The media fearmongering about pro-lifers is nothing new. Admitting the fears are false, but fearmongering anyway is something different. Yet, that is exactly what NBC’s Dasha Burns did on Friday’s edition of Nightly News as she traveled to Missouri ahead of that state’s upcoming abortion ballot measure.

Host Lester Holt introduced Burns’s segment by declaring, “the issue of contraceptive deserts, places where many women don't have enough access to birth control. According to a reproductive rights nonprofit, more than 19 million women are affected, just as millions of Americans vote on access to contraception.”

 

 

The segment sought to answer whose fault that is, and right away Burns said there is nothing to suggest pro-life laws have anything to do with it, “In the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Maggie Oliva went to the pharmacy to pick up her birth control prescription… Maggie, who now works for a grassroots reproductive rights group in St. Louis, says the pharmacist denied her prescription because they were unsure if it was legal, which it was.”

Instead of asking the liberal activist why her movement keeps fearmongering, Burns instead asked, “How does that experience sit with you today?”

Olivia claimed, “It feels infuriating. I definitely felt like I was doing something wrong.”

Burns then tried to tie the issue to abortion, “Two months later she got pregnant and crossed state lines to get an abortion... Family planning experts say since the near-total abortion ban in Missouri, women have been facing mounting barriers to accessing contraception.”

But Burns just said it is legal, so maybe pro-life laws aren’t the problem. However, still trying to force a narrative, Burns then turned to Missouri Family Health Council Executive Director Michelle Trupiano, who declared, “Politicians purposefully conflate abortion and birth control. Our polling shows almost 30 percent of Missourians don't believe or don't know that all forms of birth control are legal.”

Trupiano isn’t wrong, but it is the liberal politicians she supports who do that. Conservative politicians are always making it clear that they aren’t coming to contraception. Burns surely knows this true as she turned to State Sen. Denny Hoskins, “That confusion, a strained healthcare system, and contraceptive deserts covering much of Missouri makes accessing birth control more challenging.”

Hoskins, however, rebutted, “You say there's contraception deserts, I guess, I would say I respectfully disagree.”

While Burns lobbed the “how do you feel” kind of questions to liberal activists, in her questioning of the Republican, she used liberal logical that says if something is not subsidized by taxpayer money, it is being curtailed, “But, didn't the state specifically take action to not support funding for contraception?”

Hoskins, who earlier claimed “They do have adequate access to contraception in Missouri,” pointed out, “We did. We did, most certainly. I don't think it should be paid for by taxpayer dollars.”

Towards the end of the segment, Burns warned, “Six in ten women in Missouri are concerned about passing laws that limit access to birth control.”

Nurse Kate Wagner replied, “Some of our patients would, you know, show up and they would say, ‘My device is due to be replaced next year, but I want to go ahead and have it replaced sooner than that, because I'm worried about, you know, the politics changing.’”

She was followed by Olivia, who recalled, “I remember somebody called the office and asked if she needed to rip out the IUD herself. She was so scared.”

And what did they say in return? Burns herself said birth control is legal and Hoskins gave absolutely no reason to believe “politics changing” will change that. Instead of allowing abortion activists to prey on people’s fears for votes, Burns should’ve asked them why certain doctors and pharmacists are incapable of reading the laws that actually exist.

Here is a transcript for the November 1 show:

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt

11/1/2024

7:10 PM ET

LESTER HOLT: Also tonight, the issue of contraceptive deserts, places where many women don't have enough access to birth control. According to a reproductive rights nonprofit, more than 19 million women are affected, just as millions of Americans vote on access to contraception. Here is Dasha Burns.

DASHA BURNS: In the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Maggie Oliva went to the pharmacy to pick up her birth control prescription.

MAGGIE OLIVA: I ultimately ended up leaving and—

BURNS: Without—

OLIVA: Without birth control. 

BURNS: Maggie, who now works for a grassroots reproductive rights group in St. Louis, says the pharmacist denied her prescription, because they were unsure if it was legal, which it was.

How does that experience sit with you today?

OLIVIA: It feels infuriating. I definitely felt like I was doing something wrong.

BURNS: Two months later she got pregnant and crossed state lines to get an abortion.

OLIVIA: When you can't control the care that your body can receive, it's a devastating feeling of powerlessness.

BURNS: Family planning experts say since the near-total abortion ban in Missouri, women have been facing mounting barriers to accessing contraception.

MICHELLE TRUPIANO: Politicians purposefully conflate abortion and birth control. Our polling shows almost 30 percent of Missourians don't believe or don't know that all forms of birth control are legal.

BURNS: That confusion, a strained healthcare system, and contraceptive deserts covering much of Missouri makes accessing birth control more challenging.

DENNY HOSKINS: You say there's contraception deserts, I guess, I would say I respectfully disagree.

BURNS: Denny Hopkins is a Republican state senator and voted in favor of a bill that would have excluded emergency contraceptives from Missouri's Medicaid program.

HOSKINS: They do have adequate access to contraception in Missouri.

BURNS: But, didn't the state specifically take action to not support funding for contraception?

HOSKINS: We did. We did, most certainly. I don't think it should be paid for by taxpayer dollars.

BURNS: On Missouri's ballot this year, a constitutional amendment, ensuring “a person's fundamental right to reproductive freedom” which would include abortion and birth control. Kate Wagner works at the only clinic in a 45-mile radius that provides the full ranges of birth control methods.

KATE WAGNER: Good morning, ladies.

WOMAN: Good morning.

WAGNER: It's not just one size fits all.

BURNS: Six in ten women in Missouri are concerned about passing laws that limit access to birth control.

WAGNER: Some of our patients would, you know, show up and they would say, "my device is due to be replaced next year, but I want to go ahead and have it replaced sooner than that, because I'm worried about, you know, the politics changing."

OLIVIA: I remember somebody called the office and asked if she needed to rip out the IUD herself. She was so scared.