AP Accidentally Puts Abortion Debate to Bed With Story About Uptick in Tubal Ligations

During the debate last night, there was significant talk about 'reproductive freedom'. It's a politically focus group tested way of saying 'abortion', naturally.

Kamala Harris argued Donald Trump would take us back to the days of backalley, coat hanger abortions. Trump, for his part, did a decent enough job not accepting the premise of the question related to a federal abortion ban. He's been pretty clear that he agrees with exceptions to abortion, including for rape/incest and to save the life of the mother.

Those are positions that most Americans agree with, although one can argue -- as I would -- the humanity of the unborn child doesn't change because he's conceived via rape or incest, and the fact that an unborn child can be aborted because of those circumstances is logically and ethically inconsistent.

But that's not exactly what I want to focus on. I want to talk about this:

More women had their tubes tied after Roe v. Wade was overturned https://t.co/A8sn8kk7en
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 11, 2024

Here's what the AP says:

More women chose to have their tubes tied after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, a new study shows, and the biggest increases were in states that ban abortion.
A research letter published Wednesday in JAMA examined insurance claims data from 2021 and 2022 for around 4.8 million women who got tubal ligations, which are surgeries to close the fallopian tubes so the patient can no longer get pregnant. The data came from 36 states and Washington, D.C., and researchers categorized these places as “banned,” “limited” or “protected,” based on their abortion policies.
In the 18 months before the Dobbs decision in late June 2022, tubal ligations remained stable in all three groups of states. But in the latter half of 2022, the procedure rose in all three groups. Researchers also looked at sustained change in the numbers over time, finding that tubal ligations rose by 3% each month in banned states.

I hope, although I am not optimistic, these women had informed consent and fully understand the implications of what they're doing. The success rate of reversing a tubal ligation is 50-80%, but that's if one can afford it. The initial procedure can cost up to $6,000, while the reversal can cost up to $21,000.

Imagine getting a tubal ligation and then deciding you actually do want children. That ship has, most likely, sailed.

And the Democratic Party won't be there to help them.

It's the same Democratic Party has done a fabulous job of disabusing women of the concept of motherhood, have them running so scared about having a child, that they're turning to sterilization out of fear of getting pregnant and not being able to get an abortion. It's also this notion that a fierce, independent woman can't possibly be successful if she's saddled with children.

The lies about being refused health care in the face of a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy do not help, either.

Set all that aside for a moment, though, and look at what this proves: it proves that women actually have agency, despite what Democrats say, and can figure out how to prevent pregnancy if they really want to.

It also proves that -- for many -- abortion wasn't a serious, deeply personal choice between a woman and her doctor. 'Safe, legal, and rare' is a thing of the past. Rather, abortion was another form of birth control. And when that 'birth control' option was taken away, women found a way to exercise that 'reproductive freedom' the Left likes to talk about.