Abortion Methods
To understand the abortion issue, it is important to understand abortion methods and the dangers.
The abortion methods are divided into two sections: • First Trimester (Months 1-3 / Weeks 1-12) • Second and Third Trimesters (Months 4-9 / Weeks 13-36) These two sections are further subdivided into: • Chemical or “Medication” Abortions – the mother swallows pills or is injected with chemicals to induce an abortion) • Surgical Abortions – the baby is removed surgically, with cutting tools and suction machines or other invasive surgery. If the abortion is incomplete (tissue or other parts from the baby are left behind, risking infection), a second abortion procedure may be required. First Trimester (Months 1 – 3): Chemical or “Medication” Abortions RU 486 / Mifeprex (5 to 9 Weeks) The RU 486 technique actually uses two powerful synthetic hormones with the generic names of mifepristone and misoprostol to chemically induce abortions in women five-to-nine weeks pregnant. The RU 486 procedure requires at least three trips to the abortion facility. In the first visit, the woman is given a physical exam, and if she has no obvious contra-indications ("red flags" such as smoking, asthma, high blood pressure, obesity, etc., that could make the drug deadly to her, she swallows the RU 486 pills. RU 486 blocks the action of progesterone, the natural hormone vital to maintaining the rich nutrient lining of the uterus. The developing baby starves as the nutrient lining disintegrates. At a second visit 36 to 48 hours later, the woman is given a dose of artificial prostaglandins, usually misoprostol, which initiates uterine contractions and usually causes the embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus. Most women abort during the 4-hour waiting period at the clinic, but about 30 percent abort later at home, work, etc., as many as 5 days later. A third visit about two weeks later determines whether the abortion has occurred or a surgical abortion is necessary to complete the procedure (5 to 10 percent of all cases). Possible complications: prolonged (up to 44 days) and severe hemorrhaging, nausea, vomiting, pain and even death. (More on Deaths from RU 486) Long term effects of the drug have not yet been sufficiently studied, but there are reasons to believe that RU 486 could affect not only a woman’s current pregnancy, but her future pregnancies as well, potentially inducing miscarriages or causing severe malformations in later children. Methotrexate (5 to 9 Weeks) also known as a “Chemical Abortion”
The procedure with methotrexate is similar to the one using RU 486, though administered by an intramuscular injection instead of a pill. Methotrexate attacks the fast growing cells of the tissue surrounding the embryo that eventually gives rise to the placenta and functions as the "life support system" for the developing child. Deprived of the food, oxygen, and fluids he or she needs to survive, the baby dies. Three to seven days later (depending on the protocol used), a suppository of misoprostol (the same prostaglandin used with RU 486) is inserted into a woman’s vagina to trigger expulsion of the tiny body of the child from the woman’s uterus. Sometimes this occurs within the next few hours, but often a second dose of the prostaglandin is required, making the time lapse between the initial administration of methotrexate and the actual completion of the abortion as long as several weeks. A woman may bleed for weeks (42 days in one study), even heavily, and may abort anywhere -- at home, on the bus, at work, etc. Those found to be still pregnant in later visits (at least 1 in 25) are given surgical abortions. Possible Side Effects: Even doctors who support abortion are reluctant to prescribe methotrexate for abortion because of its high toxicity and unpredictable side effects, which commonly include nausea, pain, diarrhea, as well as less visible but more serious effects such as bone marrow depression, severe anemia, liver damage and methotrexate-induced lung disease. The manufacturer warns in the package insert that "deaths have been reported with the use of methotrexate," and recommends that its use be limited to "physicians whose knowledge and experience includes the use of antimetabolite therapy." First Trimester (Months 1 – 3): Surgical Abortions Suction Aspiration or “Vacuum Curettage” (6 – 12 Weeks) Suction aspiration, or "vacuum curettage," is the abortion technique used in most first trimester abortions. A powerful suction tube with a sharp cutting edge is inserted into the womb through the dilated cervix. The suction dismembers the body of the developing baby and tears the placenta from the wall of the uterus, sucking blood, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, and fetal parts into a collection bottle. Possible complications: infection from left behind fetal or placental tissue, uterine perforation, blood clots, hemorrhaging, ectopic pregnancy, death. Dilatation and Curettage / “D & C” (6 to 16 weeks) The cervix is dilated or stretched to permit the insertion of a loop shaped steel knife called a “curette.” The body of the baby is cut into pieces and removed and the placenta is scraped off the uterine wall. Blood loss from D & C, or "mechanical" curettage is greater than for suction aspiration. (This method should not be confused with routine D&C’s done for reasons other than undesired pregnancy: to treat abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea, etc.) Possible complications: uterine perforation, cervical laceration, hemorrhaging, blood clots, ectopic pregnancy, and infection from left behind fetal or placental tissue, death. Second (Months 4-6) & Third Trimesters (Months 7-9): Surgical Abortions Dilatation and Evacuation / “D & E” (13 – 24 weeks) Used to abort unborn children as old as 24 weeks (six months), this method is similar to the D&C. The difference is that forceps with sharp metal jaws are used to grasp parts of the developing baby, which are then twisted and torn away. This continues until the child’s entire body is removed from the womb. Because the baby’s skull has often hardened to bone by this time, the skull must sometimes be compressed or crushed to facilitate removal. If not carefully removed, sharp edges of the bones may cause cervical laceration. Bleeding from the procedure may be profuse. A follow up vacuum aspiration may be required if there are parts of the baby left behind in the womb. Dr. Warren Hern, a Boulder, Colorado abortionist who has performed a number of D&E abortions, says they can be particularly troubling to a clinic staff and worries that this may have an effect on the quality of care a woman receives. Hern also finds them traumatic for doctors too, saying "there is no possibility of denial of an act of destruction by the operator. It is before one's eyes. The sensation of dismemberment flows through the forceps like an electric current." Possible complications: uterine perforation, cervical laceration, hemorrhaging, blood clots, ectopic pregnancy, infection from left behind fetal or placental tissue, death. Second (Months 4-6) & Third Trimesters (Months 7-9): Chemical Abortions Instillation Methods These second and third trimester chemical abortion methods involve the injection of drugs or chemicals through the abdomen or cervix into the amniotic sac to cause the death of the child and his or her expulsion from the uterus. Several drugs have been tried, but the most commonly used are hypertonic saline, urea, and prostaglandins. Salt Poisoning (After 16 Weeks) Otherwise known as "saline amniocentesis," "salting out," or a "hypertonic saline" abortion, this technique is used after 16 weeks of pregnancy, when enough fluid has accumulated in the amniotic fluid sac surrounding the baby. A needle is inserted through the mother’s abdomen and 50-250 ml (as much as a cup) of amniotic fluid is withdrawn and replaced with a solution of concentrated salt. The baby breathes in, swallowing the salt, and is poisoned. The chemical solution also causes painful burning and deterioration of the baby’s skin. Usually, after about an hour, the child dies. The mother goes into labor about 33 to 35 hours after instillation and delivers a dead, burned, and shriveled baby. About 97% of mothers deliver their dead babies within 72 hours. Possible Complications: Hypertonic saline may initiate a condition in the mother called "consumption coagulopathy" (uncontrolled blood clotting throughout the body) with severe hemorrhage as well as other serious side effects on the central nervous system. Seizures, coma, or death may also result from saline inadvertently injected into the woman’s vascular system. Urea (20 – 32 weeks) Because of the dangers associated with saline methods, other instillation methods such as hypersomolar urea are sometimes employed, though these are less effective and usually must be supplemented by oxytocin or a prostaglandin in order to achieve the desired result. Possible Complications: Incomplete or failed abortion remains a problem with urea methods, often precipitating the additional risk of surgery. As with other instillation techniques, gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea or vomiting are frequent, but the most common problem with second trimester techniques is cervical injuries, which range from small lacerations to complete detachments of the anterior or posterior cervix. Between 1% and 2% of patients using urea must be hospitalized for treatment of endometritis, an infection of the lining of the uterus. Prostaglandins (16 – 38 weeks) Prostaglandins are naturally produced chemical compounds which normally assist in the birthing process. The injection of concentrations of artificial prostaglandins prematurely into the amniotic sac induces violent labor and the birth of a child usually too young to survive. Often salt or another toxin is first injected to ensure that the baby will be delivered dead, since some babies have survived the trauma of a prostaglandin birth and been born alive. This method is used during the second trimester. Possible Complications: Cervical damage, infection, hemorrhaging, dangerous increase in body temperature, breathing difficulties, abnormally high heart rate, cardiac arrest and rupture of the uterus, can be unpredictable and very severe. Death is not unheard of. Second (Months 4-6) & Third Trimesters (Months 7-9): Surgical Abortions Partial-Birth Abortion (20 – 32 weeks) Abortionists sometimes refer to these or similar types of abortions using obscure, clinical-sounding euphemisms such as "Dilation and Extraction" (D&X), or "intact D&E" (IDE) which mask the realities of how the abortions are actually performed. Partial-Birth Abortion is used to abort women who are 20 to 32 weeks pregnant -- or even later into pregnancy.* Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist reaches into the uterus, grabs the unborn baby’s leg with forceps, and pulls the baby into the birth canal, except for the head, which is deliberately kept just inside the womb. (At this point in a partial-birth abortion, the baby is alive.) Then the abortionist jams scissors into the back of the baby’s skull and spreads the tips of the scissors apart to enlarge the wound. After removing the scissors, a suction catheter is inserted into the skull and the baby’s brains are sucked out. The collapsed head is then removed from the uterus. *Babies born at 23 weeks or more, often survive. This procedure eliminates that possibility. Possible Complications: Uterine perforation, uterine rupture, cervical laceration, blood clots, infection, hemorrhaging, death. Long-term risks include difficulty becoming pregnant or carrying a future pregnancy to term. Hysterectomy (24 – 38 weeks) Similar to the Caesarean Section, this method is generally used if chemical methods such as salt poisoning or prostaglandins fail. Incisions are made in the abdomen and uterus and the baby, placenta, and amniotic sac are removed. Babies are sometimes born alive during this procedure, raising questions as to how and when these infants are killed and by whom. Possible Complications: This method offers the highest risk to the health of the mother, because the potential for rupture during subsequent pregnancies is appreciable. In the first two years of legal abortion in New York State, the death rate from hysterectomy was 271.2 deaths per 100,000 cases. (Source: The above info is adapted from The National Right to Life Committee. For more info and references, please visit www.nrlc.org) |
Former abortionist- View personal testimony HERE
Are Third Trimester Abortions for Real?
Read More HERE from former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life advocate Abby Johnson |