{"id":297469,"date":"2023-08-31T10:42:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=297469"},"modified":"2023-09-05T18:08:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T23:08:25","slug":"desantis-abortion-survivor-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/desantis-abortion-survivor-story\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis’ story of an abortion survivor is real. She’s not the only one."},"content":{"rendered":"
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At last week’s GOP presidential debate, GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis told a story about a woman who survived multiple abortion attempts in 1955. While the story was immediately brushed off by abortion supporters as likely false, it’s a reminder of one indisputable truth: abortion survivors are real<\/em>.<\/p>\n

During the debate, DeSantis spoke of<\/a> a woman named Penny. “She survived multiple abortion attempts,” he said. “She was left discarded in a pan. Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and brought her to a different hospital.\u201d Numerous people quickly denounced the story as “obviously” false.<\/p>\n

“I understand that politicians lie, but DeSantis\u2019s story about ‘Penny,’ a woman he says survived multiple abortion attempts and was rescued from a pan by her grandmother(????), is just such a bizarre and impossible story, it\u2019s stunning that any human is that gullible,” pro-abortion writer Jill Filipovic tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, later, ‘Penny’ herself came forward saying that it was indeed her story<\/a> that DeSantis was recounting.<\/p>\n

At Jezebel<\/a>, writer Kylie Cheung wrote, “So, to be extremely clear: Abortion all the way up to birth isn\u2019t a thing. And DeSantis\u2019 desperate ‘abortion survivor’ bull**** \u2014 an obvious gag for attention at a debate that saw Vivek Ramaswamy talk all over him \u2014 draws from the usual Republican nonsense about imagined ‘late-term’ abortions targeting born, living infants. DeSantis and Republicans rely on these baseless talking points because they know abortion rights are popular, and all they can do is obfuscate, confuse, and lie.”<\/p>\n

The New York Times described<\/a> the story as “jarring, highly unusual and unverifiable.” KFF Health news admitted<\/a> that Penny exists, but added, “We were unable to gauge the accuracy of [Miriam “Penny”] Hopper\u2019s account. We couldn\u2019t find records, such as news reports, dating to the 1950s, and people who could corroborate the story, such as her grandmother, are no longer living… Medically speaking, the scenario is dubious.”<\/p>\n

Of course, Penny is a real person<\/a> \u2014 and she is not alone. It doesn’t matter at what gestational age the abortion takes place or who is committing it. The fact of the matter is the reality that people survive abortions at all<\/em> proves that they were living human beings<\/em> inside the womb when someone tried to kill them. And, despite the Jezebel writer’s assumption, these abortions don’t have to even be committed on full-term preborn babies for them to have the potential to survive.<\/p>\n

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