“Our biggest group is 10-to-18-year-olds in total denial,” says an official at one Southern clinic, making a common observation. Another category consists of women who find out late that they are pregnant: very young teens with irregular menstrual periods and women in their late 40s who mistakenly thought they had entered menopause. In interviews with 1,000 abortion patients, University of Alabama sociologist Michele Wilson found that compared with women who had abortions in the first trimester, those getting later abortions were more likely to be young, to live with their parents, and to have conferred with them on this decision. She concluded that some of the abortions were performed later because the women had to take more time to build family consensus for the choice.
Lavelle, Marianne, Glastris, Paul, Gerson, Michael J., Daniel, Missy, Meyer, Michele, When abortions come late in a pregnancy U.S. News & World Report, 00415537, 01/19/98, Vol. 124, Issue 2
this article shows that late-term abortions are usually done on healthy women with healthy pregnancies
A Canadian women who says she has aborted five pregnancies told a radio show host that her last abortion was performed while she was 26 weeks pregnant for no serious reason.
“But the last time it happened to me, the fifth time, I got pretty far into the pregnancy,” a caller named Karel told show host Isabelle Maréchal from 98.5 FM in Montreal on April 9.
“I was 26 weeks,” said Karel.
The host was incredulous. “Oh wow, and they aborted you anyway?” she asked.
Karel: At the CLSC on Rue Sanguinet. They handle pregnancies of more than 24 weeks.
Host: Did you have a problem? Was it a [high-risk] pregnancy that endangered your life?
Karel: No, I had no problems. I was O negative, but that was no problem, because today I have a child…
Host: “I don’t understand how they could’ve aborted you at 26 weeks if you weren’t in a high-risk pregnancy…At 26 weeks? That…that’s two-thirds of a pregnancy. We can’t say it’s an embryo any more
…..
Host: We can always debate about the [moral] state of the fetus, but it looks more like a baby than an embryo at 26 weeks.
Karel: Yes, he even moved. I thought it was gas. But it wasn’t gas, it was kicks…The guilt that I experienced with that…I know there are plenty of people who judge but… it’s gone beyond that. I am where I am. And I will tell you I’m very happy. And I don’t regret it to be honest with you.
This would contradict the statement made by pro-choice activist Carolyn Bennett:
No physician in Canada can terminate a pregnancy over 24 weeks without serious indications such as if the life of the mother at risk, or if the fetus has very serious malformations…. I challenge him to find ONE late trimester abortion perfomed in Canada to a healthy mother with a healthy fetus. I am one of many politicians ‘willing to tackle’ this subject. He needs to be one of many journalists who are prepared to admit when their fine prose may have misled Canadian, in this case to admit that late-trimester abortions are NOT happening in Canada without ‘reason’.
Even abortion-rights advocates are beginning to say that late abortions pose special problems. Compared with early abortions, post-20-week procedures are four times more costly, seven times more likely to lead to medical complications, and far more physically and emotionally traumatic to the woman. In recognition of these problems, more and more clinics are offering counseling before the abortion. “I don’t want laws to stop abortion at 20 weeks,” says Charlotte Taft, an abortion counselor and consultant in Santa Fe, N.M. “But I’d like us to consider how we, as a society, can take responsibility for the denial and ambivalence” that lead to late abortions.
Lavelle, Marianne, Glastris, Paul, Gerson, Michael J., Daniel, Missy, Meyer, Michele “When abortions come late in a pregnancy” U.S. News & World Report, 00415537, 01/19/98, Vol. 124, Issue 2
Pro-choice writer Katha Pollitt, writing in The Nation, discusses reasons why women get late term (second trimester or later) abortions. The majority are NOT done because of maternal health or defect in the baby. Here are the statistics from 2003:
18 weeks
71% didn’t realize she was pregnant
48% difficulty making arrangements
33% afraid of telling parents or partner
A little less than 2% of all abortions take place after 20 weeks…this still adds up to thousands a year.
Katha Pollitt “In the Waiting Room” The Nation April 21, 2003
Dr. James Pendergraft IV has a sign outside his clinic advertising late-term abortions. The sign reads:
“Women’s Gynecological Services Terminations from 3 to 28 weeks.”
Wanting to hide the fact that third trimester abortions were taking place in the facility, some pro-choice activists wanted him to remove the sign. He refused:
“Change my mind? No. It’s a free country… It doesn’t matter if there’s a sign out there or not. People know what I do.….”.
Later in the article, he states:
“If I weren’t here, these women wouldn’t have this choice. A lot of doctors and hospitals won’t deal with abortions.”
Dr. Pendergraft performs abortions at four different clinics.
The affidavit of an employee from Midtown Hospital, which was once the largest abortion clinic in Georgia, says the following:
“On April 18, 1998, at approximately 7:00 a.m., I witnessed a patient deliver an intact fetus in the toilet of a bathroom in the waiting room area. After expelling the baby and the afterbirth, the patient walked to the operating room because there were no wheelchairs. I opened the fetal sac so that the fetus could be weighed. The weight was approximately 3029 grams [over 6 pounds, 10 ounces!]. It was a very big fetus. My impression is that at Midtown Hospital a procedure will be done at any gestational age as long as the patient has the money. I witnessed patients frequently expelling fetuses on the floor and in the toilet. It happened frequently throughout each day the abortion procedures were done. … Women are allowed to expel fetuses whenever and wherever with no concern for the patient. When I would attempt to comfort the women, I was told that this was not my job.”
According to the clinics ad in “Abortion Clinics Online” a database which supposedly lists only reputable clinics:
“Midtown Hospital has stood for quality healthcare since its founding in the early 1900s. … In 1977, the focus of that outstanding care changed when Midtown Hospital became a women’s medical facility offering a full spectrum of gynecological healthcare services and the tradition of unsurpassed excellence remained. … Today, Midtown Hospital is a rare facility, providing the medical profession and patients with nationally-recognized programs in second trimester abortions for medical and genetic studies. … Midtown is an invaluable resource to referring universities, hospitals and private physicians. … Every abortion is overseen by a Board Certified pathologist. Whether a patient is treated as an out-patient or is admitted for an overnight stay, she receives experienced, professional care in a warm and comfortable environment. Although Midtown Hospital strives to maintain reasonable costs, the staff never cuts corners on laboratory tests, medical care, counseling, personal attention or follow-up care. Midtown Hospital is licensed by the State of Georgia. All physicians are Board Certified and all other medical staff are fully licensed. In addition, our staff is trained in and dedicated to meeting the personal, emotional and physical needs of our patients. It is in this spirit that we preserve the dignity of our patients and provide uncompromised medical care in an atmosphere of comfort and caring.” (Emphasis supplied.)
“Men Behaving Really Badly” Life Insight, A Publication of the NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, volume 9, no. 8 October 1998
“Later term abortions may be necessary, but you cannot read about them without feeling diminished as a human being. Something awful has happened, and simply as a matter of principle, we ought to be opposed.”
He said of pro-choice feminists:
“[they] talked as if late-term abortions affect only the woman, no mention of the fetus-child with the collapsed skull.”
Quoted in Suzanne Fields “Feminists Support an Evil Practice” The Washington Times, July 10, 2000
