Three undeniable truths ring clear: death is unavoidable, taxes are inescapable, and so-called fact-checkers veer left in the late-term abortion debate. D.L. Davis, our latest fact-checker, jumped to the defense of Democrats on Friday, accusing Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson of dishing out false claims. He said, ‘Johnson was wrong to assert that all Senate Democrats voted in favor of limitless abortion right up until birth.’
A peek at Johnson’s assertion points to the 2022 Women’s Health Protection Act, favored by Democrats. Davis quibbled with Johnson’s use of ‘every’. He argued, ‘Not all, because [Sen. Joe] Manchin – identified mistakenly as a Republican – voted down the measure with his fellow Republicans.’ With a total tally of 49 ‘Yes’ and 51 ‘No’, it was clear that Davis stretched the truth to suit his agenda.
Davis took another swing at Johnson when he supported the idea that the measure ‘would protect abortion by law, allowing it right up to birth, and obstructing any state laws designed to deter late-term abortions.’ Davis exaggerates on this subject without a shred of evidence, insisting that Johnson was wrong.
With a closer look at the act, we see that it defends the right to abortion only until the fetus can survive outside the womb; about 24 weeks. After this period, if carrying the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother, then the act protects the right to an emergency abortion.
How about some impartiality in the analysis? Side-stepping the abortion issue at best, Davis could state that the act doesn’t demand a reversal of state laws barring late-term abortions. Also, claiming that the act doesn’t establish ‘abortion into law right up until birth’ is misleading.
The act empowers states, some of which currently permit late-term abortions. But Davis insists that abortions right up to birth ‘simply don’t happen.’ Even figures from Sen. Patty Murray validate that late-term abortions are extremely infrequent and happen only under dire circumstances.
Still, Democrats’ insistence on avoiding any statute banning elective abortions after viability leaves us pondering. If late-term abortions occur so rarely, with medical urgency being the typical cause, why are Democrats struggling to add a provision banning elective abortions once a fetus can survive outside the womb?
In conclusion, we find fact-checkers like Davis, swiveling facts or even burying them, to back a left-leaning viewpoint on late-term abortion. They even omit the fact that almost all Democrats had voted for limitless abortion access, with a lone stand from Manchin. Their dismissal of concerns regarding the practice reinforces the right’s stand – the fault lines of this debate are drawn further and deepening.
