{"id":276269,"date":"2022-09-16T12:01:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T17:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=276269"},"modified":"2022-09-29T19:34:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T00:34:16","slug":"teigen-miscarriage-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teigen-miscarriage-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Chrissy Teigen now claims her pregnancy loss was actually an abortion. But was it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TV personality Chrissy Teigen is now claiming<\/a> that the pregnancy loss she suffered two years ago was actually an abortion, and that this realization was a surprise to her. Yet according to the definition<\/a>\u00a0of induced abortion, it appears Teigen is mistaken. An induced abortion is defined by\u00a0The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as\u00a0“an intervention performed by a licensed clinician […] that is intended to terminate a suspected or known ongoing intrauterine pregnancy and produce a nonviable fetus<\/strong><\/em> at any gestational age.” (emphasis added)<\/p>\n

Teigen and her husband, musician John Legend, used fertility treatments to have their first two children, so when they became pregnant with son Jack naturally, they were joyfully surprised. Tragically, after dealing with issues with the placenta, Teigen was admitted to the hospital due to bleeding. She shared via social media that Jack appeared to be doing well, but just a few weeks later, doctors were unable to stop the bleeding, and though they tried to save him, Jack passed away during or shortly after a preterm delivery.<\/p>\n

At the time, Teigen wrote<\/a> on Instagram, “We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we\u2019ve never felt before. We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn\u2019t enough.”<\/p>\n

She also wrote, “Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Definitions matter: Is an \u2018abortion to save a woman\u2019s life\u2019 truly an abortion?<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, Teigen is attempting to rewrite this heartbreaking loss as an induced abortion \u2014 which is also tragic, but very different. Speaking at social impact agency Propper Daley\u2019s \u201cA Day of Unreasonable Conversation\u201d summit recently, she said<\/a>, \u201cTwo years ago, when I was pregnant with Jack, John and my third child, I had to make a lot of difficult and heartbreaking decisions. It became very clear around halfway through that he would not survive, and that I wouldn\u2019t either without any medical intervention.”<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cLet\u2019s just call it what it was: It was an abortion. An abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance. And to be honest, I never, ever put that together until, actually, a few months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, an induced abortion is an act in which the intent<\/em> is to produce a dead child. Based on the information Teigen has shared, it appears that neither she or Legend, nor the doctors,\u00a0intentionally caused Jack’s death<\/em>. His death was a tragic result of the emergency medical situation that was occurring at the time.<\/p>\n

READ: Chrissy Teigen writes about losing her son at 20 weeks: \u2018I can feel the pain all over again\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Teigen appears to be conflating induced abortion with miscarriage and preterm delivery<\/a>. In an induced abortion, specific procedures<\/a> are used to ensure the baby is dead when he is born or that he dies shortly after birth \u2014\u00a0or if he does survive the abortion, that he is left to die without any medical assistance \u2014 this<\/em> is what pro-life laws restrict. Preterm delivery is an act that is carried out during medical emergencies when doctors are trying to save the mother, the child, or both. Based on Teigen’s account of Jack’s birth, there was nothing doctors could do to save him despite their attempts, he was too young to survive outside the womb, and her life was on the line due to severe bleeding.<\/p>\n

If Tiegen’s original account of Jack’s death is accurate (which we cannot know without access to Teigen’s medical records), then Teigen did not<\/em> have an induced abortion but a procedure that would remain completely legal even if induced abortion were to be completely outlawed. Though we do not have access to individual medical records due to patient privacy, there is a difference between a separation to save the life of the mother versus an induced abortion. According to Dr. Donna Harrison, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), “premature parturition,” or separation of the mother and child, is done “to save the life of the mother and the life of the fetus, or to save the life of at least one of them.”<\/p>\n

AAPLOG\u00a0notes<\/a>\u00a0in its literature, “There is a night and day difference between induced abortion and separating a mother and her unborn child for the purposes of saving a mother\u2019s life (preterm parturition). There are times when separating the mother and her unborn child is necessary to save the life of the mother, even if the unborn child is too premature to live. In those tragic cases, if possible the life of the baby will be attempted to be preserved, and if not possible, the body of the unborn child is treated with respect, recognizing the humanity of the life which is lost in the separation. In contrast, the purpose of an induced abortion is to produce a dead baby.”<\/p>\n