Partial-birth abortion is a particularly gruesome abortion
method that reveals the ugly truth about abortion: that in every
abortion, an innocent child dies.
In a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a living baby
feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal (vagina),
except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps
lodged just inside the cervix (the opening to the womb). The
abortionist punctures the base of the skull with a surgical
instrument, usually a long surgical scissors, or a pointed
hollow metal tube called a trochar. He then inserts a catheter
(tube) into the wound, and removes the baby's brain with a
powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse,
after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the
now-dead baby.
Facts about Partial-Birth Abortion
Partial-birth abortion is a particularly gruesome abortion
method that reveals the ugly truth about abortion: that in every
abortion, an innocent child dies.
How partial-birth abortion is done
In a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a
living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth
canal (vagina), except for the head, which the abortionist
purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix (the opening
to the womb). The abortionist punctures the base of the
skull with a surgical instrument, usually a long surgical
scissors, or a pointed hollow metal tube called a trochar.
He then inserts a catheter (tube) into the wound, and
removes the baby's brain with a powerful suction machine.
This causes the skull to collapse, after which the
abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby.
Under both state and federal laws, a "live birth" occurs
when a baby is entirely expelled from the mother and shows
any signs of life, however briefly -- regardless of whether
or not the baby is "viable," i.e., developed enough to be
sustained outside the womb with neo-natal medical
assistance. Even at four and one-half months (20 weeks), the
earliest point at which a partial-birth abortion is usually
performed, perinatologists say that if a baby is expelled or
removed completely from the uterus, she usually will gasp
for breath and sometimes survive for an hour or more,
although lung development usually is insufficient to permit
successful respiration. Thus, the term "partial-birth" is
accurate.
How many partial-birth abortions are performed
According to Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the
National Coalition of Abortion Providers, and other sources,
it appears that partial-birth abortions are performed 3,000
to 5,000 times annually (and even those numbers may be low).
Based on published interviews with numerous abortionists,
and Fitzsimmons's interviews in February 1997, the "vast
majority" of partial-birth abortions are performed in the
fifth and sixth months of pregnancy, on healthy babies of
healthy mothers.
In January 1997, the PBS program Media Matters showed
that for one and one-half years, the media largely swallowed
the pro-abortion "party line" that partial-birth abortions
are performed rarely and only in extreme medical
circumstances. These assertions have been now entirely
discredited.
Although usually used in the fifth and sixth months, the
partial-birth abortion method has also been used to perform
abortions in the third trimester -- that is, the seventh
month and later -- most notably by the developer of the
method, the late Dr. James McMahon. In a written submission
to the House Judiciary Committee in June 1995, McMahon
explicitly acknowledged that he performed such abortions on
babies with no "flaw" whatsoever, even in the third
trimester, for such reasons as mere youth of the mother, or
for "psychiatric" difficulties. Indeed, even at 29 weeks --
well into the seventh month -- one-fourth of the babies that
McMahon aborted had no "flaw," however minor. McMahon's
submission showed that in a "series" of about 2,000 such
abortions that he performed, only 9% were performed for
maternal [health] indications," and of that group, the most
common reason was "depression."
Partial-birth abortions are never necessary for "health"
The Physicians' Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth (PHACT) -- a
group of over 500 physician-specialists (mostly in
obstetrics, perinatology, and related disciplines) -- has
spoken out to dispute claims that some women need
partial-birth abortions to avoid serous physical injury.
PHACT says: "We, and many other doctors across the United
States, regularly treat women whose unborn children suffer
these and other serious conditions. Never is the
partial-birth procedure medically indicated, rather, such
infants are regularly and safely delivered, with no threat
to the mother's health of fertility."
In September 1996, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
and other PHACT members issued a statement that
partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to
protect a mother's health or her future fertility. On the
contrary, this procedure can pose a significant threat to
both."
The baby feels pain
Some prominent defenders of partial-birth abortions, such
as NARAL's Kate Michelman and syndicated columnist Ellen
Goodman, have insisted that anesthesia kills the babies
before they are removed from the womb. This is entirely
untrue.
The babies are alive and experience great pain when they
are subjected to a partial-birth abortion. According to
testimony by the nation's leading anesthesiologists,
including the president of the American Society of
Anesthesiologists, the anesthesia given to the mother has
little or no effect on the baby.
Professor Robert White, director of the Division of
Neurosurgery and Brain Research Laboratory at Case Western
Reserve School of Medicine, analyzed the partial-birth
abortion procedure step-by-step for the U.S. House Judiciary
Subcommittee on the Constitution, and concluded: "without
question, all of this is a dreadfully painful experience for
any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure."