Just days after revealing that she'd undergone a D&C procedure after suffering a pregnancy loss, Jessa Duggar is ready to address some of the backlash she's facing over her well-known anti-choice views. Unfortunately for Jessa, her critics don't appear to be ready to quiet down any time soon.
Jessa shared her sad news in a vlog she posted over the weekend.
In an emotional video, Jessa shared that even though she and her family had been excited to announce that she was expecting her fifth baby with husband Ben Seewald, things changed over the holiday.
She noticed some spotting in the days before her ultrasound, which ultimately revealed that the baby "did not look good."
Although some people were sad for her, loss others immediately called out her hypocrisy.
Jessa underwent a D&C, which is also known as a dilation and curettage. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, this procedure is completed by dilating the cervix to remove "abnormal tissues," which in Jessa's case included her unborn baby.
This is a procedure that can be used for abortion and has become illegal in many states, including Jessa's home state of Arkansas. In fact, the Arkansas Times reports a woman without Jessa's "connections and clout" might not have been able to have the procedure done at all.
Now Jessa's speaking out about her experience.
In a lengthy post shared to her Instagram account, Jessa repeated the same words many other conservatives have used to justify banning the sometimes life-saving procedure she underwent.
"Women have D&Cs for many reasons, not all of which involve killing a living human being," she began the post.
She shared a Bible verse before justifying her access to the same health care she and her family want to deny others.
"There's a world of difference between someone dying and someone being killed," she continued. "To equate one to the other — and to a mother grieving the loss of her baby no less — is severely distasteful."
Jessa does have a point about the difference between the two, but the stringent anti-abortion laws that are being put into place across the country don't take a whole lot of nuance into account.
The Washington Post reported that a woman in Texas was denied a D&C after a miscarriage because of ever-tightening restrictions on access to reproductive care. She was forced to wait two weeks after learning of her loss before she was given access to the same care the Counting On alum received.
We understand why Jessa may not want to be associated with the word abortion.
This is undeniably a sad time for the Seewald family, and we can see why Jessa felt the need to release a statement after being called out over this.
Abortion is an incredibly sensitive and hot button issue for so many people, partially because of the political posturing around it. We hope that Jessa's firsthand experience with the stigma surrounding reproductive care will help her become a little less critical of others who may need it in the future.
She may not feel inspired to change her anti-choice stance, but hopefully this will remind her that when it comes to reproductive health care, our choices should be our own.
