It is true that some partial-birth abortions -- a small minority -- involve babies who have grave disorders that will result in death soon after birth. But these unfortunate members of the human family deserve compassion and the best comfort-care that medical science can offer-- not a scissors in the back of the head. In some such situations there are good medical reasons to deliver such a child early, after which natural death will follow quickly. Dr. Harlan Giles, a professor of "high-risk" obstetrics and perinatology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, performs abortions by a variety of procedures up until "viability." However, in sworn testimony in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Nov. 13, 1995), Prof. Giles said:
[After 23 weeks] I do not think there are any maternal conditions that I'm aware of that mandate ending the pregnancy that also require that the fetus be dead or that the fetal life be terminated. In my experience for 20 years, one can deliver these fetuses either vaginally, or by Cesarean section for that matter, depending on the choice of the parents with informed consent. . . But there's no reason these fetuses cannot be delivered intact vaginally after a miniature labor, if you will, and be at least assessed at birth and given the benefit of the doubt. [transcript, page 240]
In a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist dilates a woman's cervix for three days, until it is open enough to deliver the entire baby breech, except for the head. When American Medical News asked Dr. Martin Haskell why he could not simply dilate the woman a little more and remove the baby without killing him, Dr. Haskell responded:
The point here is you're attempting to do an abortion... not to see how do I manipulate the situation so that I get a live birth instead. [American Medical News transcript]
Under closer examination, it becomes clear that in some cases, the primary reason for performing the procedure is not concern that the baby will die in utero, but rather, that he/she will be born alive, either with disorders incompatible with sustained life outside the womb, or with a non-lethal disability. (Again, in Dr. McMahon's table of partial-birth abortions performed for "fetal indications," the largest category was for Down Syndrome.)
Viki Wilson, whose daughter Abigail died at the hands of Dr. McMahon at 38 weeks, said:
I knew that I could go ahead and carry the baby until full term, but knowing, you know, that this was futile, you know, that she was going to die... I felt like I needed to be a little more in control in terms of her life and my life, instead of just sort of leaving it up to nature, because look where nature had gotten me up to this point. [NAF video transcript, page 4.]
Tammy Watts, whose baby was aborted by Dr. McMahon in the 7th month, said:
I had a choice. I could have carried this pregnancy to term, knowing everything that was wrong. [Testimony before Senate Judiciary Committee, Nov. 17. 1995]
Claudia Crown Ades, who appeared with President Clinton at the April 10 veto, said:
My procedure was elective. That is considered an elective procedure, as were the procedures of Coreen Costello and Tammy Watts and Mary Dorothy-Line and all the other women who were at the White House yesterday. All of our procedures were considered elective. [Quotes from taped appearance on WNTM, April 12, 1996]
In a letter opposing HR 1833, one of Dr. McMahon's colleagues at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Jeffrey S. Greenspoon, wrote:
As a volunteer speaker to the National Spina Bifida Association of America and the
Canadian National Spina Bifida Organization, I am familiar with the burden of raising a
significantly handicapped child. . . . The burden of raising one or two abnormal children
is realistically unbearable. [Letter to Rep. Hyde, July 19, 1995]