Ruhle Falsely Claims Pro-Life States Make It Harder to Treat Miscarriages, Vote

MSNBC’s host of The 11th Hour Stephanie Ruhle announced Tuesday that Roe v. Wade’s demise has already greatly harmed women throughout the country and to make matters worse, states passing pro-life laws have made it harder to vote.

Trying to prove her accusation, Ruhle claimed that, “Roe v. Wade being overturned has disrupted health care across this nation. These are the New York Times reporting on a story of a Wisconsin woman who was turned away from a hospital while she was experiencing a miscarriage. By the time that she found a doctor who gave her the appropriate medications, the woman had been bleeding intermittently for days. Putting her at increased risk of hemorrhage or infection. Not to mention the emotional distress.”

Next, she hyped “In Washington, 17 House Democrats were arrested today at an abortion rights rally outside of the Supreme Court this afternoon.”

Ruhle was not aware that the demonstration turned into a comedy-hour with the representatives pretending to have been handcuffed and raising their firsts in air before returning to handcuffing.

Later in the interview, Ruhle asked Moss, “Many of these states that are restricting abortion, also coincidentally have made it harder and harder to vote. Does this firewall strategy account for that?”

After Moss predictably said that it does, Ruhle switched topics back to the story she led off the segment with, “People are being denied care. I just said it before, for miscarriages, for ectopic pregnancies, because of these laws. They’re not going to the hospitals seeking abortions, do these patients have any recourse?”

Ruhle is not the only journalist who has spread disinformation. They should be cautious about asking for recourse. In Wisconsin, the definition of an abortion does not include procedures that intend “to remove a dead fetus.”   

Of course, Moss didn’t care about that and was more than happy to help Ruhle fear-monger, “You know, the human devastation is really unbelievable and we are already seeing it in this New York TimesThe story that you have just been featured. We’re seeing chaos, we’re seeing unpredictability, we’re seeing needless harm to the most vulnerable. We–we– know that marginalized women in particular are going to be most affected. Black women are two times more likely to die in childbirth. So, these bans are already having a chaotic impact.”

Stephanie Ruhle, an agenda-pushing journalist who is responsible for creating confusion around new pro-life legislations, has the primary responsibility.

This segment was sponsored and produced by Cadillac.

This transcript is for the show on July 19, 2009.

MSNBC The 11th Hour: Stephanie Ruhle

7/19/2022

11:00 PM ET

STEPHANIE ROHLE: Roe v. Wade being overturned has disrupted health care across this nation. These are the New York Times reporting on a story of a Wisconsin woman who was turned away from a hospital while she was experiencing a miscarriage. By the time that she found a doctor who gave her the appropriate medications, the woman had been bleeding intermittently for days. Putting her at increased risk of hemorrhage or infection. Not to mention the emotional distress. In Washington, 17 House Democrats were arrested today at an abortion rights rally outside of the Supreme Court this afternoon, but the immediate battles are happening in the states, which is why the ACLU is working to create a fire wall to protect reproductive rights. I want to bring in Kary Moss, she’s acting nation political director for the ACLU.

…

RUHLE:  Many of these states that are restricting abortion, also coincidentally have made it harder and harder to vote. Does this firewall strategy account for that? 

KARY MOSS: Well, obviously everything turns on our right to vote and access to the ballot, so we are also doubling down on the right to vote in Michigan again. There is an amendment on the ballot there that would make it easier to vote. Although Michiganders passed an initiative in 2018 to do that, but we are going to keep doubling down. You saw what happened in Michigan back in 2020 during the election. 

So yeah, voting rights are hand and hand. But at the end of the day, what really we need is for people to turn out to vote. Right? Vote for their beliefs. To vote on, to hold politicians accountable. 

RUHLE: People are being denied care. I just said it before, for miscarriages, for ectopic pregnancies, because of these laws. They’re not going to the hospitals seeking abortions, do these patients have any recourse? 

MOSS: You know, the human devastation is really unbelievable and we are already seeing it in this New York TimesThe story that you have just been featured. We’re seeing chaos, we’re seeing unpredictability, we’re seeing needless harm to the most vulnerable. We–we– know that marginalized women in particular are going to be most affected. 

Black women are two times more likely to die in childbirth. So, these bans are already having a chaotic impact. And it’s—it’s– just imperative, you know, that we get out—get out– and vote.