men need “to embrace their roles as responsible adults who support women and children.” Leaving aside what a wild statement that is to make when you’re passing laws that force women into sepsis, calling men “responsible adults” while putting women in the same category as children is pretty fucking telling.
Finally, another episode of Republicans-running-from-their-anti-abortion-record: A spokesperson for Senate candidate Kari Lake tried to play down the Republicans’ extremism to Axios this week. They said, “Kari Lake is the only woman and mom in the race…She opposes a national abortion ban.”
First of all, Lake most certainly does not oppose a national abortion ban. This is a woman who lauded Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban—a law adopted before women had the right to vote—as a “great law.” Lake supports all abortion bans; she’s just making a public 180 to save her own ass.
Finally, if you missed Abortion, Every Day’s Project 2025 explainer, please read and share it. Facebook is still preventing readers from posting the article on their platform (claiming it violates community guidelines!), so any way you can spread the word is much appreciated:
So I'm in NC and last night I got push-polled and one of the questions was if I thought Kamala was too radical for supporting abortion up to nine months. I just started laughing and told the pollster they must have a horrible life if asking lying questions was their life.
thank you - extremely helpful coverage.
Can we make a rebuttal of the "post-birth execution of babies" once and for all?
As a retired OB/GYN, I know that is not a thing that happens.
Contrarily, the additional burdens on families experiencing miscarriages and previable preterm births have not been explained to the average person. When grieving people experience these losses, if it happens in a hospital setting, the "products of conception" are handled for the family, ameliorating the burden and heartbreak on them. Imagine making an individual or a family have to make funeral arrangements for a container of blood and tissue, to satisfy the new definition of "fetal personhood." The general amount repeated is four hundred dollars - the amount of money that will plummet most people into a financial crisis. Pregnancy is an economic issue. Most families are shocked, grieving and overwhelmed when a miscarriage - also officially termed a spontaneous abortion, previable preterm birth, dangerous complication of pregnancy, stillbirth, or other emergency occurs, and really are not able to process handling the additional (and unnecessary) burden of making decisions and arrangements regarding handling and disposal of fetal remains. The proposed legislation giving a fertilized egg "personhood" is comparable to saying every seed sown in a field is the equivalent of a full grown plant being harvested - nature doesn't work that way.
Bottom line: Abortion is a part of necessary health care. Bans result in additional preventable deaths and complications. Provide CARE - NO MATTER WHAT.