{"id":315618,"date":"2024-07-16T15:40:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T20:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=315618"},"modified":"2024-09-20T12:44:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T17:44:41","slug":"abortion-after-birth-language-laws-might-allow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-after-birth-language-laws-might-allow\/","title":{"rendered":"The media says no one supports ‘abortion after birth.’ Yet, language in some laws might allow it."},"content":{"rendered":"
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USA Today columnist Chris Brennan recently accused Republicans of lying about Democrat support for abortion up to \u2014 and even after<\/em> \u2014 birth. As both parties now downplay protecting the most vulnerable, the idea of decriminalized infanticide \u2014 once considered extreme, even to pro-abortion stalwarts \u2014 is<\/em> creeping into American law. Words matter<\/em>, and leaving words undefined in law, or allowing for broad legal definitions, frequently allows for courts to interpret those laws broadly as well. This can be problematic \u2014 and, as in the case of abortion- or pregnancy- related laws, even deadly.<\/p>\n

In an article<\/a> published Sunday, Brennan claimed:<\/p>\n

And there is Trump’s problem: So many of his right-wing supporters demand a national ban on abortion and hate hearing\u00a0Trump try to distance himself from it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump’s unhinged solution is to claim that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party advocate for abortion available, “even after birth.”<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s not true. But Trump’s most loyal supporters have shown us they don’t care about truth if you feed them incendiary lies they want to swallow. And this Trump lie, which he has\u00a0trotted out repeatedly since 2016, plays well with them and maybe takes the heat off him with the right-wingers.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the presidential debate last month, Trump stated, “The problem [Democrats] have is they’re radical, because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth.”<\/p>\n

Biden, noted Brennan, failed to counter this claim, so Brennan unsuccessfully sought to obtain examples of states that allow infanticide from Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. He then turned to Planned Parenthood \u2014 not exactly an impartial source, considering the corporation is the number one abortion provider in the nation, committing approximately 40% of all abortions in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Planned Parenthood spokesperson Katie Rodihan told him it is “pure propaganda” to say Democrats support abortion up to and after birth. “What Trump is describing is infanticide, which is already illegal, and it is dangerous and insulting to say otherwise,” she said. “No abortions take place after birth.” She also claimed late abortions are “often a result of catastrophic medical diagnoses” \u2014 a claim debunked (by even pro-abortion sources) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brennan didn’t fact-check what Rodihan told him. Instead, he simply wrote, “The notion that someone who has been pregnant for nine months and then just decides to call it quits at the last moment is absurd.”<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as “absurd” as the idea is, Colorado, Michigan, and California laws reveal that Democratic policies are opening the door to decriminalized infanticide, largely through the use of broad and nebulous legal terminology.<\/p>\n