Witnessing a late term abortion, woman sees body parts
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.
20 weeks. She describes witnessing a late term abortion of a baby older than this one.
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
