Predictably, there has been a rash of hit-pieces in the mainstream media over the last few days targeting Charmaine Yoest, President Trump’s pick to serve as assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Most of the attacks leveled at Yoest, who formerly worked here at FRC, focus on the fact that she served as president of Americans United for Life, a national pro-life advocacy group. These attacks are yet the latest examples of a disturbing trend in the media to label virtually anybody who works for pro-life causes as “extreme,” despite the fact that over half of the country identifies as “pro-life.” What has been conveniently left out of many of these stories is that Yoest will be replacing Kevin Griffis, who is now working for Planned Parenthood. So according to the liberal media, Yoest simply isn’t pro-abortion enough to hold a position at HHS.
She has also been repeatedly ridiculed for supposedly claiming that “abortion causes breast cancer.” This is false and misleading in a number of ways. In a 2012 New York Times interview, she said that “abortion increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer,” not that it directly causes it. Beyond this, there is substantial evidence to back Yoest’s claim. According to research catalogued by the National Institutes of Health in 2014, there have been 28 epidemiological studies that have shown a positive link between abortion and breast cancer, with 21 of these “pointing to a statistically significant risk.” The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is often cited as denying any links, but some of NCI’s own published findings actually support the link, and one of its own doctors further acknowledges the link between breast cancer and abortion.
This abortion-breast cancer dustup is an obvious attempt by the media to quickly discredit Yoest without having to do any kind of in-depth research that would reveal her true character and qualifications for the HHS position. A quick Google News search of “Charmaine Yoest” illustrates the depth of the pro-abortion bias in the media: 10 of the top 12 stories are clearly unfavorable toward her; six of these are blatant hit-pieces. But to any honest observer of the public square, this should be unsurprising. Yoest has publicly stated her pro-life views on a variety of topics over the years, and has been praised as “one of the pro-life movement’s most articulate and powerful communicators.” This means she is an easy target of progressives.
Nevertheless, Yoest’s appointment is a signal of hope for our country. After eight long years of Obama’s Democratic Party pro-abortion litmus tests, an unabashedly pro-life American can now serve her country at the highest levels of government.
