Say What They Are
Don't let anti-choice groups pretend to care about women
The Supreme Court heard arguments today in the most important abortion case since Dobbs—FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine will determine whether or not abortion medication is severely restricted across the country.
The case has nuances galore, from judge-shopping and dubious studies, to the resurrection of the Comstock Act. But as I listened to anti-abortion attorney Erin Hawley claim that mifepristone hurts women and that doctors suffer moral harm as a result of the drug, there was one thought that kept running through my mind: When are we going to drop the act?
We all know that these people are full of shit. Their ‘science’ is nonsense, their arguments are bad-faith, and the only things powering this case are religious extremism, misogyny, and a whole lot of money. Yet American politics and media continue to treat anti-abortion groups seriously—can we stop the absurdity already?
Obviously, the graveness of the case requires thorough and serious coverage and conversation. Conservatives are using the legal attack on mifepristone to do more than restrict abortion medication; the goal is to enact a backdoor ban on all abortion, nationwide, and to pave the way for a ban on birth control, too.
But there has to be a way to do justice to the case without lending ever-more credibility to a group of total fucking maniacs. Because every time a mainstream publication quotes an anti-abortion ‘expert’ without context or explanation, Americans are lulled into believing that these groups are just one side of a political debate, rather than the truth: that they’re dangerous extremists who would rather see women die than abortion be legal.
Over the weekend, for example, the Wall Street Journal quoted Donna Harrison, director of research for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG). Harrison told reporters, “What this case is really about is common-sense safeguards.”
Sounds innocuous enough—as does the professional-seeming acronym of her organization. You’d never guess that AAPLOG advises doctors to give women with life-threatening pregnancies c-sections instead of abortions. Or that they tell OBGYNs to force women with massive placental abruptions into labor—even if it means blood transfusions in intensive care—so that they can deliver “an intact fetal body.”
If media outlets want to quote AAPLOG representatives, that’s fine; after all, they’re involved in the case. But publications have a responsibility to report the whole truth of who they really are. Let readers decide what’s more dangerous: a drug that’s been used for decades and proven safer than Tylenol, or an organization that tells doctors “cesarean deliveries can also be performed in cases of already-deceased fetuses.”
That a group recommending major abdominal surgery for a miscarriage could paint itself as concerned with women’s health is nauseating. What’s unforgivable is a political sphere that allows them to do it. The obsession with both-sides journalism and ‘civility’ will kill us if we let it.
We know why anti-abortion groups are co-opting feminist language and feigning concern about women’s health. Republicans are losing badly on abortion, and they need voters to believe that every proposed restriction and ban is in women’s best interest.
They don’t want to admit that the reason they’re targeting mifepristone is because it allows patients to sidestep state bans, getting abortions whether conservatives like it or not. They’re hiding the fact that tele-health abortions keep them from their favorite hobby—harassing clinic patients. And they certainly don’t want voters to be reminded of all the suffering their laws have caused, from sepsis and hysterectomies to young women dying.
And so they pretend. They pretend this is about protecting us, even as they hurt us. They pretend that they’re credible, even as their ‘studies’ fall apart under the barest scrutiny. Most of all, they pretend that all of these lies and harm are totally and completely reasonable—even though what they’re suggesting is so beyond the pale sometimes it’s hard even for me to believe.
The normalization of post-Roe horrors has got to stop.
Because we know what happens next. If abortion medication becomes illegal to mail, emergency contraception will follow. The president of Alliance Defending Freedom admitted just a few days ago that the group believes the morning after pill is abortion. If mifepristone ends up restricted because it’s “dangerous,” they’ll use the same argument to restrict hormonal birth control—something conservatives are already laying the groundwork for in an insidious cultural campaign.
It’s not just legal and political maneuvering that stops them. We have to say who they are—loudly and frequently. Any publication, politician or pundit who talks about the issue needs to do the same, or be held accountable for their silence.
These aren’t just any old political groups, arguing for any old issue. This is life and death—literally and urgently. It’s past time that we all treat it that way.
We should also understand that conservatives are pro-capitalism. When a couple of drugs can end a pregnancy in the comfort of your own home, doctors and hospitals and their staffs are getting the shaft on medical care monies.
You can charge big bucks in a hospital setting when you’re ordering tests, bloodwork, and surgery. Usually that will include an ER admittance as well. If a woman is carrying a stillborn fetus, and you send her home until “things get a little further along,” there will be significantly more money involved when she finally receives life-saving care.
I don’t understand the fervor to produce an intact fetus. The fetus is not alive. Logic would dictate the removal of the fetus in the most efficient manner that would benefit the pregnant woman. So the financial benefits to doctors and hospitals appear to be as important to the anti-abortion cause as the pain they intend to cause her.
Jessica said it all: "We all know that these people are full of shit. Their ‘science’ is nonsense, their arguments are bad-faith, and the only things powering this case are religious extremism, misogyny, and a whole lot of money. "