During the partial-birth abortion debate, pro-choice activists claimed that late-term abortions were done only to save the life of the mother or on babies that had terrible disabilities. In reality, this was not true and is not true today. One doctor testified that the pregnant women she referred to a late-term abortionist had healthy pregnancies. According to National Right to Life:
“In testimony presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 17, 1995, ob/gyn Dr. Nancy Romer of Dayton (the city in which Dr. Haskell operates one of his abortion clinics) testified that three of her own patients had gone to Haskell’s clinic for abortions “well beyond” 4 1/2 months into pregnancy, and that “none of these women had any medical illness, and all three had normal fetuses.”
“For what reasons are partial-birth abortions usually performed?” National Right to Life” here.
A pro-life book tells the story of a 16 year-old-woman who had a botched abortion.
“Francine,” age 16, went to the All Women’s Health Center for an abortion in August 1986. Abortionist Harold Ticton estimated the pregnancy at 3 months.
Upon removing the baby’s arm, he realized that the boy was actually 7 months. He stopped the procedure, but did not transport Francine to the hospital for 7 hours. Francine had the dead fetus removed by C-section, was admitted to the intensive care unit, and was hospitalized for over a week.
7 months, 28 weeks
An autopsy on the 28 week young baby attributed death to “partial dismemberment due to the suctioning during the abortion.” Tiction blamed Francine, saying that she gave him a wrong date for her last period, which led him to miscalculate the pregnancy as 12 weeks rather than 28 weeks. The following news agencies reported the story:
Tampa Bay and State 2/9/92; St. Petersburg Times 5/12/88; AP 8/8/88; Tampa Tribune 8/6/88
Troy Clark, Ph.D. Abortion Every 90 Seconds: The Whole Story (Kindle, 2015)
“300 abortion doctors in the US perform abortions after 20 weeks, 140 after 24 weeks, according to 2008 study by the Guttmacher Institute: “Abortion in the US: Incidence and Access to Service”
Mike Adams “Black Abortions Matter” Townhall.com, December 18, 2014 p 2
Troy Clark, Ph.D. Abortion Every 90 Seconds: The Whole Story (Kindle, 2015)
Pro-lifer Troy Clark, Ph.D, documented the following story
“Dorothy”, age 23, had an abortion at Family Planning Medical Clinic on October 30, 1987. The gestational age was misdiagnosed before the abortion was started. When trouble arose, she was transported to a hospital, where the gestational age was estimated to be 21 weeks. The abortion was completed.
An autopsy on the baby revealed a well-developed human being with no abnormalities other than injuries caused by abortion, including traumatic amputation of left arm at shoulder. The baby bled to death from the wound, with a lacerated area extending over 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. He had been 30 to 31 weeks of gestational age.”
Source: LA County Autopsy Report No. 87 – 10358
Troy Clark, Ph.D. Abortion Every 90 Seconds: The Whole Story (Kindle, 2015)
In an article, in the IrishIndependent, Dr Susan Robinson, who does abortions in the third trimester, comments on how in the state of New Mexico (where she works) there are no restrictions on late term abortions. There are no legal limits on how late in pregnancy they can be done. She can commit abortions all the way up until birth.
She says:
“So there is nothing legal to stop me from doing any abortion that I think is appropriate.”
The article describes how Robinson uses ultrasound to date the ages of babies in the third trimester. However, this is unreliable:
“For pregnancies above 30 weeks Robinson relies on an ultrasound to check the age of the fetus but admits that this notoriously inaccurate method, combined with the often hazy conception dates provided by the women, can produce a window of error of plus or minus three weeks.”
Robinson gives an example:
“Let’s say the woman is at 31 weeks, well, given the inaccuracy of the ultrasound she could perfectly be 34 weeks. How would I feel if that happened?”
She gives an example where this happened:
“Robinson still recalls the shock she felt when she terminated the pregnancy of a fetus she thought was approximately 32 weeks. But when she saw the aborted body she realised that it was more like 37 weeks. She was devastated. “It was quite a moment,” she remembers”
Although the author of the article claims Robinson was shocked at seeing the 37 week old (full term) baby, there is not much difference between a 32 week baby and a 37 week one. Both are well beyond viability- the age when a baby can survive outside her mother’s womb. Premature babies as young as 22 weeks have survived being born prematurely.
An OB/GYN admitted to sending three healthy women with healthy babies for late-term abortions:
“In testimony presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 17, 1995, ob/gyn Dr. Nancy Romer of Dayton (the city in which Dr. [Martin] Haskell [late term abortionist] operates one of his abortion clinics) testified that three of her own patients had gone to Haskell’s clinic for abortions “well beyond” 4 1/2 months into pregnancy, and that “none of these women had any medical illness, and all three had normal fetuses.”
Dr. Martin Haskell did late term abortions. An article by National Right to Life discusses what he said the woman’s reasons are.
“In a lawsuit in 1995, Dr. Haskell testified that women come to him for partial-birth abortions with “a variety of conditions. Some medical, some not so medical.” Among the “medical” examples he cited was “agoraphobia” (fear of open places).”
Clearly, many of the late-term abortions Dr. Haskell did were for reasons that were elective or unrelated to the health of the woman or the baby. It could be argued whether mental illness such as a agoraphobia is a legitimate reason to have a late-term abortion.
Remains of a late-term abortion, similar to the ones Dr. Haskell didShare on Facebook
Abortionist Lisa H. Harris gives the reasons why second trimester abortions (up to 24 weeks) are done:
“In the US, the known risk factors associated with presenting for second trimester abortion include: adolescence, drug and alcohol addiction, poverty, difficulty obtaining funding for the abortion, and African-American race. Delays in obtaining second trimester abortion come when a woman does not realise she is pregnant (perhaps a surrogate for poor health or lack of education), has logistical delays, experiences denial about the pregnancy, is uncertain about the decision to have an abortion, or has a change in life circumstances or relationships that makes a previously desired pregnancy undesired.”
Lisa H. Harris “Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse” Reproductive Health Matters Volume 16, Issue 31, Supplement, May 2008, Pages 74–81
She does not even mention health problems in the woman or baby.
Living unborn child at 24 weeks
Lisa Harris is talking about aborting babies like this one.
Most media outlets claimed that Dr. George Tiller, late-term abortionist, only aborted babies who were horribly disabled or had mothers who were endangered by the pregnancy. But according to Peggy Jarman, spokeswoman for Dr. George Tiller:
“About three-fourths of Tiller’s late-term patients, Jarman said, are teen-agers who have denied to themselves or their families they were pregnant until it was too late to hide it.”
An internal memo by Barbara Radford, then the executive director of the National Abortion Federation, a “trade association” for abortion clinics says:
There are many reasons why women have late abortions: life endangerment, fetal indications, lack of money or health insurance, social-psychological crises, lack of knowledge about human reproduction, etc.”
