By Douglas Johnson
NRLC Federal Legislative Director
The medical director for Planned Parenthood of Australia has revealed that he uses the partial-birth abortion procedure as his "method of choice" for abortions done after 20 weeks (4½ months), and that he performs such abortions for a broad variety of social reasons.
These revelations by Dr. David Grundmann have provoked a storm of controversy in the state of Queensland, the large state that occupies northeastern Australia.
Dr. Grundmann performs abortions at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. He described his abortion practices in a paper that he presented on August 30, 1994, at a conference at Monash University.
In the paper, Dr. Grundmann wrote that "abortion is an integral part of family planning. Theoretically this means abortions at any stage of gestation. Therefore I favor the availability of abortion beyond 20 weeks."
Dr. Grundmann wrote that "dilatation and extraction" is his "method of choice" for performing abortions from 20 weeks on. "Dilatation and extraction" (or "dilation and extraction") is a term "coined" by Dr. Martin Haskell of Dayton, Ohio, for the partial-birth abortion procedure, in which a living baby is partly delivered feet first, after which the skull is punctured and the brain removed by suction.
Dr. Grundmann himself described the procedure in a television interview as "essentially a breech delivery where the fetus is delivered feet first and then when the head of the fetus is brought down into the top of the cervical canal, it is decompressed with a puncturing instrument so that it fits through the cervical opening."
In his 1994 paper, Dr. Grundmann listed several "advantages" of this method, such as that it "can be performed under local and/or twi-light anesthetic" with "no need for narcotic analgesics," "can be performed as an ambulatory out-patient procedure," and there is "no chance of delivering a live fetus."
Among the "disadvantages," Dr. Grundmann wrote, is "the aesthetics of the procedure are difficult for some people; and therefore it may be difficult to get staff."
Dr. Grundmann wrote that in Australia, late-second-trimester abortion is available "in many major hospitals, in most capital cities and large provincial centres" in cases of "lethal fetal abnormalities" or "gross fetal abnormalities," or "risk to maternal life," including "psychotic/suicidal behavior."
However, Dr. Grundmann said, his Planned Parenthood clinic also offers the procedure after 20 weeks for women who fall into five additional "categories":
"Abortion beyond 20 weeks is unavailable anywhere in Australia, except at our [Planned Parenthood] clinics for the last 5 categories," Dr. Grundmann wrote. Under the heading "What can be done to improve or expand this service?," Dr. Grundmann wrote, "Demystify abortion particularly late abortion by appropriate education of the population."
Election Issue
Dr. Grundmann's paper has been publicized by the Queensland Right to Life Association, and it has produced a considerable controversy over the past two years, Dr. David van Gend said in an interview with NRL News. Dr. van Gend, a Brisbane general practitioner, is the secretary of the Queensland chapter of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life (WFDWRHL).
Dr. van Gend took Dr. Grundmann's paper to Michael Horan, a member of the Queensland Parliament, who was the "shadow health minister" for the National-Liberal Coalition, which at that time was the opposition to the ruling government, which was headed by Premier Wayne Goss of the Labor Party.
Beginning in October, 1994, Mr. Horan strongly attacked Dr. Grundmann's abortion practices in speeches on the floor of the parliament. Mr. Horan demanded that the Goss Government take strong action to stop Dr. Grundmann's late abortions, which, he argued, violate Queensland law.
"What will it mean for the conscience of society and its respect for the law, if people are vividly aware of such brutality, such illegality, and then they see their leaders do nothing about it?," Mr. Horan said in one speech. "More importantly, what will it mean for all the defenseless babies who, unlike their peers in the hospital nurseries, will never see a human face, never feel a human touch, except that tight grip on their legs and the stab to the head?"
However, for more than a year, the Goss Government refused to take any meaningful action. Leaders of the Coalition promised to take steps against Dr. Grundmann if they were placed in power, and this became a major issue in the February 1996 elections, in which the Goss Government lost power
. "The late-term abortion issue was the clearest issue distinguishing the parties in the February election," Dr. van Gend told NRL News. "The Labor Government had refused to act against Dr. Grundmann, while the National-Liberal Coalition leaders promised to immediately investigate the matter."
For example, Liberal Party leader Joan Sheldon said that the partial-birth abortions "are horrific and should be stopped."
When the Coalition took over the government, Michael Horan became the Minister of Health. Recently, the government has placed an investigation of Dr. Grundmann in the hands of the state Medical Board, which has quasi-judicial investigative and punitive powers, Dr. van Gend said.
AMA Rebukes Grundmann
The Queensland Branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) formed a "working party" on late abortion, which interviewed Dr. Grundmann regarding his abortion practices in September, 1995.
As quoted by Mr. Horan in his speeches in Parliament, during this interview Dr. Grundmann said he has performed the partial-birth abortion procedure as late as 26½ weeks (past 6 months).
"There is no stage of pregnancy at which I regard the fetus as my patient," Dr. Grundmann told the panel.
When Dr. Grundmann told the panel that just that month he had aborted a baby at 23 weeks for severe cleft palate. When it was pointed out that this condition can be corrected by surgery, Dr. Grundmann replied that this depends on whether the woman wants to put "her fetus" through all that surgery.
In April, 1996, the AMA Queensland Branch issued a formal policy statement that said, "There is a duty of care to the fetus in the late second trimester of pregnancy." Therefore, the organization "opposes late second trimester termination of pregnancy except in the gravest of circumstances," these being "lethal" or "severe" fetal malformation or "unequivocal risk to the life of the mother where no other medical procedure would suffice to save the mother." This was viewed as a rebuke to Dr. Grundmann.
Dr. van Gend said that in an interview with Dr. Grundmann, "I asked him if there was not something cold and premeditated, even grotesque, about setting out to dilate the birth canal to 75% of the fetal skull diameter, in order to ensure the head will lodge in the cervix [the opening to the womb], in order to have leisure to push a puncturing instrument through that head, in order to ensure 'no chance of delivering a live fetus'-- when by dilating the canal one more centimetre he would enable the baby to slip out and be given to the care of a pediatrician. His response was to the effect that he was there to terminate that pregnancy, not to put the woman's fetus in an incubator."
Asked by a radio interviewer, "At what point do you believe the fetus becomes a sentient being?," Dr. Grundmann responded, "When it is born."
Dr. van Gend told NRL News, "At no stage during the Australian debate over partial-birth abortions has Dr. Grundmann or anyone else tried to pretend that the baby is already dead before the head is punctured. The baby is wide awake and fully sensitive."
Dr. van Gend explained that in Queensland, statutory law generally prohibits abortion, but a 1986 court ruling known as "the McGuire ruling" provides for exceptions in cases in which there is a "serious" danger to a woman's life or health, including mental health. Dr. Grundmann has asserted that all of his abortions fit under these criteria. However, in a 1995 civil case, a Queensland judge ruled, "I disbelieve Dr. Grundmann's assertions that he honestly and sincerely applied that test before each and every abortion which he performed."
"If Dr. Grundmann is ever prosecuted, a jury would be asked to decide whether these late abortions-- for these reasons, by this method-- are justified under our law," Dr. van Gend said.
Queensland law requires that a death certificate be filed for abortions performed after 20 weeks, which Dr. Grundmann wrote is "certainly an inconvenience."
[For a copy of Dr. Grundmann's paper, and other articles and interviews quoted above, please contact the NRLC Federal Legislative Office at 419-Seventh Street, Northwest, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004, fax (202) 347-3668. Please ask for the "Grundmann packet."]
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