Amid the COVID-19 crisis, non-essential medical procedures have been put on hold in order to preserve medical equipment for the treatment of coronavirus patients. In some states, including Texas, this means that abortion facilities have temporarily closed or been forced to substantially reduce business over the last several weeks. But in most states, elective abortions are still being committed as usual.
On April 7, 2020, Nancie Schwarzman, a board member of Planned Parenthood in Southern New England, asserted that abortions are perhaps the most important health care of all.
“This health crisis is being used as a tool to shut down clinics, deeming many of our services, including access to abortions as non-essential care,” Schwarzman said, according to WPRI News 12. “Can you imagine anything more essential and time-sensitive?”
Abortion is FAR from essential. Many procedures are being delayed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including cancer treatments, stents to prevent clogged arteries, dental work, infertility treatments, joint replacements, and more, according to the AP.
These procedures can relieve pain, heal, and save lives, but even so they are postponed to conserve more hospital beds, equipment, and staff. Why are abortions still being committed nationwide, when abortion is a non-essential procedure that not only uses highly demanded medical equipment but also directly destroys lives?
A pro-abortion OB-GYN from Missouri recently expressed thanks that abortions are still being provided, but said she was struggling to determine whether she should delay treatment for patients with painful gynecological problems.
“Our hospital is asking us to delay non-urgent surgical cases. I struggle to determine which cases qualify for this,” Dr. Amy Addante wrote on Twitter. “Fibroid patients with bleeding? Ovarian masses causing pain? Luckily, abortion care is not being impacted.”
However, the idea that abortion is medically essential is simply not true. Recently, medical groups representing more than 30,000 doctors in America emphasized that abortions are not “essential” or “urgent,” and abortion facilities that continue to operate during the pandemic are being “medically irresponsible.”
Instead of halting the non-essential, life-destroying procedures, many abortion centers are postponing “services that do constitute essential health care for women, including routine Pap smears, mammograms, and pelvic exams,” the group of Pro-Life physicians said.
Dr. Christina Francis, an Indiana OB-GYN who chairs the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists asserts that “abortion is not essential healthcare. There are other solutions that we can provide to women who find themselves in very scary and uncertain circumstances right now.” Abortion also poses numerous risks to women’s health, including infection, hemorrhaging, breast cancer, and increased rates of anxiety and depression.
Women don’t need elective abortions. Why are abortionists still in business, especially during a time when essential medical equipment is needed to defend the lives of those threatened by COVID-19?