Michael J. New on Beto O’Rourke is Wrong; Pro-Life Policies Have Not Caused a ‘Maternal Mortality Crisis’

Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke speaks during the 2019 California Democratic Party State Organizing Convention in San Francisco, Saturday, June 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke hosted a town hall at the College of Charleston, during which he reiterated his support for late-term abortion in response to an audience question.

During his response, O’Rourke said that, because of abortion-clinic regulations in Texas, one-fourth of family planning facilities have shut down and claimed that these policies have made the state “one of the epicenters of this maternal mortality crisis.”

To make this claim, O’Rourke is relying on incorrect data. A 2016 study in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology did report a large increase in the incidence of maternal mortality in Texas, but a 2018 study in the same journal — using corrected data — found that the maternal-mortality rate was actually less than half of what was previously reported. Contrary to O’Rourke’s remarks, neither clinic regulations nor funding cuts to Planned Parenthood caused the maternal-mortality rate in Texas to spike.

This is not the first time O’Rourke has blamed high maternal-mortality rates on pro-life policies. At a campaign event in Nevada this April, O’Rourke claimed that Planned Parenthood “is saving lives” and again cited high maternal-mortality rates in Texas.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael J. New