Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sparked a wave of abortion bans across the nation, there have been a flurry of heart wrenching stories about pregnant people being denied care, often with serious health consequences. Yet a recent Washington Post article stands out, IMHO, due to a unique framing choice.

I should note at the outset that I am neither glorifying nor condemning the journalist or any person quoted in the story. The point of this series is to simply observe how framing choices direct the reader’s understanding of the issue. Recognizing that this is an article written by a journalist and that much of the story is told by a young woman and her mother (none of whom are advocates), I believe there are valuable lessons to be learned by those of us who are advocates who might author or be interviewed for such a story, or have an ability to influence it. 

The basic story is that a young woman in Texas, Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz, had an ectopic pregnancy and doctors refused to terminate it, even though legislators have revised abortion law in Texas to allow for terminations in such cases. Norris-De La Cruz and her mother frantically sought a solution, including contacting a clinic out of state. Fortunately, after lots of calls and being close to losing her life, she was ultimately able to get the care she needed.

Anyone reading this story is likely to feel sickened and angry–it is quite powerful. 

However, where is the reader’s anger directed? Who do we “blame” or what do we see as the solution? For advocates, the question of “who’s responsible” is central since we are typically trying to educate the public about how to solve problems.

The framing choices in this article place blame squarely on doctors–they are confused, don’t understand the law, are cowardly, etc. For example:

—

The law that has prohibited abortions in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned now explicitly allows doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies. But when doctors at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital evaluated Norris-De La Cruz last week, they refused to terminate the pregnancy, saying there was some chance the pregnancy was still viable, Norris-De La Cruz recalled…

Medical exceptions to abortion bans have not stopped doctors from turning away patients with significant pregnancy complications, often with harrowing consequences…

Morgan said he never considered delaying or withholding treatment because of the abortion ban, which he says clearly allows Texas doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies. He said he was shocked to learn that Norris-De La Cruz had been turned away…

—

Legislators, meanwhile, are mostly off-the-hook. They “fixed” the issue. For example:

—

“I don’t know what the excuse would be for a Texas doctor not treating an ectopic pregnancy, because that’s not the law,” said Sen. Bryan Hughes, who sponsored a law last year specifying that Texas doctors are permitted to treat ectopic pregnancies, a follow-up to Texas’s abortion ban meant to prevent cases like this one…

—

What’s not really questioned in this article is whether laws can or should dictate specific medical procedures. There are hints in the article about why legislation doesn’t fit the reality of medical decision-making:

—

…there was some chance the pregnancy was still viable…

Ectopic pregnancies in the fallopian tube, which never survive to term, can be hard to diagnose on an ultrasound with 100 percent certainty, several doctors said — and if the diagnosis is wrong, a doctor might fear potential legal repercussions for terminating a viable pregnancy…

…he was 98 percent sure Norris-De La Cruz had an ectopic when he initially examined her.

—

Very little in medicine is 100% certain. That’s why legislators shouldn’t play doctor. Every situation, every pregnancy is different–so control of medical procedures shouldn’t be handed over; control has to be in the hands of the one most affected.   

But, the article does not place responsibility on legislators trying to take control away from the people affected. So, in looking for someone to blame, those who comment on the article take aim at Norris-De La Cruz’s mother. The end of the article discusses her conversion from supporting the law to now understanding its dangers–and readers are not very sympathetic.

Framing 101 Lesson: “Who’s responsible?” for the problem and/or for fixing it has to be clear. In my view, this article does not connect the dots that Legislators playing doctor, taking control of medical procedures away from people and medical professionals, created this problem and ending their take-over is the only way to fix it.