Maureen Paul, the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, describes performing a partial birth abortion (see diagram below). She is speaking out against the partial birth abortion ban.
“I know what my purpose is. That my purpose in bringing … the fetal trunk out past the navel is to empty the uterus in the safest way possible. Yet [the ban] implies that I have this other purpose, which is to kill the fetus.”
Steven Ertelt “Despite Research, Planned Parenthood Doc Says Abortion Has No Complications” LifeNews.com March 30, 2004
Obviously, in an abortion, the fetus is killed. If the baby were removed alive, it would not be an abortion, but a delivery.
This diagram shows how partial birth abortions are done:
From an article on how to do first trimester abortions:
“After the procedure, the aspirate should be rinsed through a sieve with cold water and suspended in a wide glass dish to facilitate inspection. The gestational sac should be identified, and after 9 weeks fetal parts may also be seen (limbs, calvarium, and spine). A backlight underneath the dish helps. After 10 weeks gestation, all fetal parts should be identified.”
“[Abortionist] Dr. William B. Waddill said that saline produces “such a caustic and tremendously bad and hostile environment for the baby that it just creates an enormous destructive process.”
Quoted from The People of the State of California vs. William Baxter Waddill, Jr. Transcript of Preliminary Examination, in the Municipal Court of the West Orange County Judicial District, State of California, Case no. 77W2085 April 19, 1977
William Brennan The Abortion Holocaust: Today’s Final Solution (St. Louis, Missouri, 1983)
Saline solution was injected into the amniotic sack to slowly poison the baby during abortion procedures. Today, the poison of choice is Digoxin. Witnesses say Dr. Waddill strangled a baby born alive after a botched saline abortion procedure.
“In a standard D&E, the fetus generally doesn’t come out intact. But you might very well bring down a leg at the start of the procedure, and if the definition is a beating heart, potentially any second-trimester abortion could fit this bill.”
From a summary of testimony partial-birth abortion ban:
No sentiment is detected in Dr. Westoff’s description about the baby’s “tiny face and a relatively large head” and how stabbing the head with scissors or her own finger causes it to look “a little wrinkly and collapsed, but the facial structures are not disturbed at all by that procedure.” Even the “small coffins” and “little hats” available to “cover the back of the head where the incision had been made” [if the woman wants to see the baby after the abortion] are discussed with a insouciant air.
Emotions appear only when the question arises of fetal pain. Even then, the emotion is anger that the question was asked.
From a pro-life woman who believes in New Age Spirituality.
I once asked a “New Age” doctor who was involved in the holistic home-birth movement what it felt like to perform abortions. He had previously told me that he was just a “detached vehicle” for the operation and thought his work decidedly feminist as he was supporting the woman’s freedom of choice. I countered with the argument that to be totally “non-attached” is a task for a lifetime and perhaps not even preferable. Also that his karma, if any ego was involved, would reap negative fruit….But what does it feel like to perform one, I asked? “Crunchy” was his response….
From a summary of testimony partial-birth abortion ban:
Dr Carolyn Westhoff, testifying in the New York trial, spoke of how it is “necessary to insert our forceps, open them as wide as possible to try to capture the head within the opening of the forceps and then crush the head using external force applied against the head.” She admitted there is “usually a heartbeat” when she performs a partial-birth abortion, and that even when she collapses the skull, the baby is still “living.”
CATHY CLEAVER RUSE “Forum: Abortion trials and tribulations” The Washington Times April 24, 2004
A textbook on how to perform abortions, written by a late term abortionist who has been practicing for decades, talks about how important ultrasounds are in abortion care
“Sonographic examination is invaluable for a variety of reasons. Aside from more accurate assessment of fetal age than other methods, it provides information concerning fetal presentation, placental location, multiple gestations, and such unexpected conditions as hydatidiform mole, myomas, uterine structural abnormalities, and extrauterine lesions (e.g. ovarian cysts). Many of these data can affect clinical management in important ways.
While ultrasound is not perfect, it appears to be considerably more accurate for determining fetal age than are menstrual dates and even a careful examination by an experienced physician.”
Warren M Hern Abortion Practice (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: JB Lippincott Company, 1990) 70
Late term abortionist Warren M. Hern wrote a textbook on how to do abortions. He describes different ways to abort babies:
13 wks
“Once the tissue is grasped, the forceps is withdrawn gently with a rotating motion to permit easier passage. If any doubt is entertained about the kind of tissue being grasped, the rotation should occur before withdrawal. If uterine wall or viscera is between the forceps blades, it will not rotate easily and the patient will experience discomfort. The tissue can be released and damage minimized. The forceps should be applied with extreme caution to avoid the latter calamity. The probability of difficulty in removing the 1calvaria [human skull] is greater at 15 weeks than at any other time. Continuing to search or attempt to grasp without success is increasingly dangerous with time, because the uterine wall is more and more likely to become the tissue that is grasped. As the calvaria [human skull] is grasped, a sensation that it is collapsing is almost always accompanied by the extrusion of white 2cerebral material…This calvaria sign [white cerebral material] may not be much in evidence with the 13-week procedure, but it is more likely to appear at 14 weeks.”
16 weeks
… At 16 to 17 weeks, fetal tissue is much more easily identifiable with the forceps and in some ways is easier to grasp and remove than in earlier gestations. The [skull] is about the size of a Ping-Pong ball and usually can be grasped readily with the Bierer. Collapsing it gives a definite sensation… At 18-19 menstrual weeks… fetal parts are significantly larger and more difficult to morcellate (tear into pieces)… [Abortion after] 20-week gestation… can be a significantly more difficult procedure accompanied by unnerving hemorrhage. Forceps use must be sure and relatively rapid. There is frequently not much time for exploring the nuances of different tissue sensations. Grasping and collapsing the [skull is] often difficult. Stripping the [skull] of soft tissue is sometimes the first step in successful delivery of this part, followed by dislocation of parietal bones. In this case, care must be taken in removal because ossification is occurring and the edges are sharp… Regardless of the amount of dilatation, delivery of the [skull] and pelvis is sometimes difficult… The advantage obtained by having a softened cervix could become a disaster if a laceration develops at the level of the internal os as the result of too much force…
20 wks
The procedure changes significantly at 21 weeks because the fetal tissues become much more cohesive and difficult to dismember. This problem is accentuated by the fact that the fetal pelvis may be as much as 5 cm in width… [The skull] can be collapsed. Other structures, such as the pelvis, present more difficulty.
The calvaria is no longer the principal problem; it can be collapsed. A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus. After the bimanual examination, the physician removes the basin from beneath the patient’s perineum and replaces her feet on the pull-out leg support. At this point, I move around the table to face the patient, to inform her that she is no longer pregnant and to reassure her. Many patients are prepared to cry. The aggregate fetal tissue is weighed, then the following fetal parts are measured: foot length, knee-to-heel length, and biparietal diameter. In most cases, the calvaria has been collapsed but is basically intact. It is placed under running water and, as the water fills the cranium, a biparietal measurement is taken by sight with a clear plastic ruler.”
Warren M. Hern. Abortion Practice (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1990), 150-154
“Very small embryo-fetal parts may be apparent at 9 weeks’ gestations and become easier to identify thereafter.”
Karen Meckstroth MD, MPH, and Maureen Paul MD, MPH, “First-Trimester Aspiration Abortion,” Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy. Ed. Paul, Lichtenberg, Borgatta, Grimes, Stubblefield and Creinin. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 149.
9 week old preborn baby
She is probably counting 9 weeks from the last menstrual cycle. The picture above is of the 9-week-old fetus, counting by conception. Below is a picture of what a 9-week-old fetus would look like when counted from the last menstrual period. As you can see, he also has parts.
