An international pro-abortion has begun offering free abortion medication to women in Central and South America living in areas affected by the Zika virus, a mosquito-born disease that could cause some children to be born with birth defects.
According to this article on Marie Claire’s U.K. website, Women on Web, an abortion-advocacy group, is offering the free abortion meds primarily to Latin American women who contract the disease in the first trimester, since many of these nations still have laws that prohibit a woman from having an abortion past a certain point in the pregnancy. From the article:
A statement released by Women On Web announced that 'women who are less than nine weeks pregnant can do an online consultation, which is reviewed by doctors, and packages that contain medical abortion pills are sent in case the woman is eligible for the medical abortion.'
The organisation urged women to get in touch with them 'as early as possible' to allow for the long 1-5 week shipment period of the pills to countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Guadeloupe, Paraguay, Venezuela, Argentina and El Salvador.
Women on Web is also launching complaints against the pesky Brazilian government - which keeps intercepting the abortion packages en route to the women. Currently, abortions in Brazil are banned except in cases of rape and incest.
So what’s the Zika virus, and is it really that bad?
The World Health Organization just declared the Zika virus a public health emergency -- not because the virus itself is so bad, but because the disease has been linked to an otherwise rare birth defect called microcephaly, in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head and decreased brain function. The CDC estimates the risk of a baby being born with microcephaly in the United States is between two and 12 per 10,000 births, and states the symptoms can range from mild to severe.
However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressly states on the Zika information section of its website that while “[t]here have been reports of a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly…and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant,” the agency also admits, “we do not know the risk to the infant if a woman is infected with Zika virus while she is pregnant.”
The CDC also states that the Zika virus only remains in the bloodstream of the infected person for about a week, and that “[t]he virus will not cause infections in a baby that is conceived after the virus is cleared from the blood.”
The agency also notes, “There is currently no evidence that Zika virus infection poses a risk of birth defects in future pregnancies.”
Likewise, even Women on Web’s info page (titled, “Women on Waves” ) admits that no scientifically-proven link between the Zika virus and birth defects has actually been established. From the site:
According to the WHO a causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth defects and neurological syndromes has not been established, but is strongly suspected.
So basically, there’s no way of knowing for sure whether a pregnant women contracting the Zika virus will actually result in her baby being born with a birth defect. Still, Women on Web’s abortion-pushers continue to send free abortion pills to women who are most likely carrying perfectly healthy children, based on the off-chance that their baby could potentially be born with special needs.
A recent report from USA Today states that there have been no cases of a locally-transmitted Zika infection in the United States; however, Planned Parenthood might want to start sending out abortifacient mailer packets, just in case.
After all, when it comes to unwanted or less-than-perfect children, one really can’t be too careful.