A political group for Americans living abroad is using their influence to promote abortion by placing certain pro-abortion European countries on a pedestal for the U.S. to emulate.
The group — Democrats Abroad — describes itself as “the official Democratic Party arm for the 9 million Americans living outside the United States” and has recently partnered with NARAL to promote abortion. Among other things, they hope to increase pressure on lawmakers and others to make the abortion pill easier to access. With restrictions on abortion falling in many countries across Europe, such as Ireland and Gibraltar, the activists hope America will soon follow suit.
“Democrats Abroad and NARAL decided to work together because there was a feeling on both sides that the examples of what’s going on in Europe would be helpful,” said Salli Swartz, Global Women’s Caucus co-chair for Democrats Abroad, according to Ms. Magazine.
However despite these claims, the United States has fewer restrictions on abortion than many European countries.
Although many U.S. states have passed restrictions, no federal law exists to protect babies at the point of viability (typically considered 22-24 weeks gestation) or beyond. In fact according to a Washington Post fact check, the U.S. is currently one of only seven countries in the world where abortion is legal past 20 weeks’ gestation. The Supreme Court’s Doe v. Bolton decision allowed for late-term abortion in the case of supposed threats to “physical, emotional, psychological, familial … wellbeing,” even though deliberately killing a preborn child is never medically necessary.
Much of what troubles the group is the existence of conscience protections and the right of insurance carriers not to cover abortions. NARAL lawyer Jael Humphrey said that because abortion isn’t covered by many insurance plans, the financial burdens to pay for abortions “disproportionately fall on those already facing the most significant barriers to accessing care due to systemic racism and structural inequities.” In truth, women of color have been having abortions at four times the rate of white women, and where rates of abortion have fallen around the country for middle-class women, they haven’t for poor women who have historically been targeted by the abortion industry.
The groups also raised concerns about restrictions placed on the abortion pill in the U.S. “In Europe, in most countries, it’s pretty easy to get the abortion pill. You can usually get it in pharmacies,” Swartz claimed. Since 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has had the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) protocol in place for the abortion pill, known as mifepristone. REMS requires a certified provider in a medical setting to prescribe the abortion pill to protect women — like ruling out an ectopic pregnancy, which could result in hemorrhaging and death — and provide for emergent care as needed. Yet as Live Action News has reported, in May the Biden administration announced the REMS protocol was under review.
In a recent wave of pro-life legislation, some 24 states are poised to enact legal protections for preborn babies pending the outcome of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a fact that troubles Democrats Abroad and NARAL. “It is very alarming that the United States Supreme Court has agreed to review an unquestionably unconstitutional abortion ban,” said Christina Krysinski, counsel at NARAL Pro-Choice America, according to Ms. Magazine. However, no right to abortion exists in the U.S. Constitution.
