The FACTS: In Virginia, it is currently LEGAL to have an abortion in all trimesters of pregnancy. In the third trimester, two healthcare providers must agree the abortion is necessary. There is no definition of “necessary.” In Virginia and all 50 states, abortion is permitted at any stage of pregnancy to save the life of the mother.
What will this amendment do? This amendment will provide a Constitutional Right to abortion. This places mandates on all healthcare professionals, insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare. Laws can be changed through the General Assembly, but, constitutional changes take multiple years at a minimum to change. This amendment guarantees the Rights of the individual with no regard or protection for those dissenting and cannot simply be reversed. It will require another constitutional amendment or through legal challenge be deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Virginia and/or the Supreme Court of the United States.
Consider the following questions before supporting the Reproductive Health amendment.
Do support the mandated increase in taxes, health insurance premiums, Medicaid and Medicare costs to cover the costs of abortion on demand?
If you answer NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom amendment.
Do you support dismemberment abortion in the third trimester (24 weeks to birth) of pregnancy up until the moment of birth for ANY reason, when the child is able to live outside the womb?
If you answer NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Children born alive at 21 weeks can live. They can breathe. Many are alive today. A full-term pregnancy is 36-40 weeks.
References:
Do you support withholding medical care to babies who are born alive following an abortion and breathing independently to be denied medical care?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Please note this citation is of children born in 2nd trimester abortions. 50% survived the abortion.
Do you support a decrease in emergency care that unrestricted abortion would bring?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Abortion clinics are not held to the same clinical & safety standards as outpatient surgical centers. Life-threatening emergencies experienced by women having an abortion include: uncontrolled bleeding, perforation of the uterus or intestines, sepsis brought on by baby parts left in the uterus. Changing the Virginia Constitution means that current laws designed to protect women’s health will be automatically overturned in favor of the “Constitutional right” to abortion on demand. If abortion on demand through birth is the ultimate goal, it can be assumed that the women will accept all consequences for abortion on demand as part of the risk of abortion.
11% of women receiving the abortion pills require emergency treatment for a potentially life-threatening condition.
Do you presume minors traveling within the state and/or across state lines without parental consent or notification are not trafficked?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Access to abortion is currently being abused by traffickers of women and girls to abort babies conceived in rape. Any laws currently on the books concerning mandatory reporting of suspected trafficking victims at abortion clinics will be superseded by the “constitutional right” to abortion on demand.
Do you support healthcare providers being forced to participate in abortions if it is against their philosophical or religious beliefs?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
If abortion becomes a Right, unless healthcare providers are given a specific exemption, they may be forced to participate in abortions to remain employed.
Is the right to abortion on demand of such value that you would relinquish the prosecution of child predators or human traffickers?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
This Constitutional amendment protects a person for the act of bringing a minor to “reproductive health” services. This creates a presumption that the person bringing the minor to the services is doing this in the interest of the minor. That presumption reduces the likelihood that legitimate questions about whether the minor is being abused or trafficked are asked.
Do you support the expansion of access to the abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, including access in middle and high school health clinics, mail order and remote appointments?
If you answered NO, then you must vote NO on the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Mifepristone, one of the drugs used in chemical abortions, has a Black Box and REMS warning. Black Box warnings indicate significant risk of death or other serious harms. Of the thousands of drugs on the market, approximately 300 have the dual warning of a black box and REMS warning. Women should receive documented written informed consent on these medications. They must understand the risks, benefits and alternatives and they must know how to recognize a complication and be able to respond to the complication. It must be noted that mifepristone’s risk of life-threatening infection can occur without standard symptoms of infection: fever, pain or feeling sick.
Is a minor capable of making an informed decision about taking a medication that may risk their life? Should a minor be granted the responsibility of making this decision? Should a minor make this decision without parental knowledge?
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- In all 50 states, it is legal to provide any lifesaving measure to save the life of a pregnant woman. Yes, even in states that limit abortion.
- In all 50 states, it is legal to provide medical treatment for a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.
- A spontaneous abortion, commonly known as a miscarriage, is not an elective or induced abortion in which an action is being taken to end the life of the preborn baby. In a spontaneous abortion, the preborn baby has already died because of natural biologic processes that are beyond our control.
- The media has published FALSE claims that women died from lack of access to abortion services.
Factual evidence documents that women did not die because they were denied treatment or lacked of access to abortion services.
Candi Miller, Georgia
Candi Miller, 41, mother of 3 with Lupus, diabetes and high blood pressure, living in Georgia. She was pregnant with her 4th child. She ordered the abortion pills online. She took the pills. The abortion pills resulted in the death of her unborn child but failed to expel the deceased baby from the uterus. This is a known complication of the abortion pills. Her husband reported she was having abdominal pain. She died at home in bed. She never saw a doctor. She died of a fatal overdose of fentanyl. She did not die of sepsis.
This tragic journey resulting in the death of Candi Miller began when she sought and received abortion services. Candi took the medications and several days later died in her own home. This is why receiving medications in the mail or through an online appointment is dangerous. This is why people advocate for an in-person appointment to assess the stage of pregnancy, number of babies and the location of the placenta. In in-person appointments, follow-up should occur to ensure that all the fetal remains have been expelled from the uterus. This was the standard of care until December 2021. If we want to protect women, why would we decrease the stand of care?
Amber Thurman, Georgia
She was able to obtain abortion pills. She was pregnant with twins. The first round of pills successfully killed her unborn twins. However, the second pill misoprostol failed to expel the fetal remains from the uterus. She went to the hospital seeking help. She was diagnosed with sepsis. A life-threatening emergency with a death rate of 50%. The emergency room was unable to stabilize vital signs and she died.
Amber obtained the abortion treatment medication she sought. Amber was not prohibited from taking those medications. Amber died after she became septic after her body failed to expel all fetal remains. If Amber had been seen in person, an ultrasound would have determined that she was pregnant with twins. This would alert the doctor of the necessity to follow up to ensure all fetal remains were expelled.
Naveah Crain, Texas
Naveah did not want an abortion. She was 6 months pregnant. She became ill and went to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with strep throat and given antibiotics and sent home. She then reported having abdominal pain. She went to a second emergency room. An ultrasound revealed the baby was still alive. They were concerned about sepsis, but mother was stable and sent home. She continued to remain ill and went to a 3rd emergency room. She was diagnosed with sepsis. She was admitted to the hospital. At NO time was she denied treatment.
This mother was not trying to take the life of her unborn child. All doctors involved provided treatment. The mother’s decision to seek treatment from three different emergency rooms may have delayed the necessary treatment to save her life.
However, at no point was this mother ever denied treatment based on Texas law or fear of Texas law.
Josseli Barnica, Texas
She was not seeking an abortion. She had a miscarriage at 17 weeks. She received appropriate miscarriage care. Her uterus was exposed to bacteria and she became septic and died. No Law prevented her from having treatment.
Porsha Ngumez, Texas
She had a miscarriage. She was given misoprostol (this is the second abortion pill) to expel the fetal remains from the uterus. This is a known treatment for miscarriage. She began to hemorrhage and she died. Hemorrhage is a known complication following the administration of misoprostol.
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The Reproductive Health amendment will also allow the medication and surgical treatment of those seeking hormone blocking agents, cross sex hormones or removal of sex specific organs. Access to these treatments will not require parental consent even though the treatments, both medications and surgeries, can have live ending consequences.
If this amendment is passed, your tax dollars must fund these treatments.
If you do not support the taxpayer funding of hormone blocking agents, cross sex hormones and surgeries for individuals with gender dysphoria, you must vote NO on this amendment.
This amendment will permit unrestricted in vitro fertilization. There will be no safeguards on this procedure. We recognize the depth and breath of the infertility issue facing many couples throughout Virginia and the United States, however, we recognize the intrinsic value of every human life and are gravely concerned that preborn children created via in vitro fertilization are treated as a commodity and/or property. Therefore, we cannot support actions that reduce human life to commodity and/or property. Further, there are no safeguards to determine individuals or couples that may have a child via in vitro fertilization. Thus, there is nothing in this amendment that will prevent a known pedophile from having a child via a surrogate. There is nothing in this that will prevent adults from having an endless number of children via surrogates. This is not hyperbole. A couple in California had obtained 21 children prior to their arrest. All children were obtained via surrogate mothers. The surrogate mothers were misled and informed they were trying to help an infertile couple obtain a single child. All children were removed by child protective services. Note this will all be at taxpayer expense.
If you do not support this, you must vote NO, on the Reproductive Health amendment.
