Thomas Herringshaw
English 102
December 4, 2006
Partial-Birth Abortion
Abortion is defined as the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. It is estimated that worldwide there are twenty-six induced abortions per one hundred known pregnancies. This adds up to nearly 46 million abortions worldwide per year (Wikipedia). As large as those numbers are, they probably will not decrease any time soon. However in the United States an effort has been made to outlaw one of the more gruesome abortion methods. The medical term for this procedure is “dilate and extraction” or D&X. This method is more commonly known by the public as partial birth abortion. This unnecessary procedure is currently permitted on the basis that it is necessary in order to preserve the health of the mother in certain situations. However this loophole is exploited and this procedure needs to be outlawed in order to save the lives of thousands of babies here in the United States.
There are several types of abortion, which are used at different stages of pregnancies and for different reasons. In the first trimester there are “micro-abortions” which are caused by contraceptive drugs. There are also surgical abortions such as suction aspiration in which a hollow plastic tube is inserted into the uterus and sucks the baby out of the uterus. Long time anti-abortionist Dr. J.C. Willke describes the procedure as, “The suction is 29 times more powerful than a home vacuum cleaner…the suction tears the baby’s body into pieces.” Second trimester abortion techniques include the “dilatation and evacuation” method, also known as D&E. Dr. Willke describes this abortion method in detail,
A pliers-like instrument is used because the baby’s bones are calcified, as is the skull. There is no anesthetic for the baby. The abortionist inserts the instrument up into the uterus, seizes a leg or other part of the body and, with a twisting motion, tears it from the baby’s body. This is repeated again and again. The spine must be snapped, and the skull crushed to remove them. The nurse’s job is to reassemble the body parts to be sure that all are removed.
As brutal as the above procedure sounds, approximately 100,000 women use this abortion procedure annually in the United States (Willke). Other second trimester abortion techniques include intracardiac injections. In this procedure a needle is inserted through the woman’s abdomen and into the heart of the fetus and a poison is injected to kill him/her. This procedure is usually done when there are multiple babies such as twins or triplets and there is a problem with one of the babies.
Abortions performed in the third trimester are usually consisting of the “dilate and extraction” method more commonly known as partial-birth abortions. Partial-birth abortion is the term used by the media and political candidates to describe the “dilate and extraction” abortion method. In this method of abortion, the baby is delivered feet first out of the mother’s womb until all but the infant’s head is visible. This procedure was described on ReligiousTolerance.org, a website that is not pro-life as, “The surgeon inserts a sharp object into the back of the fetus’ head, removes it, and inserts a vacuum tube through which the brains are extracted” (Robinson). Afterwards the infant’s body is pulled out, killed just inches and moments away from being born into this world.
It is estimated that approximately 3,000-4,000 partial birth abortions are performed annually in the United States (Robinson). There are some common justifications for using the “dilate and extraction” abortion method. This technique would be used if the pregnancy, if continued, would place the woman’s life or health in serious danger. This abortion method would also be used if the fetus was so severely malformed that it would never gain consciousness and would surely die after birth (Robinson). However, in eighty percent of these procedures the infants are normal and viable (Willke). This means that thousands of babies are killed each year when they are literally inches away from being born.
There are strides being made towards the end of this brutal procedure. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 outlawed this procedure, but the law is not currently being enforced. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was passed by both chambers of Congress in October 2003 and was signed into law by President Bush on November 5, 2003. The law prohibits intact “dilation and extraction” abortions. The law defines Partial Birth Abortions as,
An abortion in which the person performing the abortion, deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother, for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus; and performs the over act, other than completion of delivery, that kills the partially delivered living fetus. (Wikipedia)
However, the law has been struck down several times by federal district court judges. The first time the bill was struck down was June 1, 2004, by a Federal District Court Judge in California. Judge Phyllis Hamilton struck down the law for three reasons. First, she ruled that the language of the law was unconstitutionally vague. Second, she ruled that it was unconstitutional because it lacked provisions to preserve women’s health. Lastly she ruled against it because it places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion (Wikipedia). In July of 2005, three judges in the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis concluded that the PBA Ban Act was unconstitutional because it does not have a health exception for the woman. In all, the bill has been declared unconstitutional by federal judges in California, New York, and Nebraska before it could be implemented.
In all the cases, the bill was struck down because it lacked an exception for cases in which a woman’s health is in danger. However, many doctors across the country would argue that the “dilate and extraction” procedure is not the safest or best procedure to use if the woman’s health is indeed in danger. When a woman wants an abortion this late (third trimester) in the pregnancy the doctor has two options. The first would be the “dilate and extraction” procedure which kills the baby. The second would be a cesarean section operation to remove the baby. Dr. Pamela Smith a Director of Medical Education in the Department of Ob-Gyn at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago said, “There are absolutely no obstetrical situations encountered in this country which would require partial birth abortion to preserve the life of health of the mother” (Willke). If a pregnancy were endangering a mother a Cesarean Section operation would be much safer. Many doctors argue that the “dilate and extraction” procedure itself poses significant danger to the woman. Joseph DeCook, Fellow, Am. Col., Ob/Gyn, founder of PHACT (Physicians Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth) stated that, “Drawing out the baby in breech position is a very dangerous procedure and could tear the uterus. Such a ruptured uterus could cause the mother to bleed to death in ten minutes” (Willke).
The “Dilate and Extraction” procedure is simply not necessary to save the life of the mother. There are other options including Cesarean Section which are safer. However many women do not wish to have this procedure performed because they can now longer abort the pregnancy because the infant is legally born. It would be illegal to kill the baby once it is fully removed from the mother’s womb so the cesarean section would allow the baby to live. Even with the “dilate and extraction” procedure the baby is just inches away from birth. The woman should just allow the baby to be born, from there, she can allow the hospital to take care of the baby and she can allow the baby to be given up for adoption. For anyone who truly values life, there is no reason to kill the child when it is so close to life.
There are many arguments to Many people would argue that under Roe v. Wade a woman has a right to choose if she wants to have the baby, and this ban on Partial Birth Abortions restricts that right. If a woman wants to abort the pregnancy why wait until the infant is partially born to abort the pregnancy? Why wait until the child is inches away from being fully born to abort the pregnancy and kill the child? A ban on Partial Birth Abortions doesn’t restrict a woman’s right to choose. It merely gives her a time limit to decide if she wants to keep the baby. By the third trimester she should have decided if she wants to have the child or not. Other people argue that the “dilate and extraction” procedure should be allowed in cases where the infant is seriously deformed and will eventually die. Why not allow the infant to be born and allow nature to run its course? Why kill the baby before it has the chance to benefit from modern medicine?
The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 has been struck down several times by federal judges because it lacks exceptions to protect a woman’s health. It is necessary to have provisions to allow partial birth abortions to protect the woman’s health, although doctors have said such a case would rarely happen. However, such cases would be few and far between. Therefore the current loophole which is being exploited and used to strike down the law is unjustified. As U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf of Nebraska in his ruling on the PBA Ban Act of 2003 said, “The court does not determine whether the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is constitutional or unconstitutional when the fetus is indisputably viable” (Wikipedia). We need to outlaw this practice when the health of the mother is not in danger.
Works Cited
Willke, Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Why Can’t We Love Them Both? AbortionFacts.com. 10 Oct 2006.<http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant _we_love_them_both_18.asp>. Robinson, B.A. ReligiousTolerance.org. 10 Oct 2006
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_pba1.htm>Wikipedia. 10 Oct 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial-Birth_Abortion_Ban_Act>