Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joined CNN This Morning Weekend on Saturday to react to the Supreme Court issuing a full stay on Friday night that allows the abortion pill mifepristone to remain on the market by repeating one of the network’s favorite and silliest talking points: mifepristone is “way, way less deadly” than Viagra.
Co-host Victor Blackwell began by noting that “you've been talking with doctors in states that allow abortion and they're obviously pleased with the ruling from last night.”
Cohen began by affirming “they certainly are,” specifically using the word “relieved” to describe her conversations with them.
The entire segment simply accepted the premise that abortion is a good thing, “in states where abortion is allowed, those doctors were dreading the thought that they couldn't use mifepristone, so let's take a look at why: 53 percent of abortions in the United States are with pills, mifepristone and another one called misoprostol, so if they had to stop using, mifepristone, that would really, really be a problem.”
If access to mifepristone were to cease, “They said that they would-- just wouldn't be able to give the women who needed care the right care.”
Cohen then hyped that the pill “as an excellent safety profile” and that “millions of American women have used it.”
With the help of an on-screen chart that showed that mifepristone is responsible for five deaths per one million users as compared to 20 and 49 deaths for penicillin and Viagra respectively, Cohen added “In fact, if you're going to look at deadly side effects, penicillin: way more deadly, Viagra: way, way more deadly.”
Safety or deadly for whom? One million successful abortions are responsible for one millions deaths.
This segment was sponsored by Roman.
Here is a transcript for the April 22 show:
CNN This Morning Weekend
4/22/2023
8:04 AM ET
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Let's bring in CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now. So, you've been talking with doctors in states that allow abortion and they're obviously pleased with the ruling from last night.
ELIZABETH COHEN: Victor, they certainly are, relieved is the word that they use. So let's divide the country into two: states that allow abortion and states that prohibit it.
In states that prohibit abortion they haven't been able to really use these mifepristone anyhow, it's illegal to prescribe it in those states, so this doesn't really change much for them. But in states where abortion is allowed, those doctors were dreading the thought that they couldn't use mifepristone, so let's take a look at why: 53 percent of abortions in the United States are with pills, mifepristone and another one called misoprostol, so if they had to stop using, mifepristone, that would really, really be a problem.
They said that they would-- just wouldn't be able to give the women who needed care the right care and let's take a look at how safe mifepristone is. It's been used for 20 years. It has an excellent safety profile. Millions of American women have used it. In fact, if you're going to look at deadly side effects, penicillin: way more deadly, Viagra: way, way more deadly. Victor, Amara?
