Live Action, which has the greatest online reach of any pro-life organization, was recently told by Facebook that their sharing abilities will be limited after a fact check revealed the organization continuously distributes “false news.” The fact-checkers Facebook relied upon? Two abortionists.
Thefact check specifically focused on a video of Live Action’s president, LilaRose, explaining that abortion is never medically necessary. Another LiveAction video on the same topic narrated by Dr. Kendra Kolb, a board-certifiedphysician specializing in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine, was alsoimpacted.
Thetwo abortionists that Facebook relied on are Dr. Daniel Grossman with Advancing New Standards InReproductive Health (ANSIRH) and Dr. Robyn Schickler with Physicians for ReproductiveHealth. The doctors both profit from abortion and vehemently oppose the ideathat abortion is never medically necessary.
These comments made by Lila Rose, who is not a clinician, are not medically accurate. The piece that is missing in her comments is the gestational age of the pregnancy. If the pregnant woman develops a life-threatening condition at a gestational age when the fetus is likely to survive, it is true that in most cases, obstetricians would proceed with expedited delivery. But if the pregnant woman develops a serious condition at 20 weeks, such as ruptured membranes with signs of infection or heavy bleeding from a placenta previa, it is critical to terminate the pregnancy quickly to save her life. There is no chance that the fetus can survive, and an abortion would be the fastest and safest way to terminate the pregnancy.
ButGrossman misconstrued the argument Lila Rose and Live Action have been making.They never argued that if a medical procedure attempted to save a mother’s liferesults in the baby dying that it should be considered abortion. They don’targue that a child’s life can be saved every single time.
Instead,they believe that the intentional killing of an unborn child is never medicallynecessary. This upholds the Dublin Declaration, which has been signed by over athousand medical professionals:
As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynecology, we affirm that direct abortion – the purposeful destruction of the unborn child – is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman. We uphold that there is a fundamental difference between abortion, and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists also spoke out and condemned this fact check.
Live Action is pushing back against Facebook’s censorship on this topic and has published a petition that pro-lifers can sign.
