Mike Pence Needs a History Lesson

Vice President Mike Pence predicted in a recent speech to the anti-choice groups Susan B. Anthony List and Life Issues Institute that legal abortion would end “in our time.”

“I truly do believe, if all of us do all that we can, that we will once again, in our time, restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law,” said the Vice President. “I just know in my heart of hearts that this will be the generation that restores life in America.”

The problem with this “hope” of returning our country to a pre-Roe era is that taking away the option to terminate a pregnancy does not represent a culture of “life”; on the contrary, it forces people who are pregnant and don’t want to be to seek out unsafe and unregulated means, causing needless deaths. Our history already tells us what we need to know about living in a country where abortion is illegal. Before the historic Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, people died every year from unsafe, illegal abortion care. When our Vice President gives a speech praising efforts of anti-choice organizations and legislators, he is not only showing his disregard for scientific research and data, but he is advocating for the injury and death of women and others.

With the legalization of abortion, deaths from abortion declined and are now an extreme rarity. Legalized abortion not only saves lives, it enables people to get abortions earlier in their pregnancies, reducing risk even further. This includes the ability to self-induce an abortion in the comfort of their own homes using the abortion pill.

While the Vice President may predict legal abortion will end in the United States, it’s important to remember that because of him and other anti-choice legislators, access to safe and legal abortion has been moving further and further out of reach for many Americans. Many are already experiencing the difficulties of the future that Pence hopes for due to TRAP laws (targeted restrictions of abortion providers), clinic closures, deceptive crisis pregnancy centers, and the incredible costs associated with abortion, most of which are not covered by insurance and under the Hyde amendment cannot be covered by Medicaid.

These restrictions help to explain the growing trend of Google searches for DIY abortion and abortion pills. Research by the Guttmacher Institute shows that along with this increase in Internet searches, people who attempt at-home abortions are dangerously misinformed about safe and legal ways to terminate their pregnancies.

Organizations like Women Help Women provide accurate information about what exactly a medical abortion with pills is, the pills’ effectiveness, how to use the pills, and what to expect after using abortion pills. If you are pregnant and do not want to be, get in touch with us online at www.womenhelp.org or by email at info@womenhelp.org.