Category: Quotes

In his book Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery (New York: Simon & Shuster) 1976, author Richard Selzer describes watching a saline abortion. He says that after seeing this abortion, the abortionist took him aside.

“Later, in the corridor, the doctor explains that the law does not permit abortions beyond the 24th week. That is when the fetus may be viable, he says. We stand together for a moment, and he tells me of an abortion in which the fetus cried after it was passed.

“What did you do?” I asked him.

“There was nothing to do but let it live,” he says. “It did very well. A case of mistaken dates.”

 

This exchange was also quoted in Robert M. Baird and Stuart E. Rosenbaum The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-Life vs Pro-Choice. (New York: Prometheus Books 2001) p 24

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Dr. David A. Grimes, veteran Planned Parenthood abortionist, was quoted saying that

“From 500 to 3,000 babies survive prostaglandin and hysterotomy abortions every year.”

David A. Grimes. “Second-Trimester Abortions in the United States.” Alan Guttmacher Institute, Family Planning Perspectives, November/December 1984.

Note: live births are more rare now than they were in the 1980s due to increased use of the D&E abortion procedure. However, they still happen – read more.

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Abortionist Enrique Gerbi of Detroit Memorial hospital performed an abortion in October 1984 which resulted in the live birth of a 29-week girl. He shrugged and said that

“It happens all the time. This is not the first time, and it won’t be the last. It happens all the time.”

 

Note: while live births from abortion or less, now than they were in the 80s, due to the increased use of the D&E procedure rather than the saline or prostaglandin procedures, they still happen. Go here to learn more.

 

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“For the most part, the abortion industry stopped using saline and prostaglandin procedures because of the number of live births. A live birth means you have to let the baby die, or dispose of it in some distasteful way. Most second and third trimester abortionists use the D&E method, (dilation and evacuation) The abortionist uses large forceps to crush the baby inside the mother’s uterus and removes it in pieces. The side effects of live births and the mother going through labor are avoided. But it is a horrible procedure in which the baby must be re-constructed outside the uterus to be certain all the parts have been removed.”

Carol Everett, former owner of 2 abortion clinics and director of 4, on the procedures for second and third trimester abortions.

Quoted in an interview with her in the “Human Life Alliance Advertising Supplement” 1994.

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“For the second time in two days, [Madison, WI] University Hospital and Clinics officials have reported that an aborted fetus was delivered alive…the fetus, determined by doctors to be 22 weeks old…had been delivered…and then resuscitated, placed in the hospital’s pediatric unit and transferred…to Madison General. Tim Harper, spokesman at Madison General, said the baby died today at 1:30 a.m. of respiratory failure and other problems. University Hospital officials said an aborted fetus delivered Tuesday had been revived and survived nearly a day before dying Wednesday…Hospital officials would not reveal…what type of abortion was performed.”

 

Tacoma [WA] News Tribune, May 6, 1982, p. B6

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Here is one mention of a saline abortion live birth in a book by a pro-choice author. Magda Denes, PhD, wrote the book In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital published by Basic Books Inc. in New York, 1976.

Here she quotes a clinic worker.

“The only time I thought about abortion in terms of religion was when I saw fetuses and one was born alive. I saw one of them, in fact, I even felt the heart beat. I touched it. It looked like a baby, but it was very tiny. It was real cute. Very quiet. In fact, it was starting to die. The heart beat was getting very low. It was going to Bellevue Hospital and the guy was saying “Oh, I don’t see why we have to take it over there, because it’s going to die anyway. Why go through all the trouble?”

–Miss Teresa Etienne, Counselor (pg 39)

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In ‘Pro-Choice 1990: Skeletons in the Closet” by David Kuperlain and Mark Masters in Oct “New Dimensions” magazine Dr. David Brewer talks about witnessing a late term abortion for the first time.

“I remember an experience as a resident on a hysterotomy. I remember seeing the baby move underneath the sack of membranes, as the cesarean incision was made, before the doctor broke the water. The thought came to me, “My God, that’s a person” Then he broke the water. And when he broke the water, it was like I had a pain in my heart, just like when I saw that first suction abortion. And then he delivered the baby, and I couldn’t touch it… I wasn’t much of an assistant. I just stood there, and the reality of what was doing on finally began to seep into my calloused brain and heart. They took that little baby that was making little sounds and moving and kicking, and set it on that table in a cold, stainless steel bowl. Every time I would look over while we were repairing the incision in uterus and finishing the Caesarean, I would see that little person moving in that bowl. And it kicked and moved less and less, of course, as time went on. I can remember going over and looking at the baby when we were done with the surgery and the baby was still alive. You could see the chest was moving and the heart was beating, and the baby would try to take a little breath, and it really hurt inside, and it began to educate me as to what abortion really was.”

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One common type of abortion practiced up until the early nineties was a saline abortion. In these second and third trimester abortions, a salt solution would be injected into the mother’s womb.

Protected from her uterus by the amniotic sack, this caustic solution would poison the baby and burn his or her skin. In a few hours, the baby would die and labor would begin. The mother would then give birth to a dead baby.

Besides causing many live births, this type of abortion tended to be dangerous to the woman involved.

Other methods of abortion that cause live births are prostaglandin, in which a strong drug causes the uterus to contract violently and expel a severely bruised (but sometimes alive) baby; and hysterotomy (seldom used) in which the aborted baby is removed in a procedure similar to a C-section.

Here are some accounts of abortion live births.

“But one night, a lady delivered and I was called to come and see her because she was uncontrollable. I went in the room and she was going to pieces. She was having a nervous breakdown, screaming and thrashing. The nurses were upset because they couldn’t get any work done and all the other patients were upset because this lady was screaming and I walked in, and here was her little saline abortion baby. It had been born and it was kicking and moving for a little while before it finally died of those terrible burns. Because the salt solution gets into the lungs and burns the lungs too.”

From the workshop “Meet the Abortion Providers” held in Chicago, former abortion provider David Brewer, M.D.

“Since hypertonic saline was so toxic if it was injected into the uterine wall instead of the amniotic sac; there was a constant search for the ideal drug. Prostaglandin has now become the drug of choice, but one of the early experiments was with hypertonic urea. The major disadvantage in using it, was the problem of live births. I remember using it on a patient that the psychiatric residents brought to us from their clinic from an institutionalized patient who really was crazy. I’ll never forget delivering her nearly two pound baby, and hearing her screams, “My baby’s alive, my baby’s alive.” It lived several days.”

–Dr. Paul Jarrett (Meet the Abortion Providers)

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This incident comes from England.Office manager Julie Robb, 38, was admitted to Queen’s Park Hospital for a “therapeutic termination” after a scan revealed that her 23-week-old foetus could have serious abnormalities, (cerebral palsy, water on the brain, or downs’ syndrome)… A team of medics induced Mrs Robb who gave birth to Elizabeth, weighing 696 grams (1 lb 8oz), at 2.25am on December 7 of 1994.

A lawsuit was filed because the baby was born alive and no effort was made to give her medical care.

According to the testimony of medical experts, the baby “gasped” after it was born and showed signs of life. She also had hearbeat. The team (2 midwives and 2 specialists) decided not to revive the baby. The death certificate showed that the baby was alive for 90 minutes, Medical personnel testified it was less than 35 minutes.

Verdict was in favor of hospital.

“My ‘beautiful’ abortion baby” Lancashire Evening Telegraph Nov 1, 1995

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