Whitney, a doula at an abortion clinic, writes about how abortion workers casually chatted right before an abortion. The woman was asleep on the table, prepared for surgery:
“In the background, music is playing. The doctors talk quietly about their upcoming vacations and the weather.
The doulas almost all say that they expect a certain reverence to fill the OR during an abortion, an air that is hushed, respectful, sometimes somber, and maybe even celebratory…We are often surprised when we see that for some people, especially the doctors and the nurses who do surgeries and abortions all day, every day, sometimes it’s just a job.”
Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People (New York: Feminist Press, 2016) 93
An abortion doula named Whitney describes being in the room during a second trimester abortion. The woman is asleep from anesthesia.
“In the background, music is playing. The doctors talk quietly about their upcoming vacations and the weather.
The doulas almost all say that they expect a certain reverence to fill the OR during an abortion, an air that is hushed, respectful, sometimes somber, and maybe even celebratory…We are often surprised when we see that for some people, especially the doctors and the nurses who do surgeries and abortions all day, every day, sometimes it’s just a job.”
Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People (New York: Feminist Press, 2016) 93
A writer who witnessed women having prostaglandin abortions (where labor is induced) recalled:
I asked to see the fetus in it 24th week of development. “No way,” said the midwife, forbiddingly. “I’ve had enough young nurses fainting on me at the sight of a late abortion without you creating a nuisance by passing out.”
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 168
An author who witnessed abortions describes the abortionist, and mentions that most doctors want to do things other than abortions:
“[T]he surgeon, a beautiful young Indian woman, wearing a filmy, canary-colored sari and bangles around her ankles, arrived. There is a rota of doctors, most of whom work in other fields of gynecology and family planning as well, since it is considered repetitious and medically unrewarding to do abortions all the time.”
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 150
A woman who witnessed abortions for a book she was writing said:
“The third patient was aged 16, and again was fourteen weeks pregnant. This time it was a normal foetus [the other had died at a much younger stage],
When the uterus was evacuated into the small bowl under the operating table, the contents were again examined. Here the remains of a very small body, about the size of a newborn kitten, could be seen. It is tiny indeed, but its form is unmistakable.”
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 156
A British author who witnessed abortions describes the atmosphere in the clinic before the operations:
“The atmosphere in the operating theatre was clean, busy and professional. Several young male doctors, gowned for the theatre, were standing around when I entered, talking cheerfully about the cricket score. There was no hint, here, of life-and-death drama – it was just another day, another hospital theatre session.”
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 154
British author Mary Kenny describes an abortion by induction:
“Prostaglandin abortion is also a more distressful experience for the woman. The procedure takes between twelve and thirty-six hours to complete. The woman endures the contractions and pains of labor, and delivers at the end of it, what she may perceive (if she actually sees it, which she may do) as a dead baby….. From a laboratory viewpoint, the delivery of a foetus intact is more useful than a dismembered foetus. Better research can be done on a foetus which is in one piece and if it happens to be abnormal, more can be learned from it when it is delivered whole.”
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 180
Kenny witnessed several prostaglandin abortions that day.
Author Mary Kenny describes going to an abortion clinic and witnessing a late term abortion.
First, she went to the clinic. In the OR, the doctors were casually starting their day.
The atmosphere in the operating theatre was clean, busy and professional. Several young male doctors, gowned for the [operating room], were standing around when I entered, talking cheerfully about the cricket score. There was no hint, here, of life-and-death drama – it was just another day, another hospital [operating] session.
Then she describes actually witnessing a late term abortion:
The procedure began. About half a litre of amniotic fluid flowed from the woman’s body as the dilators were inserted. The cord was extracted – the last lifeline of the foetus. Dr. Paintin did this abortion. The forceps went into the uterus, quite roughly this time. Fluid and blood continued to fall into the bowl underneath the table. After some vigorous action he started to extract the foetus. First came an arm, perfectly formed, a tiny, baby’s hand, fingers curled. A limb was extracted. Then two limbs lay in the bowl. Dr. Paintin worked away and pieces of the trunk emerged. The intestines, brain tissue, liver, lung, came away. Last of all – the most difficult part – was the cranium. The skin was torn, and there was not much more than a skull. After all the parts had come away, the suction was inserted, and the uterus cleanly evacuated.
Yet the abortion workers had no reaction to the horror they were committing:
The men did not seem to mind doing the abortions and showed no signs of distress. … Overall, there was a very perceptible atmosphere of relief that the day’s work was done. The sense of relief was so strong that Dr. Paintin and I talked light-heartedly, gossiped a little, made a joke.
Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 154, 156, 158-159
Pro-Life author William Brennan describes the following abortion:
“In June 1981 it was disclosed that the doctors at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City destroyed an unwanted unborn twin inflicted with down syndrome by piercing his heart and draining out almost half his blood. The successful implementation of this destructive procedure required the application of ultrasound “to hit a moving target [the baby’s heart] less than an inch across” with a needle.”
Harold M. Schmeck “Twin Found Defective in Womb Reported Destroyed in Operation” New York Times June 18, p A19
The doctors who did this described the operation as
“a very gratifying experience.”
Thomas D. Kerenyi and Usha Chitkara “Selective Birth in Twin Pregnancy with Discordancy for Down’s Syndrome” New England Journal of Medicine 304 (June 18, 1981): 1527
Quoted in William Brennan The Abortion Holocaust: Today’s Final Solution (St. Louis, Missouri, 1983)