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'Hard to imagine what NPR was thinking': Outrage after outlet airs audio clip of woman crying amid abortion

Pro-lifers claimed that the narrative, which intended to show how empathetic abortion clinic staff are to women, has had the opposite impact

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Pro-life activists were reportedly horrified when NPR broadcast an audio clip of a woman aborting her pregnancy while sobbing in agony at a clinic in Michigan. When a woman was getting her uterus suctioned while being 11-weeks pregnant, NPR reporter Kate Wells played excerpts of her sobbing over her cramps. Despite the doctors' assuring her, "Yes, you can," the woman reportedly remarked, "I don't think I can do this," according to Wells.

Despite the fact that the woman thanked the doctors later, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, criticized NPR for the 11-minute broadcast and claimed it went too far. Speaking to Fox News, Dannenfelser said, "It is horrifying and inappropriate for a taxpayer-funded outlet to air the excruciating moments for child and mother of an abortion." She added, "If I were an advertiser, I would question the judgment of affronting viewers who see this death of a 11-week-old human being with fingers, eyes, toes, revealing left or right-handedness as tragic."

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This comes as Michigan voters are ready to determine whether or not to add abortion rights to the state constitution and reports indicate that since Roe v Wade was overruled, the number of abortions performed and the travel time between them have risen, Daily Mail reported. Wells demonstrated what goes on inside a Northland Family Planning Center in the NPR piece. Anti-abortion activists claimed that the narrative, which intended to show how empathetic abortion clinic staff are to women who must make the agonizing decision to end their pregnancies, has had the opposite impact. 

Anti-abortion organization 40 Days for Life wrote on Twitter, "NPR thinks they've done the abortion industry a favor by highlighting the gruesome reality of undergoing an abortion. Instead, they've revealed exactly what the pro-life movement has always known: abortions hurt women and kill babies."

Conservative National Review contributor Alexandra DeSanctis Marr mirrored the fury, "The fact that @NPR thought it would help their cause to share the audio of a woman getting an abortion shows how delusional abortion extremists can be. How could someone honestly think that was a good idea? Support for unlimited abortion makes people blind."

Matt Whitlock, a conservative commentator, also criticized the news organization's choice to broadcast portions of the abortion procedure and wrote, "Hard to imagine what NPR was thinking with this. But pro-life ads have often been taken down or rejected for showing how horrific an abortion process is. If NPR's goal was to normalize abortions, it seems like this chilling segment might have the opposite impact."

NPR's broadcast of a woman sobbing during an abortion also received praise amid criticism. One user tweeted, "This was amazing and incredibly sad & poignant and so we’ll reported."

Another user wrote, "Thank you for presenting this. Women facing being blocked from realizing their life goals, crushed by financial struggles, prevented from living their lives because male sperm is paramount."

Kate Wells spoke with patients and observed procedures for weeks in a facility outside of Detroit.

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