{"id":209630,"date":"2019-08-30T08:04:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T13:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=209630"},"modified":"2019-08-29T14:15:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T19:15:29","slug":"beto-orourke-wrong-maternal-mortality-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/beto-orourke-wrong-maternal-mortality-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Beto O\u2019Rourke is dead wrong on maternal mortality and abortion restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(National Review<\/a>)\u00a0On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke hosted a town hall at the College of Charleston, during which he reiterated his support for late-term abortion in response to an audience question<\/a>. During his response, O\u2019Rourke said that, because of abortion-clinic regulations in Texas, one-fourth of family planning facilities have shut down and claimed that these policies have made the state \u201cone of the epicenters of this maternal mortality crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

To make this claim, O\u2019Rourke is relying on incorrect data. A 2016 study<\/a> in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology<\/em> did report a large increase in the incidence of maternal mortality in Texas, but a 2018 study<\/a> in the same journal \u2014 using corrected data \u2014 found that the maternal-mortality rate was actually less than half of what was previously reported. Contrary to O\u2019Rourke\u2019s remarks, neither clinic regulations nor funding cuts to Planned Parenthood caused the maternal-mortality rate in Texas to spike.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Democratic candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke doubles down on support for abortion without limits<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not the first time O\u2019Rourke has blamed high maternal-mortality rates on pro-life policies. At a campaign event in Nevada this April, O\u2019Rourke claimed that Planned Parenthood<\/a> \u201cis saving lives\u201d and again cited high maternal-mortality rates in Texas. Unlike the former congressman, some elected officials have shown some integrity and admitted error when they have cited false statistics. In May, for instance, Representative Don Beyer (D., Va.) claimed at a congressional hearing that rate of maternal deaths in Texas doubled after funding cuts to Planned Parenthood. Afterwards, he admitted the error and his communications director called it \u201can honest mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

But O\u2019Rourke, like many liberal activists, seems very invested in the false narrative that pro-life policies created a public-health crisis in Texas. While he\u2019s entitled to his own opinion about different types of pro-life laws, he is not entitled to his own facts. Since Texas defunded Planned Parenthood, the birth rate among minors (ages 13-17) in Texas fell by more than 49 percent<\/a> and the abortion rate<\/a> among minors fell by<\/a> more than 57 percent. Presidential candidates should highlight these positive public-health trends in the Lone Star State instead of spreading the false narrative that cuts to Planned Parenthood caused a sharp increase in the rate of maternal mortality.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at National Review<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(National Review)\u00a0On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke hosted a town hall at the College of Charleston, during which he reiterated his support for late-term abortion in response to an audience question. During his response, O\u2019Rourke said that, because of abortion-clinic regulations in Texas, one-fourth of family planning facilities have shut down and claimed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":575,"featured_media":209634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,7077],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeto O\u2019Rourke is dead wrong on maternal mortality and abortion restrictions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contrary to O\u2019Rourke\u2019s remarks, neither clinic regulations nor funding cuts to Planned Parenthood caused the maternal-mortality rate in Texas to spike.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/beto-orourke-wrong-maternal-mortality-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beto O\u2019Rourke is dead wrong on maternal mortality and abortion restrictions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contrary to O\u2019Rourke\u2019s remarks, neither clinic regulations nor funding cuts to Planned Parenthood caused the maternal-mortality rate in Texas to spike.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/beto-orourke-wrong-maternal-mortality-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-30T13:04:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-29T19:15:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/GettyImages-1165960500-beto-orourke.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael J. 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