Pro-life doctor Melissa Ogle, MD, describes using a suction machine to complete a miscarriage on a woman at the end of her first trimester. This was not an abortion because the baby was already dead. However, she was using the same equipment that is used for an elective first trimester abortion.
In this situation, the cervix is forced open with an instrument called a dilator. A suction tube is then placed within the uterine cavity. The suction is turned on, the amniotic sac is ruptured, and the fetus is removed. As our bodies at this stage are well-formed, it was necessary for me to identify each body part as it was evacuated. Despite the knowledge that the baby was no longer alive, it was indeed the most difficult procedure I’ve ever performed as an obstetrician. As each portion of this little person was accounted for, my heart sank deeper and deeper. Many tears were shed during the procedure – both mine and those of others in the room. I imagine that every individual present in that operating room was taken to a deep place within their soul as that little one was removed limb from limb from its place of security. Each finger could be counted, each rib clearly seen
Marissa Ogle, M.D. Still Healing (2016) 3
