Partial birth abortion (PBA) is a common term created by pro-life groups for the Intact Dilation and Extraction abortion procedure (D&X). It is a rarely used procedure that constitutes an estimated one percent of all abortions performed, but the politicalization of the term has made it familiar to most people.
Politico's link to Dr. Haskell's monograph is an accurate description of the procedure. Ironically, Dr. Haskell recommends the D&X procedure over those several other methods that he describes. Should you go to the link to review these other procedures, I would go beyond Politico's recommendation and choose not to eat at all. They are equally horrific so the important question is why are they performed?
This is where Politico and I depart dramatically. His claim that "partial birth abortions are performed exclusively on well-developed fetuses, a large number of which are viable human babies" simply cannot be supported by the facts.
The generally acknowledged reasons for any abortion, by trimester, can be found here:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_pba1htm#why
- 1st Trimester: D&Xs are not performed during the first three months of pregnancy, because there are better ways to perform abortions. There is no need to follow a D&X procedure, because the fetus' head quite small at this stage of gestation and can be quite easily removed from the woman's uterus. The Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade addresses only first term abortions and leaves second and third term abortions to the discretion of the States, given that an exemption is made to protect the health of the mother. 90% of all abortions are done in the first trimester.
- 2nd Trimester: D&Xs are very rarely performed in the late second trimester at a time in the pregnancy before the fetus is viable. These, like most abortions, are performed for a variety of reasons, including:
* She is not ready to have a baby for whatever reason and has delayed her decision to have an abortion into the second trimester.
* There are mental or physical health problems related to the pregnancy.
* The fetus has been found to be dead, badly malformed, or suffering from a very serious genetic defect. This is often only detectable late in the second trimester.
- 3rd Trimester: They are also very rarely performed in late pregnancy and an elective D&X is prohibited by law. The most common justifications at that time are:
* The fetus is dead.
* The fetus is alive, but continued pregnancy would place the woman's life in severe danger.
* The fetus is alive, but continued pregnancy would grievously damage the woman's health and/or disable her.
* The fetus is so malformed that it can never gain consciousness and will die shortly after birth. Many which fall into this category have developed a very severe form of hydrocephalus.
In addition, some physicians violate their state medical association's regulations and perform elective D&X procedures - primarily on women who are suicidally depressed.
Clearly, the decision to have a second or third trimester abortion is not made for frivolous reasons and to term a D&E procedure as "infanticide" certainly must drive a stake into the heart of a woman who must face that decision.
I would further argue that neither the Federal government or the individual State governments should be legislating medical procedures. Each State's medical association's oversight board is sufficient to gage the worthiness of a medical procedure and they are the authority in sanctioning a doctor who violates their regulations.
Politico, I believe we both share a degree of healthy skepticism about the motives of our politicians. In my opinion, the politicization of a rare procedure with all of it's highly emotional overtones caused many politicians to take the easy way out.