CNN host Jim Acosta on Thursday ended an interview with anti-abortion activist Kristan Hawkins after she spread false information on abortion pills.
“What's your reaction to this decision?” the CNN anchor said, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which the court allowed emergency abortions to continue in Idaho, for now, as litigation continues on the state’s near-total abortion ban.
“Sure, well, I think President Trump and the GOP needs to take note,” Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, responded. “The Biden administration continues to make the case to weaponize federal agencies to make abortion a federal issue.”
“But we also see a silver lining in this decision today,” Hawkins continued. “If Idaho — while this is tragic, saying Idaho must allow for abortions to prevent infertility, future infertility, the FDA must now change its policy, too, to do the same, given their no-test online distribution scheme of chemical abortion pills, which we know harm women's future fertility.”
The anti-abortion activist elaborated on the false claim that medical abortions cause infertility. There is no apparent evidence that using abortion pills, such as mifepristone and misoprostol, can cause future pregnancy complications.
“Is it mifepristone?” Acosta asked. “Haven’t the experts said that are safe for people to use?”
In 2000, the FDA approved mifepristone as a safe method for someone to terminate an early pregnancy. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court preserved access to the widely used abortion pill, although it ruled only on procedural grounds and not on the merits of the FDA's approval.
“Ask any woman — excuse me — ask someone who's been pregnant, sir,” Hawkins retorted.
“I’m sorry, mifepristone has been proven to be safe. It's been that way for years, but thank you for coming on. We appreciate it," Acosta said.
“No, it actually hasn’t —" Hawkins said.
“We want to go to a quick break," Acosta said, ending the interview.
