Check out a weird TV ad that I just saw re: the 8th district race. It was on Comedy Central at 4:49p today (Saturday 10/20) in the Rolling Meadows Comcast Zone.
Can’t find the ad online anywhere, so I filmed it with my phone.
* Here’s the raw video of Republican freshman Congressman Joe Walsh saying to reporters after Thursday’s debate that abortions are “absolutely” never needed to save the life of pregnant mothers…
* And here’s Walsh’s long, rambling Friday press conference where he tried to kinda-sorta walk things back a bit , but then didn’t answer any questions…
“Walsh’s comments have no grounding in science and are completely inaccurate,” said Dr. Cassing Hammond, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Life-threatening medical conditions that can lead to terminating a pregnancy include infections of the uterus or the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus, some heart conditions and pre-eclampsia, a rapid rise in blood pressure that occurs during pregnancy and in the period right afterward, said Dr. Erika Levi, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“All of these conditions can occur throughout the pregnancy,” Levi said. “If these conditions occur prior to viability (of the fetus) then, at that point, abortion can become the only option to save the life of the mother.”
Dr. David Grimes, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, added others to the list, including complications of diabetes, pulmonary hypertension and cancer, which he said sometimes can require termination of the pregnancy before treatment can proceed. Cases severe enough to require abortions are rare, Grimes said, adding that he nonetheless sees several a year.
After coming under fire for suggesting that scientific advancements have made abortions to save a mother’s life unnecessary, Congressman Joe Walsh Friday continued to describe himself as “pro-life without exception” but also said he would support some medical procedures for pregnant women even if they result in the loss of the baby.
The McHenry Tea Partyer made the comments at a 2:30 p.m. news conference in Elk Grove Village, his wife Helene by his side. He arrived at the vacant factory warehouse by truck, and left without taking questions from the press.
* Jackie Speier, lawmaker who needed abortion, rips Joe Walsh: Rep. Joe Walsh’s claim that abortions are never necessary to save the life of the mother “showed absolute ignorance about science and medicine,” according to a California Democrat who once spoke of her own needed abortion on the House floor. Rep. Jackie Speier, who appeared on the House floor in 2011 to talk about an abortion she needed to save her life, told POLITICO on Friday that Walsh didn’t understand “how painful it is on a physiological and emotional level” to have a second-trimester abortion.
* Rep. Joe Walsh edges away from controversial remark about abortion
* Doctors dispute ‘inaccurate’ abortion claim from Rep. Joe Walsh: In his practice, he said, he’s often cared for women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer or leukemia whose oncologists refuse to administer treatment until the pregnancy is over. Type 1 diabetes can be severely aggravated by pregnancy, and an abortion may be necessary to save a patient’s eyes or kidney function. And in some severe cases of pre-eclampsia, the liver can begin to die — and the only treatment is ending the pregnancy.
* Sen. Durbin jumps into firestorm over Walsh’s abortion comments
