The ‘abortion after birth’ lie is as dangerous as it is ludicrous

>>> DONALD TRUMP USHERED IN THE MOST DANGEROUS ERROR FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH IN AMERICA IN 50 YEARS. HE PROMISED TO DELIVER A SUPREME COURT THAT WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID. NOW, HE IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AGAINST A DYSTOPIAN BACKDROP OF FORCED BIRTH AND DENIAL OF CARE, A DANGEROUS AND DEEPLY UNPOPULAR REALITY THAT HE OWNS POLITICALLY. THE DIFFICULTY OF RUNNING WITH THAT RECORD IS EVIDENT IN THE INCREASING DESPERATION OF THE LIES HE TELLS ABOUT ABORTION AND WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE. WHEN FACED WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF EMPOWERING BRUTAL ANTIABORTION REGIMES IN RED STATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, HE OFTEN TELLS PATENTLY ABSURD ABSURD LIES, CLAIMING EVERYONE WANTED ROE VERSUS WADE TO BE OVERTURNED, INCLUDING DEMOCRATS. THERE IS ONE EQUALLY LUDICROUS LINE THAT NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED BECAUSE OF HOW DANGEROUS IT IS. BY NOW, YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD DONALD TRUMP AND HIS ACCOLADES TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE CALLING POST BIRTH ABORTION, CLAIMING THAT KAMALA HARRIS AND OTHER DEMOCRATS WANT TO ALLOW, AS TRUMP PUTS IT, THE EXECUTION OF BABIES. THIS ALLY, ALTHOUGH IT SOUNDS SO INSANE AND FRENCH, IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE ANYONE WOULD BELIEVE IT, WAS AMPLIFIED WHEN TRUMP REPEATED IT AT THIS WEEK'S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. >> YOU COULD DO ABORTIONS IN THE SEVENTH MONTH, THE EIGHTH MONTH, THE NINTH MONTH, AND PROBABLY AFTER BIRTH. JUST LOOK AT THE GOVERNOR, FORMER GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA SAID, WE PUT THE BABY ASIDE AND WE DETERMINE WHAT WE WANT TO DO WITH THE BABY. BEING GOVERNOR BEFORE, HE SAID, THE BABY WILL BE BORN, AND WE WILL DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THE BABY. IN OTHER WORDS, WE WILL EXECUTE THE BABY. >> WHAT DONALD TRUMP IS DESCRIBING IS MURDER ME NOT ABORTION. POST BIRTH ABORTION IS NOT A THING. IT IS JUST NOT A THING. THE POST BIRTH ABORTION LIE IS A DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO ACQUAINT ACTUAL ABORTION, WHICH IS HEALTHCARE, TO MURDER, AS A MEANS TO STIGMATIZE WOMEN WHO NEED ABORTIONS AND THE DOCTORS WHO PROVIDE THEM. YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER SOMEONE IN YOUR OWN LIFE WHO BELIEVES THIS DANGEROUS LINE. I WANT TO GET INTO THE DETAILS WITH YOU. NOTICE THAT TRUMP MENTIONED THE FORMER CREDIT GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA WHEN HE PUSHED THE POST BIRTH ABORTION LIE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, ADDING A SPECIFIC DETAIL MAKES THE LIFE SEEM MORE CREDIBLE. TRUMP WAS REFERRING TO RALPH NORTHAM. IN 2019, THEN GOVERNOR NORTHAM DID A RADIO INTERVIEW IN WHICH HE WAS ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT WOULD LOOSEN RESTRICTIONS ON LATE- TERM ABORTIONS. HE GAVE A LONG AND SOMEWHAT SECURED HIS ANSWER THAT TEST ON THE TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE VERY RARE CASE OF LATE-TERM ABORTION. THEN, HE ALSO TALKED ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A BABY WAS BORN WITH A FETAL DIAGNOSIS. >> WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIRD TRIMESTER ABORTIONS, THESE ARE DONE WITH THE CONSENT OF OBVIOUSLY THE MOTHER, WITH THE CONSENT OF THE PHYSICIANS, MORE THAN ONE PHYSICIAN, BY THE WAY. AND IT IS DONE IN CASES WHERE THERE MAY BE SEVERE DEFORMITIES. THERE MAY BE A FETUS THAT IS NONVIABLE. IN THIS PARTICULAR EXAMPLE, IF A MOTHER IS IN LABOR, I CAN TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. THE INFANT WOULD BE DELIVERED, THE INFANTS WOULD BE KEPT COMFORTABLE ME THE INFANT WOULD BE RESUSCITATED, IF THAT IS WHAT THE MOTHER AND THE FAMILY DESIRED, AND A DISCUSSION WOULD ENSUE BETWEEN THE PHYSICIANS AND THE MOTHER. >> AS HIS OFFICE EXPLAINED AT THE TIME, NORTHAM WAS SPEAKING OF TWO DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES, ONE IN WHICH A CATASTROPHIC DIAGNOSIS OR CIRCUMSTANCE WOULD CAUSE A PATIENT TO NEED A LATE- TERM ABORTION, WHICH IS EXTREMELY RARE, AND DONE AS NORTHAM NOTES, ONLY WITH THE APPROVAL OF MORE THAN ONE POSITION, AND THE OTHER IS A HYPOTHETICAL CASE HE ADDRESSED IF A PATIENT GOES INTO LABOR AND DELIVERS A BABY WITH A FETAL DIAGNOSIS. IN THAT CASE, HE EXPLAINED THE HEARTBREAKING CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH FAMILIES WOULD FACE INCLUDING THE VERY DIFFICULT DECISION AROUND KEEPING THEIR BABY COMFORTABLE IN THEIR FINAL MOMENTS FOR ME OR TAKING EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO PROLONG THEIR LIFE. THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT TOOK THE INTERVIEW, TWISTED IT AND RAN WITH IT, USING IT TO CLAIM THAT DEMOCRATS WERE PROMOTING ABORTION AFTER BIRTH, OR THE MURDER OF NEWBORN BABIES. NOW, FIVE YEARS LATER, THE SAME LIE IS CROPPING UP ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. LET'S LOOK AT THE FACTS, A FULL-TERM PREGNANCY LASTS BETWEEN 39 AND 40 WEEKS. BY DEFINITION, A LATE TERM, OR LATE IN PREGNANCY ABORTION OCCURS AFTER 21 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY, AND IS EXTREMELY RARE . ACCORDING TO THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, FEWER THAN 1% OF ABORTIONS OCCURRED AT OR AFTER 21 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY. 80.8% OF ABORTIONS OCCURRED AT OR BEFORE NINE WEEKS OF PREGNANCY, AND JUST 5.7% OF ABORTIONS OCCUR BETWEEN 14 AND 20 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY, CONSIDERED THE SECOND TRIMESTER. ZERO ABORTIONS ARE PERFORMED AFTER THE BIRTH OF A BABY. IT SOUNDS BIZARRE TO HAVE TO SAY THAT, BUT IN FACT, WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING TO THIS MOMENT FOR A LONG TIME. THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT HAS BEEN PAINTING WOMEN THAT HAVE ABORTIONS AND THE DOCTORS WHO PERFORM THEM AS MURDERERS FOR DECADES. , HARASSMENT TACTIC WAS DEFINED IN PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT DOCTORS IN THE FORM OF WANTED POSTERS, OTHER TIMES, THEY WOULD SEND LETTERS TO A DR.'S NEIGHBORS, TELLING THEM, THERE'S A KILLER IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. ANTIABORTION ACTIVISTS HAVE BEEN PERFORMING WHAT THEY CALL RESCUES. THIS HAS INVOLVED EVERYTHING FROM BLOCKING ENTRANCES TO ABORTION CLINICS AND MEDICAL CENTERS TO HARASSING PATIENTS, DOCTORS, AND WORKERS, AND EVEN INVADING THE CLINICS THEMSELVES. IT HAS OFTEN INVOLVED CARRYING SIGNS AND CALLING PATIENT AND STAFF WHO ENTER CLINICS MURDERERS. IN 1994, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON SIGNED A LAW THAT MADE IT A FEDERAL CRIME TO PHYSICALLY OBSTRUCT INTERFERENCE OR USE VIOLENCE, OR THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE FROM PREVENTING SOMEONE FROM OBTAINING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE. SOME CREATED BUFFER ZONES TO KEEP PROTESTERS FROM GETTING TOO CLOSE TO ENTRANCES AND THE PATIENTS. THAT NEVER STOPPED ANTIABORTION PROTESTERS FROM SHOWING UP WITH THEIR SIGNS AND PITCHFORKS TO THIS DAY. THE 1980s A HUGE WAVE OF CLINIC BOMBERS. 29 ABORTION CLINICS WERE BOMBED ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN 1984. ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION, SINCE 1977, THERE HAVE BEEN 42 BOMBINGS AND 200 CASES OF ARSON AT ABORTION CLINICS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. OVER THE YEARS, THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT THAT CROSSED THE THRESHOLD INTO STRAIGHT UP MURDER. THE MILITANT WING OF THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT HAS COMMITTED 11 MURDERS SINCE 1977, ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION. TWO OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN CASES ARE THE MURDERS OF DR. GEORGE TILLER AND DR. DAVID GOTTMAN. IN THE 1990s AND EARLY 2000'S, DR. TILLER WAS A FREQUENT TARGET OF VIOLENCE BECAUSE HE WAS ONE OF THE FEW PHYSICIANS AT THE TIME WHO WAS PERFORMING LATE IN PREGNANCY ABORTIONS. HIS CLINIC WAS BOMBED IN 1986. HE WAS SHOT IN 1993, BUT HE SURVIVED. IN 2009, A MAN NAMED SCOTT ROEDER WALKED INTO DR. TILLER'S CHURCH DURING A SERVICE WHERE DR. TILLER WAS SERVING AS AN USHER AND SHOT DR. TILLER IN THE HEAD, KILLING HIM. HE SAID HE DID IT TO PROTECT BABIES FROM BEING MURDERED. THE FIRST KNOWN ABORTION PROVIDER TO BE ASSASSINATED WAS DR. DAVID GUNN IN 1993. THE GUNMAN WAS A MEMBER OF THE ANTIABORTION GROUP, WESTERN AMERICA, WHO SHOT HIM IN THE BACK THREE TIMES AS HE ENTERED HIS CLINIC IN PENSACOLA, FLORIDA. IN RESPONSE, RISK AMERICA RELEASED A STATEMENT SAYING, WHILE DR. GUNN'S MURDER WAS QUOTE, UNFORTUNATE, DEFECTIVE, A NUMBER OF MARK MOTHERS WOULD HAVE BEEN PUT AT RISK AND A NUMBER OF BABIES WOULD HAVE DIED AS AT HIS HAND. IN OTHER WORDS, AN EYE FOR AN EYE. FOR DECADES, THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT HAS BEEN FIGHTING THE VIOLENCE OF ANTI-EXTREMIST AMONG THE RANKS BY EQUATING ABORTION, WHICH IS HEALTHCARE, TO MURDER. THE RHETORIC THAT DONALD TRUMP AND OTHERS ON THE RIGHT ARE NOW SPEWING SEAMLESSLY FITS INTO THIS TIRING, YET DANGEROUS STRATEGY. ABORTION IS NOT MURDER. ABORTION IS HEALTHCARE. THE POST BIRTH ABORTION LIGHT WAS DESIGNED TO JUSTIFY THE BRUTAL REGIME OF FORCED BIRTH UNDER WHICH MILLIONS OF AMERICAN WOMEN ARE NOW SUFFERING. IT IS BEING USED AS A LAZY, BUT DANGEROUS STRATEGY BY DONALD TRUMP TO TURN OUR ATTENTION AWAY FROM STRATEGIES THAT HAVE SPRUNG UP IN THE WAKE OF THE END OF ROE, THE RUSH OF STORIES OF WOMEN BEING DENIED CLEAR, LEFT TO BLEED AND SUFFER,