Doctor Confirms Abortion Bans Protect Women’s Lives and Health

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 5, 2023   |   10:02AM   |   Washington, DC

A former Planned Parenthood abortionist called out the media for lying about pro-life laws Monday at The Federalist, saying abortion bans protect both mothers’ and unborn babies’ lives.

Dr. Patti Giebink, a pro-life physician in South Dakota and former abortionist, expressed frustration after news outlets refused to publish her article defending the state abortion ban.

“No doctor in South Dakota or any pro-life state needs to fear a felony when it comes to saving the life of the mother. But again, reporters choose to turn a blind eye,” Giebink wrote at The Federalist. “Having worked at Planned Parenthood, I know this game and I’ve seen time and again how the abortion lobby plays into it.”

She urged women not to believe “their lies about mothers not being protected — the life of the mother will always be a doctor’s first priority.”

Giebink and many other doctors have been working hard to correct false and misleading information about laws that restrict or ban killing unborn babies. Frequently, abortion activists and news outlets claim these laws put women’s life at risk by restricting life-saving medical care.

It is not true. All pro-life laws include exceptions to protect the life of the mother, and allow doctors to treat miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. For nearly a year, more than a dozen states have been protecting unborn babies from elective abortions, and pregnant mothers continue to receive care in these states. No women have died and thousands of unborn babies have been saved.

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But the media keeps parroting abortion activists’ claims, and ignoring the voices of thousands of doctors like Giebink who are refuting the lies and saving lives.

This spring, Giebink said three different state news outlets refused to print her rebuttal of a South Dakota Searchlight article that blamed the state abortion ban for putting women’s lives in jeopardy.

She said she had told the Searchlight reporter that the state law clearly only bans “the elective termination of an unborn human life, for no other reason than the mother’s choice,” but her comments were disregarded.

According to the article, South Dakota Dr. Laura Hoefert claimed she feels “trapped” by the state pro-life law. Hoefert told the Searchlight that she thought her third miscarriage may have been an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition in which the embryo implants outside the womb, and feared the abortion ban might prevent her from obtaining medical care.

Giebink responded at The Federalist:

That ended up not being the case, but with South Dakota’s trigger law in full effect after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, reporter Huber asks her readers the question, “Who would help her?”

As a former abortionist and having over 30 years of experience delivering babies, I can tell you Huber got this piece all wrong. It is more opinion than reporting. Publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, and Harvard Gazette tout the myth that mothers are no longer protected in a post-Roe world and that states’ trigger laws will not allow doctors to help women with ectopic pregnancies and other life-threatening conditions. This is a blatant lie.

She pointed out that even Planned Parenthood admits on its website that treating an ectopic pregnancy is not the same as an abortion. Giebink said South Dakota’s abortion laws do not prevent doctors from providing such care.

They also allow doctors to help pregnant mothers with life-threatening conditions due to “cancer, epilepsy, kidney disease, or another chronic illness,” she continued. In such cases, killing the unborn baby is not necessary; instead, doctors can deliver the baby early and treat the mother, Giebink explained. Sometimes, early delivery means the baby will not survive, but, in these rare and tragic cases, the intent is to save lives and the care never involves killing.

Doctors do not need to feel afraid to offer such care. Giebink said the law trusts doctors to decide when to act when a mother’s life is at risk.

“Not all chronic illnesses are life-threatening, but when they are, doctors like me treat each unique scenario first and foremost to protect the mother,” she said. “As medical professionals, we don’t take life-altering decisions lightly. In South Dakota, our trigger law is clear: Doctors must use their best ‘judgment’ in deciding what is the best medical route for safeguarding the life of the mother. This is not a disputable point.”

Neither the South Dakota abortion ban nor any other pro-life law prohibits or limits medical care for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or other medical problems during pregnancy. They ban the elective and unnecessary killing of unborn babies in abortions.

Giebink is just one of many, many doctors who have been working to spread the truth. In a recent interview with The Spectator, several doctors said the lies about pro-life laws are what really are putting women’s lives at risk. They accused some of their abortion-supporting colleagues of putting politics ahead of their patients.

A fact check from the Charlotte Lozier Institute came to the same conclusions, with researchers pointing out that pro-life laws protect both mom and baby.

Dr. Ingrid Skop and Mary E. Harned, J.D. of the Charlotte Lozier Institute conducted extensive research into the issue, including analysis of state pro-life laws, abortion, and miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy care. They found that all state pro-life laws permit “abortion in those rare and heartbreaking circumstances when it is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman,” including for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies.

“A plain reading of any of these statutes easily refutes the false and dangerous misinformation being spread by pro-abortion activists,” they wrote.