Planned Parenthood Exploiting Zika to Promote Abortion

02.09.2016

Florida was the first US state to report local transmissions of the Zika virus and continues to have one of the highest numbers of reported cases. Now Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, is sending people around neighbourhoods in South Florida to warn residents about the risk of birth defects linked to the Zika virus. The virus can cause microcephaly, a condition that causes an abnormally small head that restricts brain development, in unborn babies.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding and unnecessary fear about the Zika virus,” said Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “And, unfortunately, those fears are motivated by politics.”

A recent STAT-Harvard poll indicated that Zika causes Americans to alter their views on abortion. A sample of 1,016 people was asked if they favoured late-term abortions (after 24 weeks’ gestation). Only 23 per cent said yes. But that number jumped to 59 per cent if there was a serious possibility of microcephaly.

Harrison explained that there are real fears associated with Zika, but pro-abortion groups are overhyping the threat.

For a woman to give birth to a baby with microcephaly, Zika infection needs to take place within the first trimester in most cases. Of those women, only 1-2 per cent will see birth defects in their babies.

“That means 98 per cent of pregnant women infected with the Zika virus will give birth to normal babies,” Harrison said. She added that non-pregnant women who get sick with Zika develop an immunity to the virus.

There is still no data showing an increase of abortions in the United States because of Zika. But in Latin American countries, where Zika first started to spread and laws provide greater protections for the unborn, an increased number of women are seeking abortions.

World Digital. August 25.