An anti-abortion demonstrator prays near the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., US, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Many employers are examining their abortion coverage policies as the court readies a decision that may overturn Roe v. Wade. (Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In a new report intended to expose how the Texas Heartbeat Bill is forcing pregnant women to become mothers, Washington Post abortion writer Caroline Kitchener featured the story of a young woman who decided against having an abortion after seeing the heartbeat of her twins during an ultrasound.
The seemingly unintentional pro-life story turned heads on Twitter, with people remarking on the beauty of the young mother choosing life and others slamming the author for portraying that choice in a "condescending light," seeming to portray her life as hampered now because of her decision to give birth to her children.
Kitchener initially wrote about the young mother’s pregnancy as if it were a "major inconvenience" foisted on her and other women by the Texas Law.
"Brooke found out she was pregnant late on the night of Aug. 29, two days before the Texas Heartbeat Act banned abortions once an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity, around six weeks of pregnancy. It was the most restrictive abortion law to take effect in the United States in nearly 50 years," Kitchener claimed.
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Elsewhere, Kitchener wrote, "Sometimes Brooke imagined her life if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, and if Texas hadn’t banned abortion just days after she decided that she wanted one. She would have been in school, rushing from class to her shift at Texas Roadhouse, eyes on a real estate license that would finally get her out of Corpus Christi."
The author added that Brooke would have made that trip to Hawaii she always wanted if she hadn’t had twins.
Though the anecdote of Brooke’s final decision to choose her twins’ lives provided a surprising pro-life message, almost contrary to the initial tone of the piece. Kitchener described Brooke’s ultrasound experience, writing, "As the ultrasound technician pressed the probe into her stomach, slathered with gel, Brooke willed the screen to show a fetus without a heartbeat. The technician gasped. It was twins. And they were 12 weeks along."
Washington, UNITED STATES: Pro-life demonstrators (R) confront pro-choice counterparts (L) 23 January 2006 in Washington, DC, as tens of thousands of pro-life and pro-choice opponents rally marking the 33rd anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Abortion has been legal in the United States since the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade on 22 January 1973. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read )
"This is a miracle from the Lord. We are having these babies," exclaimed Brooke upon seeing the kids.
Kitchener then recounted, "She wondered: If her babies had heartbeats, as these women said they did, was aborting them murder? Eventually, Arnholt [pregnancy counselor] turned to Brooke and asked whether she’d be keeping them. Brooke heard herself saying ‘yes.’"
After her piece was published, Kitchener reinforced the conflicting nature of the story, tweeting, "Nearly 10 months into the Texas abortion ban, women have started having the babies they never planned to carry to term."
In a subsequent tweet, she added, "Brooke’s feelings on the law are complicated. She loves her babies, deeply, but she also aches for the life she may never get to lead."
Pro-life activist and Live Action founder Lila Rose did not appreciate the author’s portrayal of the young mother. She tweeted, "She trusted you and you wrote a cruel, condescending piece about her. You objectified her & her beautiful girls for your own pro-abortion ideology. You didn’t help her, instead you did everything you could to make her look ignorant, & her future look as bleak & dark as possible."
Conservative actor Adam Baldwin responded to Kitchener’s tweet, writing, "’Punished with twin babies.’ How very maoist."
"Three precious human beings, full of potential and worth," tweeted Townhall political editor Guy Benson, reinforcing the dignity of the mother and her two children featured in the piece.
Conservative author Ryan James Girdusky pushed back on Kitchener’s initial tweet about her story, tweeting, "this is actually a good thing."
Perplexed by the tone of the piece, The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles asked, "Is the editor of @WashingtonPost secretly pro-life? Or is the suggestion here that it would have been better to murder these cute little twin babies?"
According to some on social media, The Washington Post's recent piece slamming the Texas Heartbeat bill was ‘inadvertently pro-life.’ (iStock)
Conservative commentator Ian Haworth tweeted about the piece’s "amazing pro-life argument," writing, "This article from the @washingtonpost presents the most amazing pro-life argument I think I've ever seen...and it's entirely unintentional."
The Telegraph columnist Tim Stanley claimed the piece is "more complex" than it seems on the surface, tweeting, "That Washington post piece on abortion is infinitely more complex than its ghastly headline suggests & deserves reading. She kept the babies following an ultrasound, life has been tough, doesn’t oppose right to choose, but can’t imagine not having her kids."
"One day, these twins are going to read this story. You gotta wonder what they'll think of @CAKitchener," tweeted Daily Wire reporter Mary Margaret Olohan.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised the story, tweeting, "The Wash Post—inadvertently, no doubt—writes a beautiful, powerfully pro-life story. Very much worth reading."
Perceiving the piece to be stating that Brooke’s twins are an undue burden on her because of abortion restrictions, The Blaze’s Twitter account asked, "Wait, are you implying what we think that you’re implying?"
Though The Dispatch staff writer Andrew Egger slammed The Blaze and other conservatives who had derided the piece, tweeting, "This sort of thing is so tedious. It's an extremely good profile. Maybe read it before you start doing the ‘wow despite what the author intended this actually confirms MY priors’ routine."
Feet of a newborn baby in the hands of parents.
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And on the other side of the aisle, leftist and feminist author Jill Filipovic lauded the piece for its unflinching look at how women are "manipulated" by the pro-life movement. She wrote, "This @CAKitchener story is so sad and infuriating, and such a perfect illustration of how girls and women are used, manipulated, and discarded, their futures and dreams snuffed out, by the ‘pro-life’ movement that claims to love babies so much."