This Gynecologist Publicly Tackled The Myths About Late-Term Abortions On Twitter

Dr. Gunter was "sick of the lies" and ready to set the record straight.

Elana

• Published in Interesting
• February 1, 2019

Roe Vs. Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's legal right to an abortion and the entire country has not stopped fighting about it since. Over the last few years specifically a lot of states have attempted to roll back women's rights to abortion access by placing rules that can sometimes be impossible to adhere to. But the 46th anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade, New York State passed a law to protect women’s access to abortion if the historic case is ever overturned, something a lot of pro-choice advocates have been worried about ever since the Supreme Court shifted to a significantly more conservative majority.

To break down what happened in New York in layman's terms: The new law preserves access to abortions while removing abortion from the state's criminal code. It protects doctors or medical professionals who perform abortions from criminal prosecution as well as allowing medical professionals like nurse practitioners and midwives (who are not doctors) to perform abortions in New York. Additionally, the new law allows abortion to be performed after 24 weeks if the fetus is not viable or when necessary to protect the life of the mother.

Unsurprisingly, the law has caused an absolute uproar in the "pro-life" side of the debate who have been going absolutely bonkers across the entirety of the internet using social media to portray a message that perfectly healthy women with perfectly healthy babies will demand abortions up to birth for no reason other than they changed their mind. State Assembly Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said:

We need to be honest with the public and say that this bill does not simply codify Roe v. Wade… what this bill does is expand abortion up to birth and the third trimester.

Sick and tired of the lies and misinformation she was seeing, gynecologist Jennifer Gunter, who has lived in a state with no gestational age limit and performed abortions after 24 weeks, took to her 111k followers on Twitter to set the record straight.

If anyone on the Internet is qualified to have this conversation, it's Dr. Jen Gunter.

Dr. Jen Gunter was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada and graduated from The University of Manitoba School of Medicine in 1990 at the age of 23. In 1995 she completed her OB/GYN training at the University of Western Ontario and moved to the United States to complete a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Kansas. After completing her fellowship, she continued her studies in pain medicine so in addition to being a board certified OB/GYN in both Canada and the United States, she is also board certified in pain medicine by the American Board of Pain Medicine and by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

On top of all of that she is an accomplished academic writer and literal internet sensation, as she has "been called Twitter’s resident gynecologist, the Internet’s OB/GYN, and one of the fiercest advocate’s for women’s health."

"I've done abortions after 24 weeks."

Jen is not here for your lies and misinformation.

Of all the late-term abortions...

Jen has only ever heard of one that wasn't medically indicated. Instead, it was a case of a minor being raped by a family member whose parents didn't want to let their daughter terminate the incestuous pregnancy.

Let's get into the examples of medically indicated late-term abortions.

"Pregnant person can't take..."

Anencephaly (pronounced an-en-sef-uh-lee) is a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.

Triploidy Pregnancy

Triploidy is the presence of an additional set of chromosomes in the cell for a total of 69 chromosomes rather than the normal 46 chromosomes per cell. Two out of three pregnancies miscarry in the first trimester and almost all other babies die later or are stillborn.

How can a doctor say these aren't medically indicated?

Personal bias, I suspect. They put their personal opinions above medicine and what is best for the individual patient.

It really makes you appreciate the honesty Dr. Gunter has to offer anyone willing to listen.

Chances are you have zero credibility even opening your mouth right now.

Pregnancy induced hypertension can be life-threatening.

Imagine this reality for some young girls.

"I could go on."

When Jen was finished, other Twitter users rolled in with their experiences.

You see, while late-term abortions take up a small percentage of abortion statistics, they're a tragic reality nonetheless and these are the people being demonized. They're very brave to share their stories publicly.

"Thank you"

"I refuse to be wilfully ignorant."

No hearts.

A terrible feeling.

More gratitude to Dr. Gunter.

Boiling Blood

The anger is real.

Clearly, a lot of people are grateful for Dr. Gunter's words.

Elana