Even though the Texas Heartbeat Act has spared thousands of lives, pro-abortion advocates are still telling lies about it.
On the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an extremely misleading article about the Texas Heartbeat Act and its outcomes, falsely claiming this Pro-Life law has caused more babies to die.
The article reports an increase in infant and neonatal mortality in 2022, when children spared by the Heartbeat Act would be born. The pro-abortion Left is suggesting that Pro-Life laws are harmful and even lethal to babies.
Of course, the truth is Pro-Life laws prevent children’s death by abortion! Critical thinkers can clearly see that the Heartbeat Act has saved lives by allowing these babies to be carried to birth. Ironically, a JAMA article from 2023 even reported that the Texas Heartbeat Act had saved an estimated 10,000 lives at that point!
Though tragic, an increase in infant deaths will naturally accompany an increase in births. Specifically, while Texas experienced 255 (12.9%) more infant deaths in 2022 than in 2021, the state also saw 16,000 more births during the same period.
But there’s a specific group of preborn children who have always had a higher chance of being aborted — those with life-limiting conditions and disabilities. Pregnant mothers who are told their child has a severe condition that will likely cause them to not live long after birth are encouraged to abort as a “compassionate” option. Disproportionately, these fragile children who would have otherwise been aborted were born in 2022. Thanks to the Texas Heartbeat Act, those babies now have a chance to live, receive treatment as patients, and experience the dignity they deserve as the precious lives they are.
The authors of the study want the public to believe that Texas law causes more babies to die. In reality, thousands of lives were saved by the Heartbeat Act, as evidenced by the increase in births beyond what would have been expected if the law never passed. For these few tragic cases, the children passed away from their conditions after birth rather than being directly killed through abortion before birth.
Babies are living persons even in the womb. They have infinite value, no matter their size or ability. To kill a preborn child with a disability because she likely wouldn’t survive long after birth is no different morally than killing a sick or disabled person before they pass away naturally.
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Anti-Life activists want the public to believe that our Pro-Life laws are harmful to women and to children. They will manipulate reality to garner public sympathy and promote this false conclusion. Sadly, the JAMA article represents another feeble attempt to undermine Pro-Life accomplishments.
In fact, the same journal published an editorial that very same day titled “Abortion Bans Harm Not Just Pregnant People—They Harm Newborns and Infants Too”. They have an obvious agenda here. Of course, this editorial completely ignores the fact that these infants, who they claim are being “harmed”, are now merely passing away from their conditions rather than being dismembered or poisoned by abortion.
Instead, when a family receives a life-limiting diagnosis for their preborn child, these parents face life-altering changes to their future plans. The answer to such a tragic circumstance is not abortion, but coming alongside that child and family to provide perinatal palliative care services.
Perinatal palliative care is a holistic approach providing medical, social, and spiritual services to families whose preborn child may have a short life inside and/or outside the womb. These services help the family through this difficult situation and maximize every moment they have with their child.
Abel Speaks is a Texas-based nonprofit run by Daniel and Kelly Crawford, who have faced their own struggle with a fetal life-limiting diagnosis. In response, they have built a compassionate community and network of resources for families living through these unexpected hardships. When a child’s life might not look like all that was planned, Abel Speaks comes alongside these families, helping them prepare, celebrate, and even mourn and commemorate every moment of the child’s life, no matter how long or short.
If you or someone you know is facing a life-limiting fetal diagnosis, you do not have to walk this road alone. Visit AbelSpeaks.org to be connected to assistance near you.
The abortion industry and its anti-life partners are not planning to give up anytime soon on their plot to normalize abortion, targeting the smallest and weakest among us. We cannot be shy about our knowledge that Life, including Life in the womb, is infinitely valuable and worthy of protection!
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