Assuming strictly for the sake of argument that all risks to women from abortion are equal to those from any other medical procedure, Andrea Flynn, in her commentary at the Hill, neglects the fact that abortion fundamentally differs from other procedures because it involves the death of a human being. Induced abortion is simply not comparable to the natural progression of pregnancy. Abortion is inherently about death.
Flynn also ignores the tragic history of allowing the abortion industry to police itself. This is important because, contrary to its name, the “Women’s Health Protection Act” would impede states from enacting new legislation or even enforcing existing laws that protect women against dangerous abortion providers. Elevating mere “access” to abortion over the long-recognized State interest in protecting maternal health virtually immunizes abortion clinics from regulation.
The vast majority of women having abortions are not choosing, as Flynn insinuates, to avoid health risks of pregnancy. And while women of color, poor women, and young women certainly deserve improvement in pregnancy care, their children’s deaths should never be society’s “solution” to the healthcare disparity they experience, as Flynn implies.
Flynn repeats the same tired lines and distractions that many pro-abortion advocates use in trying to dismiss the growing body of evidence that abortion harms women. The proven health risks of abortion are often met with hostility because they undermine Big Abortion’s narrative that the abortion debate requires choosing sides between mothers and their unborn children. The truth is that abortion harms both mothers and children.
— Anna Franzonello is staff counsel at Americans United for Life.