Dog & cat abortion is back!

Good riddance.

Dog & cat abortion is back!
Dogs at the overcrowded Austin Animal Center.

After approving the budget on Thursday, City Council approved a number of other items, including an important policy change on animal welfare. City Council instructed the city manager to revoke a 6-year-old rule that prohibits the city animal shelter from spaying "visibly pregnant" animals. In other words, animal abortion is legal again.

The resolution, authored by Krista Laine, says that Austin Animal Center veterinarians should be allowed "to spay or neuter all animals owned by the City without delay or notification."

The one no vote: Mayor Kirk Watson. Paige Ellis abstained. Otherwise there was no debate on the dais.

For years Austin has subjected the Austin Animal Center (and consequently, its taxpayers) to this stranger-than-fiction parody of anti-abortion politics because its elected leaders have been under the spell of a group of fringe activists led by Ellen Jefferson, CEO of Austin Pets Alive!

Or rather, some of them were under the spell. Others probably didn't realize just how far astray from mainstream animal welfare they were being led by the APA! cult. Jefferson developed close ties with elected officials, including Watson.

(I wrote a lengthy article last year about the many ways the absolutist positions championed by APA! have come at a cost to animal and human welfare)

Jefferson insists that cat and dog overpopulation is a "myth" and has vociferously objected to the spaying of pregnant animals, claiming that it is cruel to both the mother animal and her "babies."

In the past, APA! activists have insisted that prohibiting the city shelter from performing spay/aborts actually helps reduce the overcrowding at the city shelter since APA! has a policy of accepting the pregnant animal and resulting litter of puppies/kittens. As Jefferson stressed in comments to Council, the existing rules do not explicitly prohibit the city from spaying pregnant animals; they simply prohibit the city from doing so without first offering the animal and litter to rescue organizations first.

The problem is that, just like APA!'s efforts to rescue animals from "kill shelters" in other parts of the state, the anti-abortion policy contributes to the overpopulation of animals in Austin, which makes it harder for the city-run shelter to find adopters for the strays languishing in its cages.

In an Instagram video uploaded last week in advance of the Council vote, Jefferson reiterated that spaying visibly pregnant animals is inhumane.

"The babies have to be suffocated and thrown in the trash or they are injected with euthasol into the heart or liver," she said.

Paige Nilson, a veterinarian and the recently-elected chair of the Austin Animal Advisory Commission, told me that Jefferson's description is "unscientific and emotionally manipulative."

There is no "fetal suffering" during the procedure, said Nilson in an email to City Council. She explained:

"During a spay of a pregnant cat or dog, the fetuses have the same (or higher!) concentrations of anesthetic drugs as the rest of the animal that is undergoing surgery. Additionally, after the uterus is removed, the fetuses inside of that uterus cannot get rid of the anesthetic drugs if the uterus is kept closed. Therefore, shortly after the spay, the fetuses die -  on their own - from a lack of circulation while they are anesthetized."

The good news is that the tide has definitely turned against APA! When Nilson originally proposed ending the anti-abortion policy in 2022 (weeks after the overturn of Roe v. Wade), she was quickly shut down by the APA! activists who dominated the Animal Advisory Commission,

Meanwhile, Jefferson appears to have been taken aback by the vociferous online response her video and call to action prompted from hundreds of animal welfare advocates and veterinarians – locally and across the country – who accused her of spreading pseudoscience and aggravating the homeless animal crisis.

"This is irresponsible," wrote Birdie O'Brien, an animal welfare activist and former APA! employee. "We shouldn’t be projecting pro-life ideologies on animals when we are drowning in homeless pets and have had serious issues finding placement for maternity cases for years."

Jefferson responded with a statement apologizing for "the pain my message caused," adding that she had failed "to center the lived experiences of those working every day in overcrowded shelters."

Jefferson did not address the position that had sparked the outrage, but said that she plans to host a listening session to "share the data behind our position, and engage directly with our partners."

This feels like an important inflection point for APA!'s relationship with city government and potentially with the broader community. That the group was able to dupe and/or bully the elected officials and professional staff of a major U.S. city* into embracing such pseudoscientific nonsense is a testament to Jefferson's persuasion and networking skills. But now Jefferson has been exposed and discredited, and I have a hard time seeing how APA! can reclaim the influence it once enjoyed at City Hall.

*Given that our current health secretary believes vaccines cause autism, perhaps it's not as notable as it should be.

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