670 - Peace & Life: Thousands Saved/Pregnancy Equity - July 7, 2023
JAMA Study: Texas Abortions
The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association has published an article, Texas’ 2021 Ban on Abortion in Early Pregnancy and Changes in Live Births. Between April and December 2022, they found almost 9,800 more live births than what would have been expected without the 2021 law banning abortion after detection of fetal heartbeat.
The number of children saved in just this one time period in just one U.S. state is at the level of preventing an entire very large war.
Pregnancy Equity Scorecard
The Education Fund of our member group Democrats for Life has put together some interesting research: they rate states by how well they do in supporting pregnancy. They give points, with fewer points meaning doing better and more points doing worse, for these items: Medicaid expansion 12 months postpartum coverage, paid leave, maternal and infant mortality rates, diaper tax rate, basic medical care to infants born alive from abortion, fetal homicide laws, reporting abortion stats to the Centers for Disease Control, perinatal hospice referral, alternatives to abortion programs, funding abortions, percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion, and legal protection for unborn children. See full explanation here.
One reason to do this is to show states where they can improve, and all states have ways they could improve. Another reason is to get more of an idea of what affects pregnancy outcomes over-all, and to contrast states. For example, California and Louisiana have markedly different policies, but very similar poor scores on this metric. See full discussion here.
Here’s the map. The darker the color a state has, the lower (and better) that state’s pregnancy equity score. The lighter the color, the higher (and worse) that state’s score.
Family Pharmacies
Our member group Feminists Choosing Life of New York has a Pledge to Support Your Local Independent Pharmacy Petition, which includes a link to information on who the local pharmacies are for New York State. Most of us are elsewhere, but the point is that CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens are in the process of setting themselves up as abortion pill dispensaries. The pledge is part of boycotting those large chains until they realize they really don’t want to be in a killing business.
Our Latest Blog Post
Every once in a while, the doctors who perform abortions and other supporters of abortion availability will actually justify the killing that they know is involved by comparing abortion to war, with the idea that war being justified then also justifies abortion. This is sometimes called a “seamless shroud” viewpoint, a take-off on the seamless garment that’s a long-standing metaphor for the Consistent Life Ethic. We offer a collection of quotations in Abortion Supporters Connect Abortion to War.
Quotation of the Week
Tish Harrison Warren
The New York Times, June 18, 2023
We, as a nation, are seemingly at an impasse, split on abortion, immigration, guns and many other issues, with no clear way forward. Maybe the only way out of this stalemate is a remix. Maybe there needs to be a new moral vision that offers consistency in ways that might pull from both progressive and conservative camps. To embrace and articulate a consistent ethic of life, even while inhabiting the existing political parties, helps create the space necessary to expand the moral imagination of both parties.