The FACTS about
Partial-Birth Abortions
What is partial-birth abortion?
The legal definition of partial-birth abortion is an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery."
This procedure is actually legal THROUGH ALL NINE MONTHS OF PREGNANCY -- and is routinely performed as late as 20-24 weeks. (Note: a child has at least a 50-percent chance of survival outside his mother's womb at 26 weeks.)
Partial-Birth Abortion is depicted
in the following medical drawings
|
Does the baby, at this stage of development,
feel any pain from this procedure?"The fetus within this time frame of gestation, 20 weeks and beyond, is fully capable of experiencing pain... Without question, all of this is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure."
Prof. Robert White, Director
Division of Neurosurgery & Brain Research Laboratory
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
How common is this brutal practice?
"There are 13,000 abortions annually after 4 1/2 months, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, whose estimate should be regarded as conservative. There is really no way to know how many doctors are using the partial-birth abortion method, or how many partial-birth abortions are performed."
Douglas Johnson
Washington Post, 7/16/95
What are the circumstances?
Although abortion right activists would like you to believe that this horrible procedure is only used on babies with conditions which would cause death anyway, or those already dead, a leading proponent of this brutal method of abortion stated:
"In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons.
And the other 80% are purely elective."Dr. Martin Haskell, abortionist
Dayton, Ohio
Dr. McMahon (now deceased) was a leading proponent of this procedure and the director of abortion training at a major training hospital. Dr. McMahon used the partial-birth abortion method through THE ENTIRE 40 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY! He prepared a graph showing that, even at 26 weeks of gestation, half the babies he aborted were perfectly healthy, and many of the babies he described as "flawed" had conditions that were compatible with long life, either with or without a disability. For example, Dr. McMahon listed nine partial-birth abortions performed because the baby had a cleft lip.
Registered nurse testifies about her 'nightmares'.
During congressional hearings on partial-birth abortion, Brenda Schafer, a registered nurse for 13 years, testified before a Senate committee on her horrifying experience attending a partial birth abortion. The following is an except from her testimony:
"(The doctor) delivered the baby's body and the arms, everything except the head. The doctor kept the baby's head just inside the uterus. The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startled reaction, like a baby does when he thinks he might fall. The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp."
HELP CONVINCE
CONGRESS TO OVERRIDE
PRESIDENT CLINTON'S EXPECTED VETO BY
CONTACTING YOUR CONGRESSMEN.
Song now playing: Oh How He Loves You and Me
Sources: National Right
to Life Committee, The office of Congressman Charles Canady,
The Family Research Council, and The Washington Post