BURSTEIN: Anti-abortion rhetoric is based in lies

A few days ago, when I was minding my own business trying to pick up a well-deserved milkshake and an order of onion rings at BurgerFi after a mind-numbing exam, the sight of a group of protesters in front of Planned Parenthood stopped me in my tracks.

There were four of them. One was a middle-aged woman, and the other three were a bit older. Two of them were men.

They used the same tactics you see on the news: discouraging signs, some with graphic pictures of what they claim are aborted fetuses. But there were also some new ones I hadn’t seen before — two protesters held signs that read something along the lines of: “Planned Parenthood sells baby body parts!”

I got the reference. In July, the video of a covert interview with a Planned Parenthood official was released by an anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress, and consequently went viral on the Internet. In it, the interviewers pose as people interested in purchasing fetal tissue. The video and the organization implied that Planned Parenthood has some kind of side-business of selling aborted fetuses for a profit.

The topic was brought up in the Sept. 16 Republican presidential debate on CNN, with candidate Carly Fiorina denouncing Planned Parenthood by saying that the videos showed a “fully formed fetus” alive on a table post-abortion, with background comments about how to “harvest its brain.” Senator Ted Cruz, another candidate, had pledged to stop federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and accepted the possibility of a government shutdown if Congress could not agree. (On Sept. 30, however, last-minute legislation was passed to keep the government open.)

First of all, let’s get some facts straight. In the original videos released by the CMP, the executive who was interviewed speaks about how people often choose to donate fetal tissue for scientific purposes. There is no profit involved for Planned Parenthood, so they are not selling body parts.

Furthermore, until Tuesday, the video Fiorina mentioned at the debate seemingly did not exist. When the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform released footage on Tuesday that allegedly depicts what Fiorina described, many medical professionals responded with doubts that the footage showed an abortion, and that it may actually show a miscarriage. They seemingly were not incorrect. On Wednesday, in an interview with CNN, David Daleidan of the CMP cast doubt on claims that the harvesting procedure was carried out on a live fetus, and instead failed to deny that the alleged aborted fetus was actually a stillborn.

So, not only are the potential leaders of the United States of America making baseless comments and completely invalid arguments, they are actively harming all of those who seek Planned Parenthood as a way to receive healthcare, especially low-income women.

In the days and weeks following the debate, many openly voiced their opinions on social media, either denouncing or supporting Planned Parenthood. While I was happy (and reassured in my choice of friends) to see that most of my Facebook feed was filled with statements of support, some of the messages were misguided, and focused on how only a small percentage of Planned Parenthood’s services were abortion-related. These messages instead highlighted the other care Planned Parenthood provides, such as breast cancer screenings and STD testing.

While it’s true that Planned Parenthood offers a multitude of services, let’s not downplay the important role that abortion plays in some women’s lives.

Abortion is legal. It has been since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade. Although different states have different regulations on abortions, it is, without a doubt, federally legal.

I refuse to justify the existence of Planned Parenthood by reassuring anti-abortion members of my community that they do not perform “that many” abortions. This kind of rhetoric is almost as bad as the strategies used by those protesters I saw outside Planned Parenthood this week. It implies that abortion is never the right answer. It implies that if even the most desperate, frightened woman decides to abort a pregnancy to save her own life, she has done something wrong. It implies that we should just forget that abortion even exists, and that it hasn’t been the answer for women who, for one valid reason or another, did not want to carry their pregnancies to full term.

Luckily, not all messages were clouded with this type of discussion. The hashtag, #ShoutYourAbortion was trending on Twitter on Sept. 19 — it allowed women who had decided to have an abortion to converse about their experiences in a safe, constructive space.

These are the kinds of conversations we need to be having. Let’s make it clear that while abortion is a difficult decision for some to make, should a woman choose to have one, she should not feel ashamed or embarrassed for utilizing a completely legal service. Every woman has the right to make the best decision for herself and be respected for it, even if it is a difficult one.