Hearing on H.R. 4292, the "Born Alive Infant Protection Act of 2000"
July 20, 2000
I am a Registered Nurse who has worked in the Labor & Delivery Department at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, for the past five years. Christ Hospital performs abortions on women in their second or even third trimesters of pregnancy. Sometimes the babies being aborted are healthy, and sometimes they are not.
The method of abortion that Christ Hospital uses is called "induced labor abortion," also now known as "live birth abortion." This type of abortion can be performed different ways, but the goal always is to cause a pregnant woman's cervix to open so that she will deliver a premature baby who dies during the birth process or soon afterward. The way that induced abortion is most often executed at my hospital is by the physician inserting a medication called Cytotec into the birth canal close to the cervix. Cytotec irritates the cervix and stimulates it to open. When this occurs, the small, preterm baby drops out of the uterus, oftentimes alive. It is not uncommon for one of these live aborted babies to linger for an hour or two or even longer. One of them once lived for almost eight hours.
In the event that a baby is aborted alive, he or she receives no medical assessments or care but is only given what my hospital calls "comfort care." "Comfort care" is defined as keeping the baby warm in a blanket until he or she dies, although even this minimal compassion is not always provided. It is not required that these babies be held during their short lives.
One night, a nursing co-worker was taking an aborted Down's Syndrome baby who was born alive to our Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have time to hold him. I could not bear the thought of this suffering child dying alone in a Soiled Utility Room, so I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived. He was 21 to 22 weeks old, weighed about ½ pound, and was about 10 inches long. He was too weak to move very much, expending any energy he had trying to breathe. Toward the end he was so quiet that I couldn't tell if he was still alive unless I held him up to the light to see if his heart was still beating through his chest wall. After he was pronounced dead, we folded his little arms across his chest, wrapped him in a tiny shroud, and carried him to the hospital morgue where all of our dead patients are taken.
Other co-workers have told me many upsetting stories about live aborted babies whom they have cared for. I was told about an aborted baby who was supposed to have Spina bifida but was delivered with an intact spine. Another nurse is haunted by the memory of an aborted baby who came out weighing much more than expected ~ almost two pounds. She is haunted because she doesn't know if she made a mistake by not getting that baby medical help. A Support Associate told me about a live aborted baby who was left to die on the counter of the Soiled Utility Room wrapped in a disposable towel. This baby was accidentally thrown into the garbage, and when they later were going through the trash to find the baby, the baby fell out of the towel and on to the floor.
I was recently told about a situation by a nurse who said, "I can't stop thinking about it." She had a patient who was 23+ weeks pregnant, and it did not look as if her baby would be able to continue to live inside of her. The baby was healthy and had up to a 39% chance of survival, according to national statistics. But the patient chose to abort. The baby was born alive. If the mother had wanted everything done for her baby, there would have been a neonatologist, pediatric resident, neonatal nurse, and respiratory therapist present for the delivery, and the baby would have been taken to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for specialized care. Instead, the only personnel present for this delivery were an obstetrical resident and my co-worker. After delivery the baby, who showed early signs of thriving, was merely wrapped in a blanket and kept in the Labor & Delivery Department until she died 2-1/2 hours later.
Something is very wrong with a legal system that says doctors are mandated to pronounce babies dead but are not mandated to assess babies for life and chances of survival. In other words, our laws currently say that babies have no rights to medical oversight until they are dead. We look the other way and pretend that these babies aren't human while they're alive but human only after they are dead. We issue these babies both birth and death certificates, but it is really only the death certificate that matters. No other children in America are medically abandoned like this.
Abortion is a cancer that is literally killing America. It is killing our children while it is killing our consciences. It began when we took God out of our decision-making and proclaimed that the little beings growing inside of women were "products of conception" and not little girls and little boys. Who should be surprised that we keep pushing the envelope so that now we are aborting these "products of conception" alive? I even work at a hospital named "Christ" that does this very thing! It is beyond me to comprehend that we're doing what we're doing now, and so I can't even imagine what horrible ways we will think of next to torture our children. Please help put an end to this by proclaiming infants as American human being homo sapiens with the same legal and medical rights that you and I big people have. Thank you.
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
Originally posted by Owney
kea6743
Are you simply not paying attention, or is your brain plugged in backwards? How can anyone possibly call abortions "pro life?"https://allnurses.com/forums/#
In order to illustrate what causes me to question humanity I must tell you another story. When I was a teenager I swatted a fly on the window sill. It did not die immediately. She took her last minutes to lay her eggs, even though maggots do not do well on a window sill she still made the effort to preserve her off spring. If a fly can cherish life, why can't humans?
I think you should work in an abortion clinic to get a better perspective on this issue. Actually, you might be better off becoming a lawyer. That way you can wait for all of those unfortunate turn 18 so that they can sue their mothers for wrongful birth. https://allnurses.com/forums/#
Unlike most pro lifers I believe in sex education for EVERYONE from birth including contraception. But here I go again, I must repeat that what differntiates me from most liberals is that I believe in a woman's right to choose from the time she is concieved.
:kiss
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OK, I have to respond here, and I'm really not trying to be rude, but COME ON! Now we're comparing maggots to HUMANS??!!
And I believe the young lady you were responding to stated that she is only 20, and yet a student, as well as having an abortion herself. It almost sounds like she has a lot of experience with a foster child environment.
I'm sorry, but these are the kinds of posts/thoughts that totally irk me....you can't even show some compassion to a young woman who sounds troubled by what she's gone through, and what she's reading and what she's learning??
Like NICU Nurse put it....not every woman is fit and or capable or desiring of wanting to bring a child into this world....there are so many far out circumstances that affect people that you probably have no clue! And seeing how you so vehemently believe in choice, why don't you start letting women have that choice freely???
And, you know, like it hasn't been said before..."if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one".....
PS: Maybe what poster got her words mixed up,or maybe what she meant is that having an abortion saved HER life!!!
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
The personal attacks are getting ugly here. HOW does anyone expect to change others' minds on such issues as ABORTION? Sure ain't gonna happen by violating basic rules of decency and TOS. Why don't some of you take a MUCH-NEEDED break already????
I've worked with women who have aborted.. prochoice could be considered prolife- if it 'saves' the mothers life.. remember the mother?
More people are affected by abortion than I think people realize. And their stories aren't typical.. bf/gf oops we forgot the condom. This could go on forever, so I'm out.
Isn't it funny how so many people with the same intention- 'preserving life" ... could differ so much ?
I think the argument that "well this person could have been aborted and they did good things with their life" is not a really good pro-life argument. There are a lot of people who could have been aborted, but have done terrible things with their life. We would have been better off without them.
You are right I may well have caused some hurt feelings on this site, and for that I will apologize. I understand now that I was speaking to a very young student.
Who really should apologize is her mother for not teaching her that SEX CREATES A NEW LIFE.
I think your extreme myopia is evidenced by your comment that I learned nothing about the sanctity of life from a house fly.
I would like some enlightenment about who, and on what basis decides that we are "saving the mothers life" rather than "forcing" her to bear children who shouldn't live? Rape is forcing. A morning after pill should be tried first and then, maybe electives might be permitted. Unprotected consensual sex is not forcing anybody to do anything.
What we, as a society fail to account for is the fathers of all of these unwanted children. My son is 32 years old and if nothing else, he knows that unprotected sex might make a new human being. It would then become TOTALLY his partners choice in whether she would kill his child, or sentence HIM to 18 years of child support for someone he could never even see!
Like I keep saying life begins at prophase and I believe in a woman's right to choose from the time she is conceived.:kiss
Who really should apologize is her mother for not teaching her that SEX CREATES A NEW LIFE.
What we, as a society fail to account for is the fathers of all of these unwanted children. My son is 32 years old and if nothing else, he knows that unprotected sex might make a new human being. It would then become TOTALLY his partners choice in whether she would kill his child, or sentence HIM to 18 years of child support for someone he could never even see!
Well, perhaps her father could teach her that SEX CREATES A NEW LIFE. (why is it always blamed on the mother?)
And as far as your 32 year old son, if he doesn't want to risk a partner having an abortion, he can keep it in his pants, get a vasectomy, or at least develop a good enough relationship with his partner BEFORE having sex, to know that she doesn't believe in abortion/wouldn't have an abortion. And just because it is "protected" doesn't mean a conception can't occur.
Unfortunately, to many people (men and women) don't think or care to muddy their relationships with that sort of thinking or responsible behavior - it's just not as much fun.
Ande women do not "sentence" men to child support. If men are negligent enough to have sex with women that they do not care for, WE AS A SOCIETY would like to insure that the child should suffer from that negligent behavior. As such, the man is sentencing HIMSELF.
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
Originally posted by fergus51
I think the argument that "well this person could have been aborted and they did good things with their life" is not a really good pro-life argument. There are a lot of people who could have been aborted, but have done terrible things with their life. We would have been better off without them.
Exactly!!!
Also, call me myopic, but, I personally can not look at a bunch of maggots and compare that to humans....sorry...that's like comparing oranges and apples or, hmmm, two different species...
But, if one DOES compare the two, I would bear in mind that flies/worms/maggots, etc, don't live the complex life that humans do, the consequences of a fly laying eggs are vastly different than a woman delivering a baby....JMHO
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
Originally posted by caroladybelle
Well, perhaps her father could teach her that SEX CREATES A NEW LIFE. (why is it always blamed on the mother?)
And as far as your 32 year old son, if he doesn't want to risk a partner having an abortion, he can keep it in his pants, get a vasectomy, or at least develop a good enough relationship with his partner BEFORE having sex, to know that she doesn't believe in abortion/wouldn't have an abortion. And just because it is "protected" doesn't mean a conception can't occur.
Unfortunately, to many people (men and women) don't think or care to muddy their relationships with that sort of thinking or responsible behavior - it's just not as much fun.
Ande women do not "sentence" men to child support. If men are negligent enough to have sex with women that they do not care for, WE AS A SOCIETY would like to insure that the child should suffer from that negligent behavior. As such, the man is sentencing HIMSELF.
You have so hit the nail on the head!
Why don't we talk about the father's more? Why aren't they held 100% accountable for THEIR actions??? Maybe it's b/k so many of them do the disappearing act when they hear the woman is pregnant...
And what is this antiquated notion that women "sentence" a man to child support?!?
Puhleeze....again, where IS the man's responsibility...if he's so eager to jump in bed w/a woman, well he can be just as eager to accept the responsibilities of parenthood! I mean, that's what we expect of women...they sleep w/someone (prepared or not), be prepared to shoulder the burden of parenthood...100%, right?
It's time to see babymaking as a two way street, and quit looking at the man as a "victim"...who "has" to pay child support for a child HE created.
Also, how many of these guys get girls pregnant and do stay around, only to offer to pay for an abortion...at least that group is acknowledging some type of responsibility...it's not just about the woman!
The idea in mentioning Hitler originally was to point out that the legality of an issue does not equal the morality. It was showing that an immoral thing (concentration camps) was legal but definitely not moral. Man's laws do not mean that I as a Catholic can not judge something as evil and immoral.
Mentioning old Hitler again . . . . where exactly was my post wrong about his beliefs? He wanted to force "perfect" women to have babies and wanted to force "imperfect" women to abort.
So he may have made abortion illegal for his chosen few but he certainly made it legal for all of the others.
Not sure how that makes my post wrong.
I'm all for making the men responsible for their part in creating a child. No one "sentences" a man to 18 years of child support. He knows that as soon as he unzips his pants and has sex, there is the possiblity of a child, even when you are using birth control. There is no 100% effective form of birth control except NOT doing it. Even sterilization can fail . . . even though that is remote.
When we talk about my son's sex education, you may not be aware that he was potty trained and taught how to walk and talk by his FATHER--yup ladies and gentlemen, I am MALE. I would gladly give my daughter (if I had one) the same gifts.
What makes my son so special to me is that when we first found out we were going to be parents it was 1971. Abortion was becoming a real option and the thought did cross my mind. As soon as I saw how thrilled she was at the good news I abandonded the thought.
I was in college with an undeclaired major. Since my wife was the only bread winner, it was a hardship to do without her income during pregancy. After all, we could always have another child later--NOT! When my son was three years old my wife had a huge ovarian tumor and had to have a pan hysterectomy.
Since my wife went back to work, I took night classes and spent ALL DAY, EVERY DAY with my son. By the time I got him potty trained I had declared a major in Psychology and enrolled him in the universitie's child care center. This was a co-op which meant student parents had to spend some hours every week working with fellow students children. So, while I was in class my son was in an enriched environment where undergrad and grad students came in to do "experiments" with him (they always had the parents sign a permission slip). So what I didn't learn in class, (my minor was in developmental psych) I learned during the time that I worked with other child care center children. This is an experience that I think all parents of only children should have. Yeah your kid is wierd, but so are all of the rest of them!
Thank you for pointing out my son's well-learned options in human sexuality, including the same respect for life that maggots and worms have.
gypsyatheart
705 Posts
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OK, I have to respond here, and I'm really not trying to be rude, but COME ON! Now we're comparing maggots to HUMANS??!!
And I believe the young lady you were responding to stated that she is only 20, and yet a student, as well as having an abortion herself. It almost sounds like she has a lot of experience with a foster child environment.
I'm sorry, but these are the kinds of posts/thoughts that totally irk me....you can't even show some compassion to a young woman who sounds troubled by what she's gone through, and what she's reading and what she's learning??
Like NICU Nurse put it....not every woman is fit and or capable or desiring of wanting to bring a child into this world....there are so many far out circumstances that affect people that you probably have no clue! And seeing how you so vehemently believe in choice, why don't you start letting women have that choice freely???
And, you know, like it hasn't been said before..."if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one".....
PS: Maybe what poster got her words mixed up,or maybe what she meant is that having an abortion saved HER life!!!