A Brief History of “Post-Birth Abortion”

Happy Monduesday, Meteor readers,

Some of you are lamenting the end of summer, but me? I am already knitting Christmas sweaters for myself and my child. I hope your entry to fall is smoother than the foam on a white woman’s pumpkin-spiced latte.

In today’s newsletter, we discuss the importance of words and their meanings in conversations about abortion. Plus, more from Project 2025 and an unexpected “counterfeit” endorsement for Kamala Harris.

Ho, ho, how long are these sweaters going to take,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Anti-abortion glossary: Has the term “post-birth abortion” been cropping up a lot lately on your right-wing uncle’s Facebook posts? It’s been in circulation for years, but the fabricated idea it refers to—that Democrats are passing legislation that allows for abortion even past the moment of delivery—was rejuvenated when Trump mentioned it at a Michigan rally last week.

“The real radicals on [abortion] are the Democrats where you can have an abortion in the ninth month,” he said. “And in six states, you’re allowed to kill the baby after the baby is born. And you know, one of those states is Minnesota, where this Tampon Tim comes from.” Trump’s fear-mongering was then parrotted by one of his advisors the next day.

To be clear, this charge is absolutely false. It is illegal to kill a living child in all 50 states, and it’s sad that we even have to repeat that. But where did the term “post-birth abortion” come from, and how did it get so popular? As writer Jessica Valenti, founder of Abortion, Every Day, explains in a new Meteor series called Anti-Abortion Glossary, Republicans started tossing the idea around after a disastrous radio interview with former Virginia governor Ralph Northam in 2019. Northam had been asked a hypothetical question about whether or not a woman could abort a pregnancy up to the point of labor, and he responded by offering another (all too real) hypothetical: a child born with extreme “deformities” or prematurely who is unable to survive on their own. In that case, parents would have to decide whether to subject a fatally ill newborn to painful, invasive surgeries or to let them die of natural causes.

It’s a nightmare situation, and for some parents, it’s a lived experience. But for GOP pundits, it was political fodder. At the time, Republicans were looking to sink an abortion bill that had just been introduced in Virginia, amending the state’s laws on late-term abortion. Republicans said the bill would legalize infanticide and, especially after Northam’s interview, painted him and other pro-abortion Democrats as “baby killers.” They ground the bill to a halt, turned Northam into a widely shared meme, and made the ridiculous notion of legal infanticide so popular with their base that Ron DeSantis and two women running for office in North Dakota used it.

Political doublespeak? No—because “post-birth abortion” exploits the real experiences of the most vulnerable parents and infants for political gain. If the GOP wanted to earnestly talk about what’s killing children in America, perhaps they should look to their gun closets.

New episodes of Anti-Abortion Glossary—aimed at dispelling the “infodemic” of abortion disinformation out there right now—coming to you weekly. Watch here:

AND:

• Over the weekend, the bodies of six Israeli and American hostages were recovered from a tunnel under Rafah; reports say that the hostages were executed by militants in advance of an incoming Israeli offensive. Approximately 100 Israeli hostages remain in captivity, and their release is a crucial part of ongoing cease-fire negotiations. Protestors in Israel took to the streets to demand that Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a deal, to which the Prime Minister commented, “I won’t give in to pressure.”

• It cannot be stressed enough that under Project 2025, the GOP has a plan for literally everything, and those plans are not good. For example: the proposed way to fight the rise in dangerous forest fires, which are caused by climate change, a thing they don’t believe is man-made? Get rid of the forests.

• Zakia Khudadadi, a Hazara woman who fled Afghanistan in 2021, made history in Paris last week as the first-ever medallist for the Paralympic Refugee Team. She took home the bronze in taekwondo and said of her win, “This medal is for all the women of Afghanistan and all the refugees of the world. I hope that one day there will be peace in my country.”

ZAKIA AND HER TRAINER CELEBRATING THEIR BRONZE MEDAL WIN. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• A fun little sports story you might have missed: Yesterday, posters of Kamala Harris in an Eagles helmet started popping up around Philadelphia. The posters declared that Harris was the official candidate of the team—an incredible endorsement, yeah? Alas, the Eagles confirmed in a statement that the posters were a “counterfeit political ad” and would be taken down as soon as possible. Besides, we all know there’s only one woman the Eagles would endorse for president.

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