CMDA | Standards 4 Life: Abortion

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1. What is Abortion?

Abortion: The premature expulsion of the human fetus. It usually refers to an artificially induced abortion caused by surgical or chemical means. A spontaneous abortion is often called a miscarriage.

Abortion in America stops beating hearts more than 1.2 million times each year 1--our nation’s most common surgical procedure. This tragedy is a symptom of the corruption of the gifts and stewardship responsibilities God has given us.

First Trimester Development (0-12 Weeks)

Days of Gestation	Development of embryo/fetus
18-21	Heart beats¹
32	Eyes are formed²
38	Upper lip formed³
40	Brain waves are measurable⁴
44	Arms and legs formed⁵
48	Beginnings of all internal structures present; baby is moving⁶
56	Embryo now called a fetus⁷
63	Sucking thumb, teeth forming⁸
84	Cries, feels pain

**Most surgical abortions occur between 49 to 70 days**⁹

Abortion Methods: First Trimester

^{CDC/Jim Gathan}

• Dilation and Curettage (kyoor-i-tazh)
The cervix is dilated with metal dilators to allow the insertion of a loop-shaped steel knife. The developing baby is cut apart by the knife and the placenta is scraped off the inner wall of the uterus. This method is more likely to leave behind tissue and blood clots, which increases the risk of subsequent infection. There is also a higher incidence of blood loss and uterine perforation.

• Suction Aspiration or "Vacuum Curettage"
The most common method used in the first trimester. The cervix is dilated and a plastic suction tube with a sharp cutting edge just behind its tip is inserted into the uterus. The suction curette is connected via a plastic tube to a suction machine. The fetus is usually cut apart and the placenta is scraped off. The placenta, developing baby, amniotic fluid and blood are suctioned out of the uterus. Occasionally an intact embryo is sucked out.

• RU-486
Also called the "French Abortion Pill" since it was first developed there. It is a two- stage procedure using two synthetic hormones - mifepristone (RU486) and misoprostol. It is used for abortions between the 5th and 7th week and requires multiple trips to the doctor. During the first visit, if the woman has no contraindications (smoking, asthma, high blood pressure, obesity, etc.), she swallows the RU-486. It blocks the actions of naturally occurring progesterone in the woman’s body that sustains the rich nutrient-filled lining of the uterus. This causes the uterine lining, the endometrium, to disintegrate and the baby dies. At a second visit, 36-48 hours later, the woman is given a powerful prostaglandin, misoprostol, which starts uterine contractions to expel the baby and the placenta. Many women abort during a four-hour stay at the clinic. About 30 percent abort up to five days later. If the abortion has not occurred by a third visit, a surgical abortion is required. Side effects of using the abortion pill can be severe: prolonged bleeding, nausea, vomiting, pain and rarely death. Long-term side effects have not been sufficiently studied.

• Methotrexate
This is an anticancer drug that attacks fast growing cells in the body by blocking folic acid, the vitamin needed for cell division. The trophoblast, the tissue around the embryo that becomes the placenta, are rapidly growing. The methotrexate blocks its growth and causes it to disintegrate, killing the growing child. Methotrexate must be injected and also requires giving misoprostol three to seven days afterwards to cause the uterus to contract and expel its contents. This is not a popular method because of the time required and the woman may abort days to weeks later. One out of every 25 women requires surgical abortion after methotrexate fails. There is a risk of death even with smaller doses that are used.

Second Trimester Development¹⁰

Weeks of age	Development of fetus
13	3 inches long, weighs half oz., reflexes active
14	Fingerprints present
15	Has ability to grasp, smile, grimace, squint
16	6 inches long, weighs 6 oz., somersaults, mother feels movement
17	Gets hiccups, plays with umbilical cord
18	Hair and eyebrows are growing
20	Hears, recognizes mother’s voice
22	Responds to stories, music, etc.
24	Weighs 1 lb., has 85 percent survival rate
26	Responds to light, weighs 1.5 to 2 lbs.

Third Trimester Development¹¹

Weeks of age	Development of fetus
24	Weighs 2 lbs. and is practicing breathing
30	Grows rapidly, sleeps 90 percent of time, has dreams
32	Weighs 4 lbs., urinates
34	Weighs 5 lbs., 19.5 in. long, head begins to drop into mother’s pelvis
36	Now has 99 percent survival rate
38	Is 1,000 times its original size, gains an ounce a day
40	Average weight: 7.5 lbs.

Abortion Methods: Second & Third Trimesters

• Saline Abortion
Also called "saline amniocentesis", "salting out" and "hypertonic saline" abortion, this method is used after 16 weeks of pregnancy because there needs to be enough amniotic fluid to enable the doctor to get a needle into the amniotic sac. The doctor withdraws 50 to 250 cc of amniotic fluid and injects a concentrated solution of salt. The baby breathes in and swallows the salt, which is poisonous. The baby’s skin is burned by the salt as it draws water out of the baby’s body. The baby dies within one to two hours, often after violent movements. The mother goes into spontaneous labor in 36 to 72 hours and delivers her shriveled baby. Complications include the salt getting drawn into the mother’s circulation and causing widespread blood clotting and then uncontrollable bleeding. If the salt solution is injected directly into the mother’s circulation, it can cause seizures, coma or death. This method is not used much due to its dangers.

• Urea
Urea, a concentrated compound of mammalian urine commercially used in the creation of platics, fertilizers and animal food, is injected. This method is not as effective as saline in killing the baby. Often something must be given to cause the uterus to contract and even so it has a higher incidence of requiring the additional risk of surgery. Side effects include nausea, vomiting and injuries to the cervix.

• Prostaglandins
Can be used alone; often results in baby being born alive but too young to survive. It is often used with saline or urea to kill the baby. Risks include a retained placenta, cervical trauma, later infection, bleeding, asthma or hyperthermia (becoming dangerously hot). The most serious complications are a ruptured uterus and cardiac arrest.

• D & E, or Dilation and Evacuation
A popular method for second trimester abortions, the cervix is dilated, forceps with sharp metal jaws are inserted and the child is torn apart limb by limb. The head is the largest part of the baby and if it is too large to be pulled through the cervix, it must be crushed. This is a dangerous form of abortion due to the risk of uterine perforation or laceration of the uterus or cervix by sharp bone ends. Bleeding may be severe as well.

• D & X, or Dilation and Extraction (Partial Birth Abortion)
Usually done between the 20th and 32nd weeks, which is during the period that the child can survive outside the womb. The cervix is dilated with a laminara (dehydrated sea weed) overnight and then the doctor, using ultrasound to visualize the baby, grabs the baby’s legs with forceps and pulls it out through the cervix and vaginal canal except for the large after-coming head, which is kept in the uterus. The abortionist then sticks scissors into the base of the baby’s head and spreads the tips to kill the baby. The scissors are removed and a suction tip is inserted to suck out the baby’s brains, collapse the skull and allow the baby to be delivered dead. This is a safer procedure than a D&E but borders on infanticide since the baby is inches from being completely born.

• Hysterotomy
This method is similar to a C-section and 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. 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 hysterotomy was 271.2 deaths per 100,000 cases.¹²

"It's hard for most doctors to deliver babies and do abortions. It also has to do with the fact that to almost everyone else the pregnancy is just a blob of tissue, but the abortionist knows exactly what he is doing because he has to count all the parts after each abortion. I never had any doubt that I was killing little people, but somehow I was able to justify and compartmentalize that." --Kathi Aultman, CMDA member and former abortion provider, before a Senate Judiciary Committee on the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2002"

• Full testimony

• Testimony of Dr. Jean Wright, 25th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
• Testimony of Dr. David Chestnut, fetal pain

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