This year, presidential candidate Kamala Harris became the first vice president to visit an abortion clinic. She did so in St. Paul, with Minnesota governor Tim Walz, now her running mate. During the visit, she said that she had “heard stories of — and have met with women who had miscarriages in — in toilets. Women who were being denied emergency care because the healthcare providers there, at an emergency room, were afraid that because of the laws in their state, that they could be criminalized, sent to prison for providing healthcare.”
Democratic National Convention attendees have the chance this week to receive free chemical abortions at a Planned Parenthood mobile clinic. (Vasectomies are also offered.) The abortion pop-up is supposed to be a fun example of Democratic policy to come — a sign, one Planned Parenthood rep told media, that Democrats are getting creative following the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which many said would dramatically hinder abortion access. The number of abortions performed in the U.S. has actually increased since Roe, a study released this month revealed.
Pro-abortion activists say that if not for the overturning of Roe, women wouldn’t have to turn to chemical abortions. But chemical abortions accounted for more than half of all abortions in 2020 (and the number has since risen). The Democratic Party is now doling out such abortions not out of desperation or as a last resort for women who otherwise couldn’t get abortions in the 14 states that have limited abortion access, but as a show of the party’s ingenuity — as though they’re vogue.
Planned Parenthood tells women to get comfortable before taking the abortion pill, recommending that women be at home, or wherever they can rest, because of the painful cramping and bleeding they’ll experience. It instructs women to sit “on the toilet” after taking the drug misoprostol, which “makes the pregnancy come out through your vagina — similar to a heavy period or early miscarriage,” Planned Parenthood’s website explains. Women can expect “large blood clots (up to the size of a lemon) or clumps of tissue during the abortion. But the pregnancy itself is very small — at 8 weeks, an embryo is about ¼ to ½ inch long. You may not see it when it comes out, especially if you’re less than 8 weeks pregnant.”
Does Planned Parenthood expect women to go back to their Chicago hotel rooms, get comfortable, and take the abortion pill? What is the pre- and post-care offered at this week’s abortion pop-up? The DNC lasts for four days. All abortion appointment slots have been filled this week, Planned Parenthood said. It’s entirely possible that some number of women will be bleeding in the bathrooms at the DNC, as Harris brags about her pro-woman platform.