National Campaign to End Partial-Birth Abortions

 

What the nurse saw….

 

In September, 1993, Brenda Pratt Shafer, a registered nurse with thirteen years of experience, was assigned by her nursing agency to an abortion clinic. Since Nurse Shafer considered herself "very pro-choice," she didn’t think this assignment would be a problem. She was wrong. This is what Nurse Shafer saw:

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" I stood at the doctor’s side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant. The baby’s heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby’s body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby’s body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby’s head, and the baby’s arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby’s brains out. Now the baby was completely limp. I never went back to the clinic. But I am still haunted by the face of that little boy. It was the most perfect, angelic face I have ever seen."

 

 

About Partial Birth Abortion

 

Introduction

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The Partial-Birth Abortion procedure is used after 20 weeks (4.5 months) of pregnancy –
often to six months, seven months or even later.
The difference between partial-birth abortion and homicide is a mere three inches….

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Important Facts about Partial-Birth Abortions

 

The "Health" Exception

The bill passed by Congress allows a partial-birth abortion to be performed if necessary to save a woman’s live. But pro-abortion groups and President Bill Clinton also demand and exception for "health" abortion – a huge loophole that would allow partial-birth abortions for "emotional well-being" or "depression."

 

Anesthesia’s Effect of the Baby

The anesthesia given to the mother has little or no effect on the baby, according to congressional testimony by the nation’s leading anesthesiologists, including the president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Medical experts testified that babies at this age can experience great pain.

 

Reasons for Partial-Birth Abortions

Dr. Martin Haskell, who has performed over 1000 partial-birth abortions, said that he performs them "routinely" for non-medical reasons, and that 80% are "purely elective." Medical experts testified before congressional committees that it is never necessary to kill a baby that has been almost entirely delivered to preserve the life or health of the mother.