ABC News recently published an article by an Associated Press reporter entitled, “Limits on early abortion drive more women to get them later.” The article, however, falls woefully short of making its case, and even undermines its own thesis.
The article contains several personal anecdotes: Christina Taylor, who had a late abortion for fetal anomalies; Jenn Chalifoux, who didn’t find out she was pregnant until she was quite far along and ended up having a second-trimester abortion; and another, unnamed woman who didn’t find out about her pregnancy until several months in and had a third-trimester abortion.
None of these women’s abortions were delayed due to limits on early abortions, according to their own testimonies. None of their stories support the article’s central argument. If anything, they refute it by illustrating that late abortions have nothing to do with restrictions on early abortions.
The abortion lobby’s own research shows that women who obtain late abortions often have a delayed pregnancy diagnosis and cite similar reasons for seeking an abortion as those who do so earlier in pregnancy. Those reasons typically include financial concerns, relationship problems, educational goals, and so on. In fact, this article makes that very point, stating: “For those women and others who find themselves seeking later abortions, the reasons are as varied as they are with earlier abortions[.]”
The piece doesn’t cite a single example of a woman who had a late abortion because of a restriction on early abortions, nor does it cite any research that supports its contention that the two are related.
READ: Most late-term abortions are not done for medical reasons
Instead, it quotes Erika Christensen, founder of PatientForward, which promotes late abortions, making an absurd claim: “It’s really hard to get an abortion in this country.” Considering there are over 860,000 abortions per year, and that nearly 20% of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion, this claim is indefensible. If one out of every five vehicles on the road were a particular make and model, we would hardly describe that model as “really hard to get.”
But all of this discussion about the timing of abortion ignores the crux of the matter: the preborn child is a human person from fertilization, and it is wrong to kill that person at any time.
Screenshot: ABC News
Though late abortions may seem more brutal and gruesome – indeed, the article’s accompanying photo of plaster baby body parts (shown above) inadvertently illustrates the grotesqueness of dismemberment abortions, which the piece implicitly promotes – the same essential act of homicide is taking place in every abortion, no matter when it occurs, and this should never be allowed.
This article not only completely fails to make its own case, it also obfuscates the essential issue — namely, that abortion is homicide.
“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!
