In last night’s 3rd and final
debate, there was an exchange between the candidates on abortion which quickly moved
to partial birth abortions. With Trump’s propensity to exaggerate, many are
left wondering if he did so during the exchange. So what’s the truth on partial
birth abortions? I must admit that I’m 38 years old and didn't know the details
of partial birth abortions.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, which
supports abortion rights. “Only 1.2 percent of abortions—about 12,000 a year–
take place after 21 weeks.” Did you catch that? This mean 12,000 abortions annually are conducted at the end of the 5th
month (1 week from 6th month) through the completion of the 9th
month. Why is the 12,000 a BIG deal?
What exactly is a partial birth abortion?
The official medical term is a "dilation
and extraction," or “D&X”. Ohio physician, Martin Haskell, devised his
D&X procedure to find a way to perform second-trimester abortions without
an overnight hospital stay, because local hospitals did not permit most
abortions after 18 weeks. The partial birth abortion is a medical procedure to
remove a fetus/child from the mother’s womb by dilating a pregnant woman's cervix,
then pulling the baby feet first out of the mother until only the head remains
inside because the U.S. Supreme Court stated “intact
D&E remains legal as long as there is first a feticidal injection while the
fetus is still completely inside of the mother's body.” Then an instrument is used to puncture the child’s head so a tube can
be inserted to suck out its brain which will collapse the head so the child can
be removed easily without damage to the women’s cervix. Don't believe me? Brenda
Pratt Shafer, a registered nurse from Dayton, Ohio, assisted Dr. Haskell in a
Partial Birth Abortion described the procedure as she testified before the
Senate Judiciary Committee (on 11/17/95) about what she witnessed in the same
manner in which I described only with even more horrific details and pictures.
I can’t even bring myself to show you the pics. I will say that a child as
described is ONLY 4 inches away from being considered by every person in the
U.S. as murdered. The Doctor preforming the procedure is 4 inches away from
being sentenced to prison by our judicial system for murder.
Who’s having partial birth abortions?
Although debated, many if not most have extreme
sympathy for a mother in a case when her life is in danger.
We must ask the question, is that the situation for most partial birth
abortions?
In 1993, the American Medical News conducted a tape-recorded interview with Dr.
Haskell, in which he said: “And I'll be
quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week range. . . .
In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons. And the other 80%
are purely elective.” Other doctors have confirmed similar findings throughout
the debate over numerous years.
Numerous states
began to pass laws banning partial birth abortions starting first with Ohio in
1995. 28 more states followed by 2000.
In 2003, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760, S. 3) was signed
into law; the House passed it on October 2 with a vote of 281-142, the Senate
passed it on October 21 with a vote of 64-34, and President George W. Bush
signed it into law on November 5.
In 2004, three lawsuits were filled by Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, the National Abortion Federation, and abortion doctors in Nebraska
to challenge the ban. After winning, the three cases were all appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and were consolidated into the case Gonzales v. Carhart. On April 18, 2007,
the Supreme Court voted to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by a decision of 5-4. Justice Kennedy
wrote for the majority and was joined by Justices Thomas,
Scalia,
Alito,
and Chief Justice Roberts. A dissenting opinion was written by Justice Ginsburg and joined by Justices Stevens,
Souter
and Breyer.
As of today, 43 states have some level of ban or restrictions on
partial birth abortions. So why was this brought up at last night’s debate? CLEARLY
THE DEBATE IS NOT OVER. There will be lower court rulings of the ban as
unconstitutional. There will be more challenges before the Supreme Court. Thus, the
reason the 1st question in last night’s debate was on the appointment
of Supreme Court Justices. The presidential debate recognized the importance of
the next president’s choice for appointments to the Supreme Court.
Watch the exchange on partial birth abortion at last night’s
presidential debate here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/clinton-trump-spar-over-partial-birth-abortion-during-third-debate/2016/10/19/7a7c2734-9657-11e6-9cae-2a3574e296a6_video.html
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Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote the majority opinion in the Roe v Wade case. In it, he made the following statement:
"We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer." (emphasis mine)
I can understand why Blackmun said this. After all, he said it in 1973. Consider the technology of that time:
- There were no iPhones, smartphones, flip phones, or even brickphones - commercial cellular phones were still a decade away.
- There were no iPads, laptops, or desktop computers. Punch cards were still a common medium for data storage and retrieval.
- There were no MP3 players or compact disks. Cassettes were still a new technology.
- There was no such thing as Blu-Ray, DVD, or LaserDisc. It would be another four years before America would see BetaMax.
Now, flash forward to 2016. Technology - medical and otherwise - has made tremendous leaps forward since the day Blackmun admitted, in essence, that doctors can't decide when life begins. We can, through the use of three-dimensional sonography, now see the developing child in great detail within the womb. Physicians using laparoscopic appliances have witnessed prenatal infants interacting with their medical devices.
After 43 years of advancement, we have come closer to resolving that "difficult" question beyond a shadow of doubt. Each step along the way has revealed a new discovery about the miracle of life. And for the Christian, each step has not led us away from God, but has brought us closer to an understanding of the words of the psalmist:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)
To look upon a newborn child is to witness the glory of God's creation. I pray that our nation will soon see them this way once again.
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