Four common myths perpetuated by anti-abortion activists
As the presidential election season intensifies, here is scientific information to clarify misconceptions.
Former President Donald Trump appeared at a campaign rally in North Carolina in July where he attacked his presumed Democratic presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Part of his speech included false and highly exaggerated claims about her abortion stance.
“She wants abortions in the eighth and ninth month of pregnancy, that’s fine with her, right up until birth, and even after birth – the execution of a baby,” Trump said.
It’s not the first time Trump and other Republicans have used false or misleading language about abortion care. Anti-abortion lawmakers have used terms such as “abortion until birth,” “late-term” abortion,” “heartbeat bills” and have falsely claimed that abortions can be reversed or that birth control methods are abortifacients — all of which are deceptive and not medically sound.
Anti-abortion groups use distorting language to stigmatize abortion care, and mislead patients in the hopes of stopping them from terminating a pregnancy.
As the presidential election season intensifies, here is the scientific information behind four of the most common myths perpetuated by anti-abortion advocates.
1. “Partial birth” or “late-term” abortions
The vast majority (93%) of abortions happen within the first trimester of pregnancy, or 13 weeks of gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just 1% of abortions nationwide take place after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Dr. Warren Hern of Colorado specializes in providing abortions to people who need them in the later stages of pregnancy. Hern has said that these cases usually happen because “patients have catastrophic fetal abnormalities that end a desired pregnancy.”
“They don’t want to have an abortion, they want to have a baby,” he added.
“Partial-term” is a nonmedical term used by anti-abortion groups to describe a method of abortion called dilation and extraction (D&E), which is an abortion procedure used later in pregnancy, according to the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians. Thirty-three states have banned D&E procedures, only allowing them when they protect a patient’s life.
2. “Heartbeat bill”
Reproductive and medical health care experts say it’s false to characterize or title bills that ban abortion at six weeks of gestation as “heartbeat bills,” because embryos don’t actually have hearts. At this early stage, there is “cardiac activity,” meaning cardiac cells communicate with other cardiac cells.
“These are cells that are programmed with electrical activity, which will eventually control the heart rate — they send a signal telling the heart to contract, once there is a heart,” Jennifer Kerns, associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California in San Francisco told the Cut.
Currently, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Iowa all ban abortion at six weeks.
According to a 2021 study from the University of California San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, one in three people do not know they are pregnant until after six weeks.
3. Emergency contraception is not an abortifacient
Anti-abortion advocates continue to conflate contraception with abortion by redefining emergency contraception such as Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, as abortifacients or drugs that induce an abortion.
In May, Jessica Waters, an assistant professor in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminality at American University, told the Wisconsin Independent that anti-abortion extremists are simply trying to scare people.
“The information being peddled is medically false. People should be able to make the decisions that are right for them, but they should be able to do so based on accurate medical information,” Waters said. “And these scare tactics — I hope people are paying attention.”
Plan B is used after sex to prevent ovulation and does not work on someone who is already pregnant. The misconception comes because anti-abortion advocates falsely interpret that emergency contraception prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg, which they say is the start of life.
“Conception and pregnancy are not the same thing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Schmidt, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of family planning at North Shore University Hospital in New York. “Conception is not a medically recognized term.”
4. “Post-birth” abortions
Republicans have been campaigning on the misleading claim that Democrats want abortions “post-birth” or “up until the moment of birth.”
During his debate with President Joe Biden, Trump alleged that “He [Biden] can take the life of a baby in the ninth month and even after birth.”
In a recent interview with Fox News during the Republican National Convention, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance wrongfully said that President Joe Biden “wants taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment of birth.”
This rhetoric is both deceptive and confusing.
