(The Lion) — Voters are flat being lied to about abortion measures on state ballots Nov. 5. 

That’s according to board-certified OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis, who on Tuesday led other physicians in a press conference launching the Women’s Health Declaration – a coalition of doctors and medical organizations calling for truthful and accurate information to be given to patients about abortion, pregnancy complications and state laws. 

Women and doctors throughout America, she says, “need to know that every state in the country allows physicians like me to intervene immediately to treat miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, post abortion complications and other potentially life-threatening pregnancy complications.”  

The CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) – the world’s largest professional medical organization for life-affirming women’s healthcare professionals – Francis has been challenging pro-abortion activists on social media for posting what she calls “blatant lies” about state pro-life laws protecting both mothers and their unborn babies. 

The laws, passed by state legislatures and signed into law by their governors, could be erased, she warns, if voters succumb to false messages regarding ballot initiatives that would codify abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy in state constitutions. 

Last week, the anti-Trump and anti-MAGA Lincoln Project posted a video on X that portrays the kind of falsehoods condemned by Francis – one in which a doctor frantically claims to a nurse he cannot treat a young woman clearly in a pregnancy emergency because “if we give her an abortion we all go to jail!”

https://x.com/DrFrancis4Life/status/1845585668178657468

“Shame on you @ProjectLincoln for spreading blatant lies,” Francis responded. “Every law in the country allows for OB/GYNs like me to intervene immediately when a woman has a potentially life-threatening condition. 

“Stop intimidating people with lies. Prolife laws protect women and girls.” 

During the press conference, Francis observed that from 76% to 93% of OB/GYNs do not perform abortions. 

For these medical professionals, she asserts, “our practice did not have to change at all after the Dobbs decision. 

“We continue to provide the same care we have always provided. We can continue to walk with our patients through the best and the worst times of their lives. The only people’s practices who needed to change in states with pro-life laws were those providing elective, induced abortions. 

“Intentionally ending the life of our fetal patients is not health care. Pregnancy is not a disease.” 

Elective abortion, Francis pressed further, “does not improve women’s health, and many times, actively worsens it. 

“In fact, induced abortion negatively impacts mental health, causing an up-to-seven times increased risk of suicide, as well as an increased risk of depression, anxiety and substance abuse, even when compared to women who carry an unintended pregnancy to term. Surgical abortions also cause an increased risk of pre-term birth in future pregnancies. 

“Maternal mortality, particularly amongst women of color, is unacceptably high in this country. Induced abortion does not reduce these risks. In fact, the way abortions are delivered in this country contributes to worsening maternal outcomes. 

“Because of the FDA’s reckless actions in 2021, high-risk abortion drugs can now be ordered online and shipped in the mail to any state in the country. This negligent process leaves women without adequate screening for things like accurate gestational age, ectopic pregnancy or coercion before they take these drugs, preventing any chance at truly informed consent.” 

Francis argued the careless abortion system means women and girls “are left with an invisible and inaccessible provider if they experience complications or for any kind of follow-up care.” 

Emergency room physician Dr. Cortney S. Draper also affirmed during the press conference that “there are those who are spreading deceptive and inaccurate information about state-level laws that prohibit intentionally causing the death of an unborn child. 

“They claim that without a highly permissive approach to induced elective abortion, it is impossible for physicians to treat women facing serious or even life-threatening pregnancy complications. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

“Every life-affirming physician is prepared to intervene to save the life of their pregnant patient, including situations that require separating mom and baby, when we face a choice between saving mom but losing baby, and losing both. These emergent interventions are not the same as induced abortion, as the intent is not to end the life of the preborn child. 

“State laws recognize this in a variety of ways, allowing physicians to treat patients facing miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and all other medical emergencies. This includes my home state of South Carolina, where I have often treated pregnant women facing medical emergencies requiring emergent intervention, such as ectopic pregnancies and complicated miscarriages.” 

Draper said that, even just last week, she treated a woman with a tubal ectopic pregnancy.

“There was no legal question about my ability to appropriately treat her emergency,” she said. “In fact, this treatment is not legally restricted by any state’s law. As physicians, we are responsible to advocate for our patients and their health. 

“There is an obligation to understand the laws that directly affect our medical practice. There is also a responsibility to bring clarity to difficult medical situations. Treatment of pregnant women with medical emergencies should not be falsely equated with the desire to expand access for induced elective abortion.” 

Attorney Louis Brown, executive director of the Christ Medicus Foundation and vice president of public policy of the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance, agreed.

“The abortion industry and pro-abortion elected officials are lying about state pro-life laws,” Brown said during the press conference. “They’re lying about life-affirming medical care and lying about the dangerous reality of abortion.

“The abortion industry and pro-abortion politicians are attempting to deceive the American people by wrongly conflating abortion procedures with miscarriage and other pregnancy challenges. In truth, pro-life medical professionals and health entities successfully care for hundreds of thousands of pregnant moms annually in the face of challenging circumstances, without ever having to intentionally kill an unborn child.”