The Week in Abortion

9.23.24 - 9.27.24

The Anti-Abortion Movement’s PR Campaign

If there was one bit of news that had me raging this week, it was this one. Anti-abortion organizations and politicians launched a massive media campaign to blame pro-choicers—of all people!—for the deaths of two women in Georgia. They claim that it wasn’t dangerous abortion bans that killed Candi Miller and Amber Nicole Thurman, but abortion rights activists who ‘scared’ doctors out of giving care.

What started out early in the week as some tweets accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of lying about the women’s deaths had turned into a full blown disinformation campaign by Friday. The anti-abortion movement placed op-eds and quotes all across right wing media—from Fox News hosting ‘experts’ to claim that Georgia’s law is completely safe, to columns claiming that the real danger is pro-choice activism. Worst of all, we saw Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA-PLA) launch an ad campaign that used Thurman and Miller’s names and pictures in a TV spot.

I’ve been predicting this strategy since 2022, but the sheer shamelessness of it still managed to shock me.

And remember, SBA-PLA—which keeps insisting that abortion bans allow for life-saving care—actually lobbied against an exception for women’s lives in at least one state. That wasn’t the only bit of noxious news that the anti-abortion group made this week. Documents provided to Abortion, Every Day by True North Research found that leaders of the organization are also behind Donald Trump’s most horrific abortion lie: ‘post-birth’ abortion.

EXCLUSIVE: Here's the Anti-Abortion Group Pulling Trump’s Strings

The Truth About Post-Dobbs Deaths

While anti-abortion groups were trying to shirk blame and hide from the reality of what their laws have done, we saw a few stark pieces of reality this week about the consequences of abortion bans. First, this gutting CNN interview with the family of Amber Nicole Thurman. They know exactly what happened to their daughter and sister.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) found that maternal mortality in Texas skyrocketed by 56% after the state’s abortion ban went into effect. Fifty-six percent. The nationwide rise in maternal mortality was 11% in the same time period.