Trump's abortion lies frustrate already fraught debate
Discussing abortion is dangerous territory for a column, but Trump, et ilk, are already giving it prime space amongst the next-election lies they’re spreading about Democrats. “Executing” newborns is how Trump put it at his recent “Rally the Uninquisitive” roadshow. By actual count his ten-thousandth, it’s his most loathsome lie yet. In the interest of accuracy, which used to be a thing, let’s revisit the origin of this odious demagoguery.
Yes, there are people who believe, in the rare circumstances in which third-trimester abortions are medically indicated, the decision must be left to parents and their doctors. Not Donald Trump, not Franklin Graham, not Sean Hannity. Having shared many tough medical decisions with patients, I’m grateful they never included that, the most wrenching of all.
The big lie began when former pediatric neurologist, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s answer to a question was leapt upon by rightwing fake news, easily convincing the dupable he’d advocated infanticide. (Trump made hacking motions when saying “execution.”) The heartbreaking circumstance Northam described was a baby born so malformed that it wouldn’t long survive. He answered unambiguously: it would be cuddled in a blanket while the parents resolved whether they wished the baby to receive aggressive life-support or comfort measures only, while dying naturally.
Some distant bystanders will argue the baby should be kept alive at all costs, until its inevitable death. More, one hopes, would apprehend the parents’ pain, and sympathize with choosing only gentleness as death approached. In turning such anguish into a heartless, deceitful theme of his rallies, Trump sank to a level of repulsiveness, disgraceful even for him.
Perhaps those at Trump’s rallies should be forgiven. Made terminally indifferent to pursuing truth, they attend to baste in his lies, without reflection, whatever the target. Were they to make the tiniest effort to cleanse themselves with truth; had they the smallest sliver of empathy for people who don’t happen to be them, perhaps they’d reject his perfidy and be appalled by his confidence in deluding them, whatever the lies. So, no; in fact, they shouldn’t be forgiven. Truth is obtainable, and everyone benefits when people care to discover it. Those who don’t, go to rallies.
Despite rightwing falsifiers and lunatic legislators, Gov. Northam wasn’t referring to birth after a failed abortion attempt, either. Trump didn’t care; those lies work as well for him as ones about immigration.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/schwab-trumps-abortion-lies-frustrate-already-fraught-debate/
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