Partial Birth Abortions

¶ … partial birth abortion, many pro-choice advocates point to a woman's right to choose as the basis for its existence, however, a woman's right to choose should never override the rules against committing murder. Partial birth abortions are not new. They were medically defined in the early 1800's and that definition is extremely telling as to its intent.

In 1833, partial birth abortions were defined as "an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery (What is a Partial-Birth Abortion? (http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/PARTBIRT.TXT)." For one to understand how partial birth abortions constitute murder, one needs to know the medical procedure involved. In a partial birth abortion, the fetus is located through ultrasound.

The physician uses forceps to grab one of the legs of the fetus and begins to drag it down through the birth canal until everything but the head is out. At that point the doctor takes a sharp instrument and inserts it into the back of the baby's skull creating a hole that exposes the brain. A suction tool is used to suck the brains out of the baby, thereby killing it.

Once the baby is dead, the doctor removes it completely and disposes of the body (What is a Partial-Birth Abortion? (http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/PARTBIRT.TXT). Defenders of partial-birth abortion often stress that they are "a small percentage" of all abortions.

But for each individual human being who ends up at the pointed end of the surgical scissors, the procedure is a 100% proposition (What is a Partial-Birth Abortion? (http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/PARTBIRT.TXT)." Partial birth abortions are usually performed during the 4th and 9th month of pregnancy (What is a Partial-Birth Abortion? (http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/PARTBIRT.TXT).One hundred years ago babies that did not make it to the ninth month and were born early usually died.

Today however, medical advances have proven babies born early in the last months of Today we know that babies born prematurely can live and become productive healthy individuals. Condoning the act of partial birth abortion is condoning murder. It is allowing a doctor to kill a child who most likely would have lived had it been born at that same age. Courts have recently allowed testimony by medical experts that the fetus does feel pain during the partial birth abortion until it dies (Neumeister, 2004).

The judge who allowed the testimony believed it would help him assess the current debate around the humanity of partial birth abortion (Neumeister, 2004). He said it will help him assess "Congress' factual findings that partial-birth abortion is a 'brutal and inhumane procedure' and that 'during the partial-birth abortion procedure, the child will fully experience the pain associated with piercing his or her skull and sucking out his or her brain (Neumeister, 2004)." Conclusion partial birth abortion is nothing less than killing a baby and disposing of its body.

Society has strict laws and rules protecting the rights of humans. Susan Smith murdered her children and went to prison. A woman in Texas drowned all five of her children in a bath tub and will probably never see the light of day.