{"id":305776,"date":"2024-01-25T16:01:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T22:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=305776"},"modified":"2024-01-30T15:27:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:27:22","slug":"rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Wednesday, January 24, JAMA Internal Medicine published a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/2814274?guestAccessKey=e429b9a8-72ac-42ed-8dbc-599b0f509890&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=012424\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research letter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> titled \u201cRape-Related Pregnancies in the 14 US States With Total Abortion Bans.\u201d The specific states included are Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota \u2014 all of which <em>have<\/em> rape exceptions built in to their pro-life laws \u2014 as well as Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas, whose pro-life laws <em>do not<\/em> include abortion exceptions for children conceived in rape. Several media outlets and commentators, including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2024\/01\/24\/1226161416\/rape-caused-pregnancy-abortion-ban-states\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NPR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, have reported on the research, generally using it to support a pro-abortion position.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The research letter claims to \u201c<strong>estimate<\/strong>[] <strong>rape-related pregnancies<\/strong> by state to assess <strong>how abortion bans affected survivors of rape<\/strong>.\u201d Emphasis is added there because it&#8217;s important to read that again.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The letter arrives at a final number of \u201c64,565 [estimated rape-related] pregnancies during the 4 to 18 months that bans were in effect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be clear, the letter purports to tie the number of <em>pregnancies<\/em> that <em>occurred after a rape<\/em> to&#8230; the fact that a state&#8217;s laws restrict <em>abortions<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And this is where everything about this &#8220;research letter&#8221; becomes so strange, beyond the fact that its methodology is also little more than guesswork.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some questions arise as one reads this research letter:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are the authors attempting to insinuate that rape, or <em>pregnancy<\/em> due to rape, <em>happens more frequently<\/em> in pro-life states than in pro-abortion states (the latter of which they did not choose to research) because pro-life laws protect preborn children <em>after<\/em> they are conceived?<\/strong> (It should be obvious to anyone that laws protecting preborn children from abortion <em>do not cause rape <\/em>or<em> pregnancy<\/em>.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Are they attempting to insinuate that nearly 65,000 women were <em>denied an abortion<\/em> in pro-life states during the period in question \u2014 something which they <em>also<\/em> did not choose to research? <\/strong>(It is a rather bold assumption that all or even most of these women would have sought or wanted an abortion.)<\/li>\n<li><strong> Do they think pro-life legislators <em>don\u2019t believe in the existence<\/em> of rape-related pregnancies?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to an emailed newsletter by abortion advocate Jessica Valenti, she feels the last point is particularly relevant. She claims:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">One of the many lies that anti-abortion activists and legislators tell is that rape-related pregnancies are rare. It\u2019s a claim designed to hide their utter cruelty, and to pivot when asked about abortion ban exceptions.<\/i><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">They\u2019re not going to be able to hide from this number: 65,000. That\u2019s the estimated number of rape-related pregnancies in anti-choice states since they passed abortion bans. 65,000.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>But what&#8217;s curious here is why <em>only<\/em> states with &#8220;abortion bans&#8221; were researched. Perhaps Valenti hinted at it in her email. The point is to make the laws protecting preborn humans from unjust execution <em>appear unjust themselves<\/em>. Abortion advocates seem more angered at the idea of pregnancy as a result of sexual assault (and that a woman might have to travel elsewhere to kill her child) than at the reality of sexual assault itself.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the whole point of the study is to show the &#8220;utter cruelty,&#8221; as Valenti put it, of a &#8220;ban&#8221; on killing children conceived due to sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s interesting, though, is that five of those 14 states researched actually <em>do<\/em>\u00a0have &#8220;exceptions&#8221; in their laws <em>allowing<\/em> children conceived in rape to be killed by abortion. However, the JAMA researchers discount this, writing: &#8220;Although 5 of these states allow exceptions for rape-related pregnancies, stringent gestational duration limits apply, and survivors must report the rape to law enforcement, a requirement likely to disqualify most survivors of rape, of whom only 21% report their rape to police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is important to note that the <a href=\"https:\/\/bjs.ojp.gov\/document\/cv22.pdf\">source<\/a> the authors used to arrive at the 21% statistic is itself based on <em>estimated data<\/em> \u2014 as are all of their other numbers in this research.<\/p>\n<p><b>FLAWED METHODOLOGY<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back to the numbers: to arrive at 64,565 pregnancies due to rape, researchers estimated the total number of rapes committed in the 14 &#8220;abortion ban&#8221; states in question by utilizing <em>rape frequency estimates<\/em> generated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). They then used estimates of the percentage of vaginal rapes from a 2018 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6357953\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to narrow the total number of rapes down to just those that could result in pregnancy. They went on to estimate the <em>number of pregnancies that may have resulted<\/em> from those vaginal rapes by applying a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.jamanetwork.com\/ama\/content_public\/journal\/intemed\/0\/ild240001supp1_prod_1705535449.84204.pdf?Expires=1709146840&amp;Signature=3TStqSDj9xqvoj8kapt8ilhxnIsWWaoFWm1aEnHT5Hwl3t2wMyJbHsJzbzqwbfs9bJ9qJ2Cd~zMqZgLJIlvcR1fNwaazVN0sCqHLV26edKrWPqCpqUsTLyxGRlMysjDRbYWqRNrhoA7u2l99SClUK78sGbVD0M0r3VRNB6fUM39yOBsMxTla-GstVFDO-TPbDEqMTqZ9iobpuo3TFs5NCVzBaiZmyY5CSL8MGBrZlibtzm3RWS5n9pReY2B71W0odIvcGE4aTcEvuFwtOhvx0sfOmC7F3TR099PmOqnKYR3pYJ6ffjcdxrsZc7viNwnTGyVFw873o~49zr-7MaQRRA__&amp;Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">formula<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> derived from CDC data and data obtained from a 1996 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/8765248\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on rape-related pregnancy, both of which are also based on estimates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, this research letter presents <strong>estimates<\/strong> based on <strong>estimates<\/strong> subtracted from <strong>estimates<\/strong> multiplied by an <strong>estimate<\/strong>. How accurate are those estimates? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/no-64000-children-have-not-been-conceived-in-rape-in-states-with-pro-life-laws\/\">According<\/a> to Dr. Michael New, assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>To call those figures an exaggeration would be an understatement&#8230;. First, the authors of the study claim that approximately 12.5 percent of rapes result in a conception. That is an exceptionally high figure. The results of a <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/8765248\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-testid=\"standard-link\">survey<\/a> of over 4,000 women that was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1996 puts that figure at closer to 5 percent.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New also notes that the study authors relied on rape frequency statistics that &#8220;have been <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/3393442\/cdc-rape-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-testid=\"standard-link\">criticized<\/a> for significantly overestimating the incidence of rape,&#8221; and which are &#8220;over four times higher than the <a href=\"https:\/\/bjs.ojp.gov\/content\/pub\/pdf\/cv17.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-testid=\"standard-link\">estimates<\/a> provided by the Department of Justice\u2019s National Crime Victimization Survey and over ten times higher than FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/crime-in-the-u.s\/2017\/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017\/topic-pages\/rape\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-testid=\"standard-link\">data<\/a> on the number of rapes reported to law enforcement.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even the authors themselves <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.jamanetwork.com\/ama\/content_public\/journal\/intemed\/0\/ild240001supp1_prod_1705535449.84204.pdf?Expires=1709146840&amp;Signature=3TStqSDj9xqvoj8kapt8ilhxnIsWWaoFWm1aEnHT5Hwl3t2wMyJbHsJzbzqwbfs9bJ9qJ2Cd~zMqZgLJIlvcR1fNwaazVN0sCqHLV26edKrWPqCpqUsTLyxGRlMysjDRbYWqRNrhoA7u2l99SClUK78sGbVD0M0r3VRNB6fUM39yOBsMxTla-GstVFDO-TPbDEqMTqZ9iobpuo3TFs5NCVzBaiZmyY5CSL8MGBrZlibtzm3RWS5n9pReY2B71W0odIvcGE4aTcEvuFwtOhvx0sfOmC7F3TR099PmOqnKYR3pYJ6ffjcdxrsZc7viNwnTGyVFw873o~49zr-7MaQRRA__&amp;Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">admit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the considerable <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/2814274?guestAccessKey=e429b9a8-72ac-42ed-8dbc-599b0f509890&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=012424\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">limitations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> involved in their endeavor and advise that their results should be \u201cinterpreted cautiously.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, <em>no states without abortion bans were studied for comparison.<\/em><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s more, the authors openly acknowledge the weaknesses of each of their primary data sources, characterizing <em>two<\/em> of them as having \u201cpoor\u201d accuracy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-305777 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-700x284.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-700x284.png 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-768x312.png 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-1536x624.png 1536w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM-500x203.png 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-7.26.20\u202fPM.png 1758w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><br style=\"font-weight: 400;\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be fair, it <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> difficult to obtain solid data on rape and the pregnancies that come about as a result, simply due to the intimate nature of the crime itself and the complex emotional and psychological responses of victims \u2013 as a result, many victims decline to report having been raped, which skews the accuracy of the available statistics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>HEAVILY BIASED AGENDA<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may reasonably be wondering why anyone should undertake this endeavor if the source data are so limited and potentially unreliable. After all, recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/642404379\/Long-Term-Decline-in-US-Abortions-Reverses#_=_\">research<\/a> on the number of <em>abortions<\/em> in which rape is cited as a primary reason <i>already exists<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, this study looked at the number of <em>pregnancies<\/em> <em>resulting<\/em> from rape \u2014 <strong>not<\/strong> the number of <em>abortions<\/em> obtained for the reason of rape \u2014 which makes this research letter little more than an attempted smear and &#8220;shame tactic&#8221; against pro-life states. After all, one would reasonably assume that <em>pregnancies<\/em> can occur after rape in <em>both pro-life and pro-abortion states<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The point, for researchers, was apparently to use the number of rape-related pregnancies solely from pro-life states to push the idea that it is cruel for state governments to attempt to protect every child in the womb as a valuable human being, regardless of the means of conception.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only does the research letter ignore the number of abortions sought for the reason of rape, it also doesn&#8217;t even attempt to account for rape victims who choose life instead of abortion &#8211; like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GeEpBNtmCNw&amp;t=2s\">Steventhen&#8217;s<\/a> mother, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZkV0T-hTmXs\">Kathy&#8217;s<\/a> mother, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tjvnhAHCGdU\">Rebecca&#8217;s<\/a> mother, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3angK2H-D2M\">Crystal<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H95V3vCwuhA\">Paula<\/a>, or thousands of others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dUEomZ-O7t0?si=1sB08SWMVwIpdEuD\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The existing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/642404379\/Long-Term-Decline-in-US-Abortions-Reverses#_=_\">estimates<\/a> regarding the number of abortions in which rape is cited as a primary reason are already broken down by individual state, and are superior to anything presented by the JAMA Internal Medicine research letter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what is even the <em>point<\/em> of this publication? <strong>Why<\/strong> undertake this research in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The answer to the \u201cwhy\u201d question can be found both at the top of the JAMA Internal Medicine <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/2814274?guestAccessKey=e429b9a8-72ac-42ed-8dbc-599b0f509890&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=012424\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (where the letter is categorized as relating to \u201cHealth and the 2024 US Election\u201d) and by scrutinizing the researchers themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-305778 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-700x229.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-700x229.png 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-300x98.png 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-768x251.png 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-1536x502.png 1536w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM-500x163.png 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-6.46.28\u202fPM.png 1758w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principal author is Dr. Samuel L. Dickman. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2024\/01\/24\/1226161416\/rape-caused-pregnancy-abortion-ban-states\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NPR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> describes him as an \u201cabortion provider\u201d and parenthetically notes that he \u201cis also the medical director of Planned Parenthood Montana and a plaintiff in several lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions in Montana.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second listed author \u2013 Kari White, PhD \u2013 has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/searchresults?author=Kari+White&amp;q=Kari+White\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">authored<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a number of scholarly articles about abortion, including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/2782013?resultClick=1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which argues that the <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-democrats-hyde-amendment-saved-lives\/\">Hyde Amendment<\/a> (which prohibits federal taxpayer funding for abortion) imposes \u201crisks\u201d upon low-income women. According to the conflict of interest disclosure at the bottom of the JAMA <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/fullarticle\/2814274?guestAccessKey=e429b9a8-72ac-42ed-8dbc-599b0f509890&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=012424\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research letter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cDr White reported personal fees from the Society of Family Planning Stipend as well as grants from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation[.]\u201d She has also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.utah.edu\/obgyn\/staff\/kari-white\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">received funding<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Packard Foundation. The Society of Family Planning is an openly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/societyfp.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pro-abortion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> organization; both the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the Packard Foundation were original <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/bad-actors-money-trail-abortion-pill-corruption\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">investors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Danco, which manufactures the abortion pill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principal authors of this research letter have a clear pro-abortion agenda. They also derive financial gain from abortion \u2013 one of them quite directly by personally committing abortions, and the other by taking money from organizations which promote and profit from abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making abortion more widely available and frequently obtained is in the authors\u2019 financial interests. And the JAMA article itself connects this research to the forthcoming U.S. elections. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that this research doesn\u2019t really add any reliable, new scholarly information to that which is already available, and given the emotionally charged nature of rape itself, this research letter can perhaps be most reasonably interpreted as an attempt to enflame voters\u2019 emotions, sway their opinions against pro-life laws (with nonsensical and sloppy research), and to encourage votes in favor of upcoming pro-abortion state-level <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-winning-ballot-box-deception\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ballot measures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and referendums.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no other readily discernible purpose for this publication, and the information contained within it should be interpreted through that lens. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, the article is not merely biased, but it disregards the fundamental reason pro-life laws exist in the first place: to protect innocent human beings from homicide, which is never acceptable, regardless of the circumstances of conception.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note, 1\/26\/24: This article was updated after its original publication with additional information.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/tell-congress-stop-the-doj-from-targeting-pro-life-americans\/?utm_campaign=doj_petition&amp;utm_medium=lan_website\"><b><i>The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail this Christmas for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, January 24, JAMA Internal Medicine published a research letter titled \u201cRape-Related Pregnancies in the 14 US States With Total Abortion Bans.\u201d The specific states included are Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota \u2014 all of which have rape exceptions built in to their pro-life laws \u2014 as well as Alabama, Arkansas, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":279068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,9459],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nearly everything about this &#039;research letter&#039; on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0\" \/>\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\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nearly everything about this &#039;research letter&#039; on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1367231979-20-wk-3-day-ultrasound.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bettina di Fiore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f\"},\"headline\":\"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\"},\"wordCount\":1733,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\",\"Top Story on Homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\",\"name\":\"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Nearly everything about this 'research letter' on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f\",\"name\":\"Bettina di Fiore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bettina di Fiore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bettina-di-fiore\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?","description":"Nearly everything about this 'research letter' on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?","og_description":"Nearly everything about this 'research letter' on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1367231979-20-wk-3-day-ultrasound.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bettina di Fiore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bettina di Fiore","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/"},"author":{"name":"Bettina di Fiore","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f"},"headline":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?","datePublished":"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/"},"wordCount":1733,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Analysis","Top Story on Homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/","name":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-01-25T22:01:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T21:27:22+00:00","description":"Nearly everything about this 'research letter' on pregnancies after rape is strange, including its methodology, which is primarily guesswork.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/rape-related-pregnancy-research-questionable\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is the new \u2018research\u2019 on rape-related pregnancies reliable?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f","name":"Bettina di Fiore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bettina di Fiore"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bettina-di-fiore\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305776"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305932,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305776\/revisions\/305932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}