Over the weekend, Fox & Friends Saturday helped debunk claims by liberals that two women died because of Georgia's abortion ban as the show had on Dr. Christina Francis to discuss the issue.
Co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy introduced the segment by playing a clip of Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris trying to scare an audience about abortion:
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: Vice President Harris is calling out Trump's pro-life agenda as Democrats believe abortion will motivate voters across key battlegrounds.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: At least two women -- and those are only the stories we know -- here in the state of Georgia, died -- died because of the Trump abortion ban.
Showing on screen an image of an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Campus-Duffy soon introduced her pro-life guest:
But in her new op-ed, our next guest explains why this is not the case. Dr. Christina Francis is CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and she joins us now. Doctor, it's so great to have you on on such an important topic because there's a lot of lies being told right now. So explain to us exactly why did Amber Nicole Thurman die.
Dr. Francis recalled that Amber Nicole Thurman traveled to North Carolina to get an abortion and was given two medications to induce the abortion in spite of those who argue the medications are unsafe:
And when she was nine weeks pregnant, she drove to North Carolina for what she thought was going to be a surgical abortion, and then the reports actually state that just an employee of the clinic gave her the high-risk abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, and she took those drugs and, unfortunately, four to five days later, she went to her local hospital because she got heavy bleeding. She was vomiting blood.
She then argued that, after Thurman became ill back home in Georgia, and the hospital she went to mishandled the situation and failed to do what it should have to save her life:
Further reports she had passed out, and she showed up at her local hospital with what is very clear to me -- and I think I said in my op-ed -- even a first-year resident would be able to make the diagnosis of sepsis from an incomplete abortion, which we know to be a risk of taking these drugs. And, unfortunately, her doctors did not appear to treat her by the standard of care which would have been an immediate D&C and then antibiotics, and they waited 20 hours before they took her to the operating room. And at that point, she was in multi-system organ failure, and she was on medications to keep her blood pressure up because of the sepsis. And, unfortunately, she died on the operating room table.
Dr. Francis then complained about Democrats and the media causing harm by misinforming women: "You know, it's really unfortunate that politicians like Vice President Harris and the media are trying to blame this on laws like Georgia's law that actually protects women and their children. And we know that Amber and her unborn children were victims of these high-risk abortion drugs." But they always want to push these pills are always safe and effective, and never cause complications.
Referring to the case of Candi Miller's death, Campos-Duffy played a clip of another pro-life physician, Dr. Susan Bane, who has also accused the media of endangering women with misinformation:
I'm mad because this woman didn't have to die. This woman did not die because -- as it is journalists report that a D&C procedure -- which is a minor surgical procedure -- couldn't have been done on this woman. Based on the timeline and her symptoms, she should have had it done as soon as she could get to the hospital. It was medical negligence. (editing jump) What's also negligent is the reporting I'm seeing over and over. You are harming women. You're scaring them to seek care. Stop it.
Transcript follows:
Fox & Friends Saturday
September 21, 2024
7:44 a.m. Eastern
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: Vice President Harris is calling out Trump's pro-life agenda as Democrats believe abortion will motivate voters across key battlegrounds.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: At least two women -- and those are only the stories we know -- here in the state of Georgia, died -- died because of the Trump abortion ban.
(...)
CAMPOS-DUFFY: But in her new op-ed, our next guest explains why this is not the case. Dr. Christina Francis is CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and she joins us now. Doctor, it's so great to have you on on such an important topic because there's a lot of lies being told right now. So explain to us exactly why did Amber Nicole Thurman die.
Dr. CHRISTINA FRANCIS, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PRO-LIFE OBSTETRICIANS: Yeah, thank you so much, Rachel, for having me on. You're right. This is really important to speak the truth on this issue. So Amber Nicole Thurman was a 28-year-old mother who apparently dreamed of going to nursing school one day and found out she was pregnant with twins. And when she was nine weeks pregnant, she drove to North Carolina for what she thought was going to be a surgical abortion, and then the reports actually state that just an employee of the clinic gave her the high-risk abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, and she took those drugs and, unfortunately, four to five days later, she went to her local hospital because she got heavy bleeding. She was vomiting blood.
Further reports she had passed out, and she showed up at her local hospital with what is very clear to me -- and I think I said in my op-ed -- even a first-year resident would be able to make the diagnosis of sepsis form an incomplete abortion which we know to be a risk of taking these drugs. And, unfortunately, her doctors did not appear to treat her by the standard of care which would have been an immediate D&C and then antibiotics, and they waited 20 hours before they took her to the operating room. And at that point, she was in multi-system organ failure, and she was on medications to keep her blood pressure up because of the sepsis.
And, unfortunately, she died on the operating room table. You know, it's really unfortunate that politicians like Vice President Harris and the media are trying to blame this on laws like Georgia's law that actually protects women and their children. And we know that Amber and her unborn children were victims of these high-risk abortion drugs.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Yeah, I mean, these drugs, people don't understand they're being given abortion pills, told to go to their homes, and basically do a DYI abortion. And when things go wrong -- we know there's been an increase, I think, of 500 percent of emergency room visits -- and those are the ones we know of because we've been hearing reports that some of these clinics that are giving out the pills are telling women when they have these issues to just call and say, "I'm having a miscarriage." Which is true -- they're having -- but they're having -- this is from taking these abortion drugs. I want you to look at this clip because there are OBGYNs who are very angry about the lies being told because it's dangerous to tell lies and not tell the truth about what these pills do. Listen.
Dr. SUSAN BANE, AAPLOG BOARD MEMBER: I'm mad because this woman didn't have to die. This woman did not die because -- as it is journalists report that a D&C procedure -- which is a minor surgical procedure -- couldn't have been done on this woman. Based on the timeline and her symptoms, she should have had it done as soon as she could get to the hospital. It was medical negligence. (editing jump) What's also negligent is the reporting I'm seeing over and over. You are harming women. You're scaring them to seek care. Stop it.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Doctor, what are your thoughts on that?
Dr. FRANCIS: Well, you know, Dr. Bane is exactly right. There was a second story out of Georgia of another woman, Candi Miller, who her family states actually stayed at home when she was suffering complications again of these high-risk abortion drugs because she was afraid to go to the hospital because of things that she had heard that were false about Georgia's law. You know, we are seeing the direct results of spreading lies and misinformation about these laws. Women are being harmed by that because they are delaying in seeking care. And so I think it's really important no matter where somebody stands on the issue of abortion, we should all want women to have accurate information so that they seek care immediately if they're experiencing complications from things like these high-risk abortion drugs.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Yeah. We've got to talk more about these high-risk abortion drugs and what they do to women. Thank you so much, Doctor, for joining us this morning.
