One look at popular culture and you’d guess abortion was not only moral but necessary, even noble. The Twitter account “Shout Your Abortion” tweeted Friday about abortion as “self-care” — as if pregnancy were a trauma and carrying a baby were akin to PTSD. The same day, Planned Parenthood Action bemoaned the dwindling supply of abortion providers in America.
Let’s look at the facts:
? Today, nearly 90% of American counties are without a single abortion provider
? 27 cities have become “abortion deserts” because people who live there must travel 100 miles+ to reach a provider
? There are 5 states with only 1 abortion provider— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) July 21, 2021
Are they telling the truth? From the looks of it, abortion is not nearly as popular as it used to be, thus the decrease in abortion providers, and that’s good. This seems important, since the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that will determine whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional, in the fall.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed a recent amicus brief in defense of Mississippi’s controversial law that limits abortion after 15 weeks, citing science: Past that point, unborn babies have a fully formed nose and lips, eyelids, and eyebrows. Organs are developed. In order to be fully viable outside the womb, the baby only needs a few more weeks and perhaps medical care, depending on gestation at birth. The brief is a full-fledged, no-holds-barred takedown of the abortion precedents the Supreme Court has set. Of the many powerful arguments within the brief, one of the most compelling was that the legal and factual progress society has made no longer supports abortion as the court understood unborn babies and the law in 1973.
Science now demonstrates through 3D ultrasounds and lifesaving surgeries in the womb, as well as clear knowledge about fetal development, the sheer humanity of unborn babies: They’re unique human beings with separate DNA — most definitely not a woman’s body, just within it. The amicus brief provides a strong case that the members of the Supreme Court should consider when weighing Dobbs.
Science has likely played a role in decreasing the number of abortions. Why should our laws continue to reflect archaic beliefs about science and morality? Often, liberals, in tandem with courts, pretend they are a reflection of the will of the people. Women want abortions, Twitter accounts such as “Shout Your Abortion” argue. Even this is untrue. Late-term abortions are hardly popular, and more support abortion restrictions than pop culture reflects.
Conservatives have always lobbied against abortion because babies are unique, tiny humans, deserving of a chance at life. Now that science has caught up to morality, hopefully, laws will begin to follow suit as Mississippi’s law has. As the brief states, “At minimum, it is time for the Court to revisit the guidepost of viability to ensure we don’t stay mired in outdated science and societal standards. In the nearly 50 years since Roe, science and society have marched forward, and they will not retreat. Roe and Casey shackle states to a view of facts that is decades out of date.”
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
