OAN host lies that “abortions are never necessary to save the life of the mother”

OAN's Addison Smith: “A common myth that the left says, you know, women are going to die because they won't be able to get an abortion to save their life. That scenario doesn't exist.”

Written by Media Matters Staff

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From the July 15, 2022, edition of OAN's In Focus with Addison Smith

ADDISON SMITH (HOST): Texas just sued to block the Biden administration from requiring doctors to provide abortions in medical emergencies. I think that this is a great lawsuit that Texas has launched against the Biden administration, mainly because there is no abortion -- abortions are never necessary to save the life of the mother. Maybe, maybe you have to deliver the baby to save the life of the mother. But you don't have to kill the baby to deliver it. You can deliver the baby alive. That's a common myth that the left says, you know, women are going to die because they won't be able to get an abortion to save their life. That scenario doesn't exist. 

RYAN HELFENBEIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S STANDING FOR FREEDOM CENTER): Yeah, that's exactly right. What they're referring to is HHS Secretary Becerra was ultimately trying to say that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, EMTLA, is ultimately about abortion to stabilize the patient. So an agency is trying to redefine an existing law and surpass both the Supreme Court as well as both legislative chambers in order to do that. An unelected official does not have those powers delegated to them by the Constitution. So what they're trying to do, the Biden administration, to skirt the law -- the ink hasn't even dried on the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, and ultimately, they're trying to skirt the law and compel medical providers to perform abortions, and that's completely unnecessary. They're ultimately about protecting and saving the life of the mother and the child.

SMITH: Yeah, and you can do both in every situation. Saving lives is what the pro-life legislation is all about, through and through.