I watched some highlights from former President Donald Trump’s recent press conference at Mar-A-Lago. Of the 162 lies and distortions he shared (per NPR), there’s one in particular I’d like to single out.
“(Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam), he said the baby will be born, we will put the baby aside, and we will decide with the mother what we’re going to do,” Trump said. “In other words, whether or not we’re going to kill the baby.”
This is a claim Trump has repeated a number of times, and it’s become a popular talking point in anti-abortion circles.
Not to state the obvious, but at no point in this nation’s history has a doctor ever delivered a baby, set it aside, and then sat down next to the mother and said, “Congratulations ma’am, you just delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Want me to kill it for you?”
That may sound glib and unserious, but when you’re dealing with glib and unserious people, it’s an appropriate response. The idea that doctors are going around casually committing infanticide is worthy of ridicule.
All of this nonsense stems from a 2019 radio interview with Northam where he explained — admittedly poorly — that third trimester abortions should be allowed only in the event that the child would be born with severe deformities incompatible with life or that would put the mother’s life at risk.
Specifically, Northam said that that if a child makes it to full-term with deformities that would invariably result in its early death, the parents and the doctor could make the decision to keep the child as comfortable as possible after delivery but not pursue every single option to keep the child alive.
It’s an unpleasant reality, but there are times when keeping a person alive at all costs amounts to cruelty. We understand this when it comes to our pets; when our pets are suffering and have no quality of life, we often make the humane choice to put them down so they can be at peace.
While we don’t put people out to pasture when they’re suffering, there are plenty of times when medical professionals allow someone to die naturally when it becomes clear they’ll never recover or ever again have any quality of life. This is the entire premise of “do not resuscitate” orders.
What particularly galls me regarding these false claims about third trimester abortions is one simple fact: no one has a late-term abortion because they didn’t want the child. These are mothers who loved their unborn child, who had a name picked out, who had a lovingly decorated nursery at home. Their dreams were dashed when they received the worst news imaginable: that the baby they wanted so dearly is doomed to lead a short, painful life, and its birth might even kill them in the process. They are forced to make the most difficult decision they will ever face, a decision that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
These mothers are not flippant, amoral monsters who decide on a whim to kill their baby at the 11th hour. To paint them as such is shockingly cruel — or at least, it used to be before cruelty in politics lost its shock value and became commonplace.
So now that Roe v. Wade is overturned, what happens to a woman placed in this impossible situation when she has the misfortune to live in a state where abortion is outlawed?
You could ask Amanda Zurawski, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April of last year.
Zurawski, who lives in Texas, conceived her daughter Willow after 18 months of fertility treatments. One August day shortly after she’d finished the invite list for her upcoming baby shower, she had a medical emergency. After being examined by her doctor, she was told that she had dilated prematurely due to a condition called cervical insufficiency. The doctor told her she was going to lose her baby; it was a question of when, not if.
However, because Roe v. Wade had been repealed, Zurawski’s medical team could not perform an abortion as long as Willow’s heart was still beating. In the state of Texas, abortions had become illegal unless the mother is facing “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.”
This meant she had only two options: she had to either wait for Willow to die, or become so incredibly sick that her life would be at risk unless doctors performed an abortion.
Three days later, Zurawski developed a raging fever and her blood pressure dropped precipitously. She was taken to the ER and diagnosed with sepsis. After delivering her stillborn daughter, her vitals crashed, and she was rushed to the ICU where she would remain for three days as doctors battled to save her life.
They did save her life, although according to a recent interview, so much damage was done to her womb that she will never again be able to bear a child.
At his Mar-A-Lago press conference, Trump said that the abortion issue has been “taken down many notches” and is “very much subdued.”
I doubt Amanda Zurawski would agree with that assessment.
You are absolutely correct.
Even before Roe vs. Wade was overturned, women who lost their babies in womb sometimes had to wait days for a dilation and excavation from a specialist.
Those who lost a child at birth due to illness or severe disability, like any parents who lose a child at any age, go through enormous grief. Every woman knows a friend or family member who has lived through that hell.