Author: Sarah

B.D. Colen, a reporter for Newsday:

“I had spent a week in a clinic, watching first trimester abortions and interviewing the physicians doing them, the women having them, and the counselors working with those women…

None of that prepared me for what I saw that sunny afternoon in a sterile, white procedure room at The Washington Hospital Center…

After dilating, or opening, the cervix, the physician used a curette, the gynecological version of a sharpened spoon, to cut the fetus into pieces he would then remove with forceps. A large petri dish sat on an instrument stand to the right of the girl’s feet, and most of the red material in the dish was unrecognizable. But from time to time during the procedure the physician would tap his forceps on the edge of the dish – and into the muck would drop a foot, or a hand, or a piece of rib cage…

Having seen what I saw, I cannot for a moment abide the disingenuousness of those who argue that a fetus is not human, or those who convince themselves that abortion is not killing…

Yes, abortion is killing. But it is not murder. Murder is legally banned killing. Abortion is one of many forms of legally and socially sanctioned killing.”

.B.D. Colen “A High, But Necessary, Toll” Newsday May 12, 1992

Dr. Suzanne Poppema, author of the book “Why I Am an Abortion Doctor,”

“Abortion procedures are not aesthetically pleasant,” she declared. “There’s no question about that. You think these pictures the anti-abortion forces show in Congress are bad? I think if you started showing pictures of `normal’ (abortion) procedures, with forceps, those would be equally effective.”

Stephen Chapman “Is Partial Birth Abortion Really so Awful?” Chicago Tribune March 23, 1997 p 23

Below is a diagram of an abortion with forceps, or a D&E. You can read more about this technique here.

Dr. Warren Hern, late term abortionist,  describes a D&E procedure in this book Abortion Practice:

“As the calvaria [head] is grasped, a sensation that it is collapsing is almost always accompanied by the extrusion of white cerebral material [the brain] from the external os. this calvaria sign may not be much in evidence with the 13-week procedure, but it is more likely to appear at 14 weeks. Prior to 14 weeks, the calvaria may enter the suction cannula and may not be noticed.”

Warren Hern Abortion Practice (Boulder, CO: Alpengo Graphics, INC, 1990) p 142

Talking about abortions in her clinic, Dr. Susan Poppema (who had performed 20,000 abortions as of 1994) said:

“After her [the patient’s] counseling session, she’s taken into one of our operating areas; a simple ten foot square room where she reclines and places her feet in stirrups. The hard cold steel is softened and warmed by lamb’s wool padding. The lighting is muted except for the illumination I’ll need for the procedure. Music is an option. To the extent It doesn’t affect my ability to perform the procedure, ritual involving friends and symbols can even be part of the abortion. Some women set up small alter-like areas of cloth and crystals, other women play special music; many burn candles.”

Suzanne T. Poppema, M.D. and Mike Henderson. Why I am an Abortion Doctor New York: Prometheus Books. 1996. P 20

Magda Denes, who were heard from earlier, describes an abortion she witnessed:

“[the doctor] pulls out something, which he slaps on the instrument table. “there,” he says, “A leg”….He points to the instrument table, where there is a perfectly formed, slightly bent leg, about three inches long…”There, I’ve got the head out now.”….There lies a head. It is the smallest human head I have ever seen, but it is unmistakeably part of a person.”

She is pro-choice, but is forced to admit that a “person” has died.

. Magda Denes, “Performing Abortions” Commentary Oct 26, 1976 p 35-37

“On August 12 and August 22, a Charlotte Observer reporter saw a considerable amount of fetal tissue removed from the dumpster adjacent to the clinic. The remains, deposited in 10 to 15 large plastic trash bags, included readily identifiable body parts. Among them were a left forearm and hand, a left leg and foot, a right forearm and hand, part of a right foot, and a spinal column and rib cage. In several cases the remains had been dumped in trash bags along with ordinary garbage: coffee grounds, cigarette butts and remnants of chicken dinners.”

Sept 2, 1992 Charlotte Observor

to read of aborted babies thrown out in the trash, go here

“I’m sure I’ve had a situation, with a 14- or 16-week pregnancy, when the fetus presented feet first, where I did something that a Federal prosecutor might take to court under this language.”

Dr. Louis Koplick, abortion doctor, New Mexico, commenting on how he believes D&E abortions may be effected by a Partial Birth Abortion Ban

New York Times “Wider Impact is Foreseen for Bill to Ban Type of Abortion” November 16, 1995

Dr. Edward Martin, medical director, abortion clinic in South Miami called A Choice for Women:

“It’s very difficult for me to determine whether the fetus is still living when it comes through the vagina.”

The Associated Press State & Local Wire. “Clinic Operators Challenge New State Law in Court” August 13, 1997.

Quoted by Life Dynamics

From Benjamin Graber, abortionist, Pompano Beach, Florida:

“Although the procedure [partial birth abortion] is viewed as distasteful, alternative procedures are equally distasteful. Whether a 16-week fetus is delivered by dilatation and extraction (by which the fetus is dismembered within the uterus) or whether the fetus is delivered intact by decompressing the cranium, or whether the mother’s womb is injected with a substance that kills the fetus in utero, the outcome is the same for the fetus. The resulting complications to the mother from each procedure should be the question.”

.Palm Beach Post, “Opinion: Benjamin Graber, The Partial Birth Abortion Bill Sets Terrible Precedent” May 13, 1997