There is a long-standing discussion and debate within the medical community about whether abortion is ever medically necessary. Instead of allowing that debate to continue on their platform, Facebook has entered into the fray and sought to shut down the conversation.
Remarkably, their suppression of the conversation was rationalized by using abortion providers and vocal abortion activists as outside fact-checkers.
Facebook used the opinion of these markedly biased individuals to flag two educational videos shared by the pro-life organization Live Action as “false.” Both videos focused on the same topic, whether abortion is ever medically necessary. One video featured Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose making the case for why elective abortion is never medically necessary, and the other video featured board certified neonatologist Dr. Kendra Kolb sharing her expertise on offering perinatal and palliative care, rather than abortion, in an effort to honor and care for both of her patients, mother and baby.
Facebook’s outside fact-checker group included Dr. Daniel Grossman and Dr. Robyn Schickler, two abortionists with close ties to the abortion industry. Grossman sits on the board of NARAL Pro-Choice America and has been a consultant to Planned Parenthood, and Schickler is a fellow with the pro-abortion advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health.
These “fact-checkers” claimed that Lila Rose was giving false information by stating that treating an ectopic pregnancy is not the same as an abortion. Rose was spot on. The fact-checkers conflated abortion with “any procedure that ends a pregnancy.” By this definition, however, a full-term delivery would also be an abortion, since it too ends a pregnancy.
In contrast, the common legal definition of abortion is the “use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device to intentionally kill the unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant.” That also is why the birth of a live baby following an abortion procedure is considered a failed abortion — i.e., the procedure did not achieve its intended outcome of a dead baby.
Early medically indicated separation, whether via cesarean section or induced labor, performed for life threatening indications for the mother, is not an abortion because it does not intend to produce a dead baby. Regrettably, in the rare event that this occurs prior to the point where the baby can survive outside of the womb (currently just a little over halfway through a pregnancy), the death of the baby is a foreseen but unintended consequence of the early separation. However, if this occurs when the baby can survive outside of the womb, excellent medical care dictates that we continue to care for both mother and baby.
One example of an indication for abortion provided by Drs. Grossman and Schickler — placenta previa — is particularly disturbing for those of us who regularly manage these complications. It is well documented that a placenta previa, diagnosed prior to viability, will resolve in 90% of cases prior to delivery. In the rare event that the woman becomes symptomatic from bleeding, the standard of care would require that the woman be cared for in the highest-level facility available. Instrumentation perforating through the placenta in order to perform a dilation and evacuation abortion could lead to life-threatening hemorrhage and is not standard practice. Emergency C-section can be performed in a matter of minutes, giving the baby the best chance of survival, and allowing for the most rapid resolution of the hemorrhage for the benefit of the mother.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists represents 4,800 reproductive health medical professionals who will always seek to treat both patients in their care. It is our view as specialists in this area that abortion, a procedure aimed at taking the life of a developing child, is never medically necessary to save the life of the mother.
Facebook owes it to the public to allow accurate medical information to be distributed so that honest and informed dialog can continue.
Dr. Christina Francis is chair of the board of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where Dr. Ingrid Skop serves as vice chair and Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist, serves as a board member.
