Well Look Who Knows 'Post-Birth Abortion' Is A Lie, It's Fox News!
And now they're going to have to push back against it *every time* because we know they know!
One thing that has driven me up the goddamn wall over the last few years is the way so many talking heads, interviewers, reporters, etc., interact with people who talk about how abortion-rights advocates support “post-birth abortions” without ever demanding to know who, exactly, ever said that or where it is legal.
We see this happen with a lot of incorrect things that people believe. It’s almost as if there’s this threshold of stupid and if it’s beyond a certain point it’s treated like a religious belief or matter of faith that isn’t meant to be questioned. As if to ask “and where is your proof of this?” would just be rude.
This one, however, bothers me especially because I happen to think accusing people of murdering born babies or supporting the murder of born babies crosses a far more important line.
So color me shocked when I saw a Fox News clip from this weekend, in which host Shannon Bream actually responded to Corey Lewandowski (oh yeah, he’s back) asserting that abortion rights advocates believe in post-birth abortions with a big ol’ “fact check: no.”
Who would have thought?
“Many Democrats believe that you can have an abortion not only on up until the last week, but also in some cases after the baby’s been born,” Lewandowski said confidently, before going on to defend Donald Trump’s anti-abortion bonafides.
Once he was done, Bream took a moment to correct him.
“To be clear, in a number of states, there is abortion allowed through pregnancy. And that includes a measure that Gov. Tim Walz signed in Minnesota. But Democrats say they absolutely disavow the idea of infanticide or of a baby that does survive an abortion somehow, their life being taken at that point,” Bream responded. She added, “We can continue that debate, because there are a number of states that do allow it through pregnancy. But I think everybody agrees infanticide is illegal and wrong.”
Is this a perfect response? It is not. The reason we don’t put limits on abortion is not because anyone is aborting babies the day before they go into labor, but rather because it’s a decision that needs to be made between patient and doctor based on individual situations, not something the government needs to weigh in on.
Still! It is a huge deal to see this pushed back on at all, or for someone to say openly on Fox — where this lie has been pushed over and over again — that it is not true. Granted, I would love to see Lewandowski actually respond to it, but at least it’s something.
This is the thing they need to be hammered on, particularly since we all know exactly what they’re talking about here.
What they’re actually talking about are situations in which newborn babies with fatal conditions are given palliative care once it’s clear that lifesaving measures (which can often be excruciatingly painful) are not going to work. Of course, that’s now more than ever, since so many red states banned abortion before the point at which parents might discover that their child would be born with a condition that would kill them. It’s an incredibly difficult and painful experience for parents, most particularly for mothers who have carried that child for nine months. To accuse these women of just going full Medea is unbelievably unfeeling and cruel, and it goes right along with all of the other misogynistic nonsense that the Trump campaign is trying so hard to walk back right now.
They love accusing women of delighting in murdering the babies they’ve carried for nine months — but they will hate having to defend it. More of this, please!
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
If you have ever been with the parents of a baby who has zero chance of survival even with every possible medical intervention-as I have on multiple occasions-you know how ghoulish this demonization of palliative care is.
"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you
don't want any tax money to go there.
That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on
what the morality of pro-life is."
- Sister Joan Chittister
Benedictine Nun, Author & Speaker