In January of 2020 there were 39 senators that signed a brief urging the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade, securing a person’s legal right to abortion. To counter this push to go back in history and restrict women’s rights to their bodily autonomy Teen Vogue gathered 39 stories from women, who all had unique stories of their experience with abortion.  One woman named Veronika was 17,  when she was pregnant, she had just gotten into college and was about to change cities and work towards a career in electrical engineering. She said that she knew she wasn’t ready to start a family, but in her state, there was a law that she had to have her parent’s permission get an abortion. In her situation she couldn’t talk to either of her parents, but the law was forcing her too. This law makes it really difficult for people to make this decision for themselves because they may know that they need this procedure, but aren’t sure about how to get it. Veronika was required by law to prove that she was mature enough to make a decision about her own body. This gave a judge the power to decide her entire future instead of letting her make her own choices about the life and future she wanted. Ultimately the judge ruled in her favor,  but she had to deal with cost and travel, which is usually really difficult for younger people. Sometimes you have to wait a while to get an appointment, plus the delay of having to appear before a judge, pushes someone further into their pregnancy. This makes the cost even higher and the procedure just that more dangerous for the mother. A speaker, Sister Dede Byrne made false claims at the Republican convention about the process of abortion, the support for women, and the potential help there would be for a child in the foster care system.  

Claim 1: “The largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States, they are the unborn.”(1:48)  

It is unfair to refer to the unborn as the most marginalized group in the world while billions of people suffer and are overlooked in society everyday. Also groups of people who are marginalized tend to be those who are racial minorities, those with physical or mental disabilities and so on. The difference is that, “Significant disparities exist for marginalized people in every aspect of their lives such as health care, employment, legal rights under the law, housing, and access to services. They are often the silent and invisible victims of discrimination, violence, social stigma, and assault.” (Garrett) The main difference is that people who are marginalized aren’t treated equally and don’t have as many rights. However during a pregnancy it wouldn’t be logical to say that a fetus is marginalized, since it is still protected under the law and in some cases has more rights than the woman that’s keeping it alive. “We are all guaranteed that over our lifespan we will all have physical, mental, and emotional issues that will make us a marginalized person as well. None of us are immune from injury, disease, mental illness, and changes due to aging.” (Garrett) Since the unborn are not born they have no chance to be marginalized or discriminated against in society. It’s an unfair assumption to make that the most marginalized group is one that hasn’t joined society and even had the chance to face discrimination in any sense. 

Claim 2: “We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb.” (2:20) 

While researching claims made by Sister Dede I carefully reviewed Bidenand Hariss’ legislative agenda to see exactly where they stood on abortion issues. “Following the election, the group’s daily tipsheet “The Quickie” raved about Harris. The vice president-elect, it said, “isn’t just the first woman, the first Black person, and the first person of Indian descent in the history of our nation to be elected vice president of the United States — she’s also a steadfast champion for reproductive rights and health care.”’ (Lightman) Claiming that Biden-Harris “celebrate destroying life” is completely false since they are actually simply supporting women’s healthcare and reproductive rights. In an interview between Planned Parenthood Action Fund President, Alexis McGill Johnson and Kamala Harris, Johnson said that Harris “offered an inspiring vision for making abortion more accessible and expanding reproductive health care across the country.” (Lightman) This is important to know because Harris supports a woman’s right to abortion by making reproductive health care more accesible to to everyone. Also by expanding women’s health care access it doesn’t mean that she solely supports abortion. Instead, she is also making birth control, STD testing, and various support that women need during pregnancy more available, as well as many other reproductive health needs. 

Claim 3: “As a physician I can say without hesitation life begins at conception.” (2:44)

While it’s important to keep in mind that Sister Byrne is a surgeon and family medicine physician, reproductive health is not her area of expertise. I found that, “Many scientists would say they don’t know when life begins. There are a series of landmark moments,” said Arthur Caplan, professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center. “The first is conception, the second is the development of the spine, the third the development of the brain, consciousness, and so on.”’ (Strauss) One may wonder that since most scientists and people in the medical field are still debating and unsure of when life begins, how could she be so sure that life starts at conception. While, “Prolifers claim that the abortion of a human embryo or a human fetus is wrong because it destroys human life. But human sperms and human ova are human life, too. So prolifers would also have to agree that the destruction of human sperms and human ova are no different from abortions and that is ridiculous!” (Irving) The process of abortion is difficult to understand, but it most commonly occurs very early in the pregnacy while the embryo is simply cells, dependent on the mother and they will disintegrate into the hosts body. Now human cells are destroyed all of the time, while this may be difficult abortion is also simply the destruction of human cells. The “Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, which made it easier for opponents of abortion to argue that compromising those beliefs would be a violation of their freedom of Religion.”(Strauss) Something truly compelling is that almost every single religion has a different definition of when life begins. One of our most important freedoms is the freedom of religion which allows us to have the choice in what we belive in, so it’s not reasonable to make the choice of abortion illegal for any religious reasons. Not only would outlawing abortion based on religious reasons violate the supposed seperation of church and state, but it wouls also infringe on people’s rights. Something to think about is if abortion goes against a religion you belive in then you have the right to choose not to gert one, but your beliefs shouldn’t take awy the rights of others.  

Claim 4: “Donald Trump is the most pro-life president that this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages.” 3:05)

I found this claim made by Sister Byrne completely false, while Trump could be the most anti choice president ever, he certainly doesn’t defend everyone’s rights. While looking at Trump’s timeline of hate the discriminatory acts he imposed upon racial minorities, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and those with mental and physical disabilities was never ending. On “March 10, 2017: Trump’s Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) — led by anti-LGBTQ proponent Secretary Ben Carson — withdrew two notices impacting LGBTQ people. The first notice withdrew a requirement for emergency shelters receiving HUD funding to post information about LGBTQ people’s rights to access shelter safely and in accordance with their gender identity. The second notice withdrew critical data collection and implementation guidelines for a homelessness prevention initiative targeting LGBTQ youth.” (Human Rights Campaign) Right before Trump led this initiative on, “March 06, 2017: The Supreme Court sent Gavin Grimm’s case back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals following the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind protective school guidance for transgender students; resulting in transgender students having to wait for a decision from the nation’s highest court to affirm their basic rights for at least another year.”(Human Rights Campaign) It’s ridiculous to say that he defends life at all stages when he wouldn’t support half of unborn children depending on various factors out of their control. Trump doesn’t support all people, he doesn’t even care about every child, so there’s no way that Sister Dede can say that he “defends life at all stages.” Not to mention that there is a huge lack of support for children in the foster care system, which is overcrowded, so it’s not the time to discriminate against loving families based on any circumstance such as age, sexuality, race, etc. It’s important to think about the number of children that age out of the foster care system and are on their own right when they turn 18, most of these young adults end up incarcerated or dead from living on the streets. Only two examples of Trump imposing discrimination against minorities were mentioned, both of which were from early in his presidency. Keep in mind there’s hundreds more acts of hate during his term committed by him and his administrative team. 

Claim 5: “President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late term abortion and infanticide.” (3:18)

To say that Biden-Harris support late term abortion and infanticide is untrue, neither of these presidential candidates have said that they support this or done anything that support either of these acts. The definition of infantcide also known as infant homicide is the intentional killing of an infant. “There is no record of Harris or President-elect Biden saying they support taxpayer funding of abortion until the time of birth, though anti-abortion activists point to congressional votes they say illustrate Democrats’ reluctance to bar such abortions.” (Lightman) Also in regards to saying that Biden-Harris “support the horrors of late term abortion and infantcide” “The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would impose criminal penalties for anyone performing an abortion on a fetus of 20 weeks or more.”(Lightman) Also “Given that the cortex only becomes functional and the tracts only develop after 24 weeks, many reports rule out fetal pain until the final trimester.”(Derbyshire and Brockmann) Plus “Anti-abortion interests have also pushed hard this year for the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. It says that medical professionals have to care for an infant surviving an attempted abortion just as they would treat any baby. Someone who did not could face prison time, and a person who kills an infant after a failed abortion could face murder charges.” (Lightman) These laws show that saying Biden and Harris support late term abortion is completely false, instead they have measures in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. However Kamala did say during a debate that, “For any state that passes a law that violates the Constitution, and in particular Roe v. Wade, our Department of Justice will review that law to determine if it is compliant with Roe v. Wade and the Constitution, and if it is not, that law will not go into effect.” (Lightman) “Harris, running for the White House at the time, explained that “the reality is that while we still have… these state legislators who are outdated and out of touch, mostly men who are telling women what to do with their bodies, then there needs to be accountability and consequence.”’(Lightman) The main thing to take away is that Biden-Harris don’t advocate for late term abortion and inhumane procedures, instead they are campaigning for women’s basic rights. 

This is important because there is plenty of misinformation out there about abortion, it is especially difficult when it’s being spread by those who are given an influential platform. The purpose here is not meant to change anyone’s beliefs because everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Instead the point is to bring awareness to women’s rights and the right everyone has to freedom of choice. 

Featured image is a screenshot from video being reviewed