RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS
‘Misogynistic Lie’: Ted Cruz Destroyed for Falsely Claiming Pregnancy Is Not Life Threatening
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is under fire for claiming that pregnancy is not life threatening. The Texas hard-core conservative Republican is promoting his attempt, along with 20 other GOP senators (far less than half of his caucus), to get the FDA to label a widely-accepted pill safely prescribed by doctors for decades to assist in inducing an abortion, as “dangerous.” The World Health Organization (WHO) includes Mifeprex, also known as RU-486, on its list of Essential Medicines.
“Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness, and the abortion pill does not cure or prevent any disease,” Cruz tweeted. “Make no mistake, Mifeprex is a dangerous pill. That’s why 20 of my Republican colleagues and I are urging @US_FDA to classify it as such.”
The CDC says “about 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications.”
Many responded, including many women. Some shared their experiences with pregnancy, some shared statistics showing just how dangerous pregnancy can be, some noted that Black women die from pregnancy at exponentially higher rates than white women, and some noted that Viagra is more deadly than RU-486.
Take a look:
I once did the math that I injected myself 1,064 times to manage life-threatening complications while pregnant with my two kids. The doctor told us my husband should decide in advance whether he would stay in room with me or go with the baby “if things go south” post-delivery. https://t.co/x3R3JELYN5
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) September 3, 2020
I had to inject myself 2x a day in the abdomen with blood thinners to prevent fatal blood clots. 560 shots of Fragmin. I was induced and after 20 hrs of labor, couldn’t have a C-section due to my ovely thin blood. I almost bled out after my placenta came out, tearing my insides. https://t.co/j3xBy6vy8B
— Red (@Redpainter1) September 3, 2020
Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. https://t.co/0QQsJCYGK3
— Sabrina Singh (@sabrinasingh24) September 3, 2020
I had a miscarriage that lasted for almost two months. When the heartbeat stopped my body began miscarrying but then stalled. Mifeprex/misoprostol was a vital pill that I took to help the process. Shame shame shame on you for speaking such ignorance. https://t.co/8FtInnVeex
— Krista N. Dalton (@KristaNDalton) September 3, 2020
Lies. Mifeprex is a safe medicine, safer than many commonly used medicines such as penicillin. https://t.co/3xBRG8h28G
— Dr. Seema Yasmin (@DoctorYasmin) September 3, 2020
On behalf of the *many* women for whom pregnancy has been life-threatening, fuck you https://t.co/0MikSnza6j
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) September 3, 2020
No one should hold elected office unless they pass a test on how pregnancy actually works and the risks involved. Women’s lives should not be political football, and men who don’t care about enough women’s lives to learn about reproduction have no business holding elected office. https://t.co/HE23JlhZRQ
— Melissa Ryan (@MelissaRyan) September 3, 2020
Per the CDC, sometimes pregnancy can cause life threatening illnesses. The link below explains just a small number of complications of pregnancy that can lead to the death of the mother or the fetus: https://t.co/qzZnZ7mqPT https://t.co/7iVkuauR6h pic.twitter.com/kmd3P5Il8z
— Brandi Buchman (@BBuchman_CNS) September 3, 2020
1. Mifeprex blocks the hormone needed for a pregnancy to continue
2. Abortion is legal
3. Women die every day giving birth
4. Many women have medical conditions that pregnancy would exacerbate to prove fatal
5. This is much less invasive than abortion
6. Mind your own uterus https://t.co/JCxhH1mY6f— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) September 3, 2020
This is a dangerous, misogynistic lie.
Pregnancy can, and often is, a life-threatening or even life-ending medical condition, especially among black mothers and women of color.
Why are you politicizing and lying about women’s lives to control and kill us? Have you no morality? https://t.co/0IIxLLcLa6
— Shannon4OH (@ShannonFreshour) September 3, 2020
Death from Mifeprex 2000-2018: 24
Deaths from Viagra 1998-2007: 1,824
Shut the fuck up, Ted.
Also, maybe tell the 14,000 women who have died in childbirth in America the last 20 years that pregnancy is not life-threatening.#ThursdayThoughts #thursdaymorning https://t.co/U0Oo8Lzark
— Holly Figueroa O’Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 3, 2020
GOP men love demonstrating their total ignorance of the female reproductive system in public. (I’d feel sorry for their wives, but they voluntarily married these dopes.) Pregnancy is very much a life threatening condition for a lot of women. Ask anyone who’s had HELLP syndrome. https://t.co/73qGSFqtXR
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) September 3, 2020
Ted Cruz has never been pregnant and clearly knows nothing about maternal mortality rates in the US or in Texas. People die in childbirth at an unconscionable rate, especially women of color. Not from medication abortion. Sadly, knowledge is not a prerequisite for power. https://t.co/EjER9RGfXC
— ilyseh (@ilyseh) September 3, 2020
“Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness”
Please tell that to my OBGYN who had to have me rushed to the operating room due to an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured in my tube in which I almost died.”
You are not a doctor or a woman, so you should seriously shut the fuck up. https://t.co/BWviOQe2Ye
— 💛🐝 Äиαstαsíα 🥁⚖️ (@bruntofitall) September 3, 2020
Childbirth is fourteen times more dangerous than abortion and pregnancy is indeed life threatening for millions of women. https://t.co/txfNazfoAH
Go fuck yourself, Ted. https://t.co/YzBAmjloLY— Laura Chapin (@LauraChapin) September 3, 2020
This is why pregnancy is trending on Twitter today.
Here’s the risk of death for both abortion vs pregnancy:
–> Abortion: less than 0.6 per 100,000
–> Pregnancy: 7.1 for per 100,000
Of course pregnancy isn’t a disease, but for some it’s a life threatening condition. https://t.co/8SlsPh9U91
— Kate Smith (@byKateSmith) September 3, 2020
Ectopic pregnancies can kill.
Being forced to carry a product of rape, and have a lifelong relationship with your rapist, can lead to severe mental health issues, including suicide.
Anyone who says pregnancy is a safe and necessary requirement for all is garbage. https://t.co/elioRXVjtj— Lisa 🏳️🌈🇨🇦 (@xLiserx) September 3, 2020
This right here is why you should have voted for Hillary Clinton. This man never heard of deaths during pregnancy, never heard of pre-eclampsia, never heard of the crisis in Black maternal health EVEN THOUGH three of his female colleagues have addressed it IN THE SENATE. https://t.co/qD0Mqkci04
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) September 3, 2020
Women die during pregnancy all the time. In fact, three of your female colleagues, Gillibrand, Harris and Warren, have been proposing legislation to address the explosion in Black maternal deaths for several years. Unplanned pregnancy is a health threat to all women and girls. https://t.co/qD0Mqkci04
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) September 3, 2020
“Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness”
HOLY SHIT, what a thing to say. Hundreds of thousands die every year in childbirth and the US has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, with a massive racial disparity in who dies.
Shut the fuck up, Ted. https://t.co/q9DvQOvTbY
— Elizabeth May (@_ElizabethMay) September 3, 2020
I’m pretty over people who have never had the possibility of being pregnant having bullshit opinions that can become law on medical treatments related to pregnancy. https://t.co/G1ZmjXgx60
— Tiffany Bond (I) for US Senate🎱🦞🇺🇸 (@TiffanyBond) September 3, 2020
Dude, I LITERALLY nearly died due to being pregnant you fucking ignoramus https://t.co/KYEs8BSrrP
— Alisa Krasnostein (@Krasnostein) September 3, 2020
Women’s rights are on the ballot, per the usual. https://t.co/VwUgzSBs5C
— Jennifer Hayden (@Scout_Finch) September 3, 2020
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
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