The mainstream media is no stranger to being an ally of the abortion movement. Vox recently engaged in such a play of euphemisms that they had to issue a correction. What’s even better is that this article is in their “Explainers” section.
Anna North’s article, “What’s missing from the conversation about late abortions, as explained by a doctor,” is an interview with Dr. Kristyn Brandi, an abortionist and board member of the pro-abortion Physicians for Reproductive Health.
The love fest between the two women and agreement over semantics is quite clear. Take for instance, when North asks about "abortions that happen later in pregnancy," Dr. Brandi responds, “Thank you for using the more appropriate terminology. A lot of the people I’ve been talking to about abortions that happen later in pregnancy use these weird terms like ‘late-term abortion.’”
According to Dr. Brandi, a “late-term pregnancy” would describe a woman who is 41 or more weeks pregnant, "which is very different than what we’re talking about typically when people say late-term abortion. Which I think really reflects the fact that people that are having these conversations may not have that medical background, and so we’re not speaking the same language and it creates confusion for everyone involved."
Dr. Brandi, despite her medical background, then creates confusion herself: “I should say that when we’re talking about these abortions later in pregnancy, this is about 1 percent of all abortion care. The majority of abortions happen in the first trimester." She never defines "abortions later in pregnancy" and then talks about the first trimester, so an assumption is made that 99 percent of abortions take place in the first trimester.
According to the Vox correction at the end, "An earlier version of this story misstated the percentage of abortions that take place in the first three months of pregnancy. It is about 92 percent, not about 99 percent." About 1.4 percent are performed at or after 21-weeks gestation, according to Planned Parenthood. More recent figures from the CDC show similar figures of 91.1 percent and 1.3 percent. The true figures are not completely known, as states are not mandated to report abortion statistics. Using the CDC's numbers, there were still at least 5,597 abortions after 21 weeks in 2015 (10 states, including the most populous state of California, did not report their data). That's thousands at and after the line of viability.
More Corrections Needed
There are many other problems with the article. Dr. Brandi goes on to parrot another pro-abortion talking point about women aborting later in pregnancy for maternal or fetal health reasons. She downplays “structural and socioeconomic reasons” when studies from pro-abortion individuals and organizations show these are the majority.
North asks Dr. Brandi to describe abortion procedures, since “a clear picture of what happens during an abortion would be helpful to our readers in making sense of some of the debates right now.”
Spoiler: Vox readers do not get a “clear picture.” Not when Dr. Brandi omits how medication abortion involves painful cramps, contractions to expel the dead child, and heavy bleeding which can last for weeks. It's not a “clear picture” when Dr. Brandi uses phrases like “gently dilates the cervix… then empties the uterus,” when the “vacuum aspiration” used to suck out the child is 10 to 20 times the strength of a household vacuum cleaner. Nor when Dr. Brandi says they “use a combination of instruments and aspiration to empty the uterus,” when she means they dismember an unborn child.
North asks about “what typically happens to fetal remains after an abortion,” likely to offer a chance to make the procedure seem more humane since Dr. Brandi claims, “Fetal tissue is treated respectfully and handled in a way that protects the privacy of patients.” Nothing to see there, folks. No need to worry about the disposal of fetal remains in sewers or dumping of patient records, which abortion facilities have been caught doing.
And then there's the dispute over babies born alive from botched abortions. Abortion survivors who are telling their stories should be all the proof we need. Unfortunately, not all babies are so lucky, as medical professionals have come forward to share stories of babies born alive and then left to die. There's also reporting from the CDC.
Vox is not the first and likely won't be the last to deny the existence of abortion survivors. When asked, Dr. Brandi feeds the idea that pro-lifers are just “trying to use extreme language and sensationalization to make people uncomfortable.”
We should be uncomfortable hearing these stories of babies born alive. Not in a way where we say it’s so horrible, it can’t possibly be true, but in a way where we recognize the humanity of these children.
