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.
Fergus51 -- one of the scary things to me is that many of the people who object to abortion DO also object to many of the available forms of birth control (some of the really extreme people consider *any* form of birth control to be immoral and unacceptable). Please notice, everyone, that I said "some," and am not making any sweeping generalizations! One would think that, if you objected strongly to abortion, you would be promoting contraception loud and long, in order to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. But. no, part of the greater plan seems to be to keep us all barefoot and pregnant ...
I am always bothered by the comments about how abortion "dehumanizes" women ... My thinking is, if my government can control my reproductive life and force me to bear a child I don't want, my government considers me nothing more than potting soil. Now, THAT is dehumanizing! Please allow me to make my own choices about my own life and body, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences, not the (well-meaning and sincere, I'm sure) do-gooders who are sure they know what's best for everyone. (I always get a kick out of the classic bumper sticker: "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a baby?")
I am also always bothered by the frequent assumption that the abortion issue is split along religious lines -- all Christians are pro-life, and only godless heathens would be pro-choice. I am a life-long, active, practicing, pro-choice Christian, a member of a pro-choice denomination, raised to be pro-choice by my mother (another RN) who is also a life-long, active, practicing Christian. There are many people out there who are pro-choice and also religious. But, the very vocal minority gets all the attention ...
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
This has already been stated, but I think it bears repaeating....:
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PARTIAL BIRTH/LATE TERM ABORTION and A PREMATURE BIRTH/FETAL DEMISE...be it induced or allowed to happen on it's own!! Why can't people understand that? Just because a woman delivers a baby that "looks normal" at say, 20 or 22 weeks, means nothing! That baby, sorry to say, is not going to survive. And, yes, it is heartbreaking that these tiny little beings are often born with signs of life and often it is hours before their systems shut down....but many, many times the parents are out of their minds with grief, some of them can not look at these babes, much less hold them! It is a tragedy...it is a death, and death is usually not well received, especially in OB.
Also, someome posted a lengthy discussion on pain and the neonate...uh, yes, noenates do feel pain, and many, many people do not opt to aggressively resucitate a 23-26 wkr, due to the poor outcome...please, please visit an NICU....really take some time and watch these micropremies....now that is heartbreaking when you see the torture those little ones endure....I don't think any "divine plan" calls for torturng tiny pre-term babies.
It also really bothers me that some people are soooo judgemental about a pregnant woman (and the father of the baby) having to make decision to terminate a pregnancy because of a fetal anomaly. How dare you insinuate that these women have a baby that they have already determined they are not capable of taking care of!?! Perhaps YOU feel that YOU would have the child and be perfectly capable of caring for it....good, if you ever find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance to be pregnant and told you have a child with a defect, by all means, have the baby and care for it, but don't insist that someone that you don't even know, do the same!
So, I think we at least need to acknowledge that there is a difference between a premature birth, d/t PROM, fetal anomaly, etc and a routine abortion, done out of convenience.
A true pregnancy loss is devastating, at any gestation, and believe me, the further into the pregnancy, the harder the loss!
As for the abortion issue itself, clearly I am pro-choice. I respect how pro-lifers feel and would appreciate it if they could do the same. I am sick and tired of many pro-lifers touting "their" morality and religous beliefs. Not everyone has the same views...you are entitled to yours and vice versa.
In the vein of abortions, I think having an elective late term abortion/partial birth abortion is horrible, I personally could never do that. In fact, in my area, they aren't even performed(electively).
Bottom line is: if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one....
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
Originally posted by SarahCeleste
As nurses, we are taught that the age of viability is 20 weeks---
Abortion is not an option, it is a consequence of your actions. :stone
Sorry, SarahCeleste....a 20 wk fetus is NOT viable! See NICUNurse's excellent post!
Also, sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, abortion IS an OPTION... maybe not for you, but for many. many women it is...and guess what, whether you like it or not it is their choice to make.
Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.
Originally posted by elkpark
Fergus51 -- one of the scary things to me is that many of the people who object to abortion DO also object to many of the available forms of birth control (some of the really extreme people consider *any* form of birth control to be immoral and unacceptable). Please notice, everyone, that I said "some," and am not making any sweeping generalizations! One would think that, if you objected strongly to abortion, you would be promoting contraception loud and long, in order to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. But. no, part of the greater plan seems to be to keep us all barefoot and pregnant ...
I am always bothered by the comments about how abortion "dehumanizes" women ... My thinking is, if my government can control my reproductive life and force me to bear a child I don't want, my government considers me nothing more than potting soil. Now, THAT is dehumanizing! Please allow me to make my own choices about my own life and body, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences, not the (well-meaning and sincere, I'm sure) do-gooders who are sure they know what's best for everyone. (I always get a kick out of the classic bumper sticker: "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a baby?")
I am also always bothered by the frequent assumption that the abortion issue is split along religious lines -- all Christians are pro-life, and only godless heathens would be pro-choice. I am a life-long, active, practicing, pro-choice Christian, a member of a pro-choice denomination, raised to be pro-choice by my mother (another RN) who is also a life-long, active, practicing Christian. There are many people out there who are pro-choice and also religious. But, the very vocal minority gets all the attention ...
Open question to all that have posted pro-choice on this bb:
What is your opinion on 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions for convenience?
Tammy
As birth control, no it's not right. But it's also not my body like i've said (over and over and over and over...), and not my decision to make. I have NO right to be telling people what THEY should do.
Just like none of the protesters outside of the building had the right to scream in my face that i was going to burn in hell, that they hoped i'd die a painful death, etc, because i chose to late-term abort a baby that had major brain abnormalities. Ajd i'd do it all over again if i had that moment to relive.
And rarely am i a Bible quoter, since to me that book represents a personal relationship that i rarely let others in on, but one quote sums it all up here on this thread for me:
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment that you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
from Matthew 7:1
No flames for that please, it just sums up the way i feel about some of the prolifers in this world.
As a women yes I agree it is our body...but It seems crazy to me that we would not allow anyone to hurt a newborn baby, even though the only difference in it and a late term abortion is that the baby is outside of the womb....if it is viable it is wrong.
Even though abortion is not right for me, I do not advocate making early abortion illegal , but it is the late term abortions that get to me. You can argue that not many are done but in my book even one is too many. I also have a problem with people being upset with the fact that we would like women to be informed on what they are doing in having an abortion. Unbiased information with an ultrasound in my book is only informed consent. Many of the lay public do not realize that a fetus even as little as 12 -16 weeks is fully formed with fingers...toes...not just a clump of cells. I think any women wanting an abortion should know that, so they could make an informed consent. We also need to be honest with women that having an abortion is not without emotional consequences for most.
I have no problem with women being informed about abortion, just as I hope they would make an effort to find out all they could about *any* medical procedure they are going to have. My problem is that the "providing information" gambit appears to be a thinly disguised effort to put another delay/stumbling block in the way of women who are trying to get an abortion. Why else the required waiting periods, etc.? The pro-life folks, having been unable so far to get the procedure outlawed outright, are working assiduously in all the states to get laws passed that put as many delays, stumbling blocks, hoops (to jump through), etc., as possible in the way of getting the procedure, to make it as difficult as possible. Do you truly believe that women who make the choice to schedule an abortion haven't ALREADY thought about it? What do you imagine, that pregnant women are walking by clinics and thinking, Hey! An abortion clinic -- that gives me an idea, I think I'll just go in and have an abortion!
I am really disturbed by the pro-life movement's attitude that they know best what huge, life-altering choices other people should make in their personal lives ... If you are pro-life, GREAT, good for you, you're welcome to feel that way, no one is going to make you have an abortion, no one is even going to make you (as a nurse) participate in an abortion if that's your preference. But, PLEASE, show the rest of us who don't agree with you the same basic respect and leave us alone!
My opinion about late procedures is that my opinion doesn't matter, and I don't know what particular woman's/family's situation is -- who am I to pass judgment on what is probably one of the most difficult and painful decisions they will ever have to make?
I am always bothered by the comments about how abortion "dehumanizes" women ... My thinking is, if my government can control my reproductive life and force me to bear a child I don't want, my government considers me nothing more than potting soil. Now, THAT is dehumanizing! Please allow me to make my own choices about my own life and body, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences, not the (well-meaning and sincere, I'm sure) do-gooders who are sure they know what's best for everyone. (I always get a kick out of the classic bumper sticker: "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a baby?")
I am also always bothered by the frequent assumption that the abortion issue is split along religious lines -- all Christians are pro-life, and only godless heathens would be pro-choice. I am a life-long, active, practicing, pro-choice Christian, a member of a pro-choice denomination, raised to be pro-choice by my mother (another RN) who is also a life-long, active, practicing Christian. There are many people out there who are pro-choice and also religious. But, the very vocal minority gets all the attention ... [/b]
Here, here! I think that your posts are very well written and are right on with the way I feel about this subject, I could not have said it better myself.
My God Elkpark! I think we share a brain. It's kind of freaking me out! Are you sure you aren't really me?
As far as late term abortions for convinience, I wouldn't have a problem with them never being performed, and have never worked where they were. If there are fetal anomolies or mom PROMs, then I say it's their choice to make. Until you are willing to find loving homes for all these children with serious health defects, I say don't judge the parents one way or another. I am big on adoption (was adopted myself), but you are kidding yourself if you think there is a big market for babies born with birth defects. Sadly most adopters want healthy white babies.
Now a question for the pro-lifers: Don't you think a more effective way of reducing the number of abortions would be to provide contraception and unbiased help for women who find themselves pregnant and alone, rather than yelling that people who believe abortion should be legal think like Nazis did? Just for the sake of effectiveness, I have found people are more willing to listen when they aren't being judged.
elkpark
14,633 Posts
Fergus51 -- one of the scary things to me is that many of the people who object to abortion DO also object to many of the available forms of birth control (some of the really extreme people consider *any* form of birth control to be immoral and unacceptable). Please notice, everyone, that I said "some," and am not making any sweeping generalizations! One would think that, if you objected strongly to abortion, you would be promoting contraception loud and long, in order to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. But. no, part of the greater plan seems to be to keep us all barefoot and pregnant ...
I am always bothered by the comments about how abortion "dehumanizes" women ... My thinking is, if my government can control my reproductive life and force me to bear a child I don't want, my government considers me nothing more than potting soil. Now, THAT is dehumanizing! Please allow me to make my own choices about my own life and body, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences, not the (well-meaning and sincere, I'm sure) do-gooders who are sure they know what's best for everyone. (I always get a kick out of the classic bumper sticker: "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a baby?")
I am also always bothered by the frequent assumption that the abortion issue is split along religious lines -- all Christians are pro-life, and only godless heathens would be pro-choice. I am a life-long, active, practicing, pro-choice Christian, a member of a pro-choice denomination, raised to be pro-choice by my mother (another RN) who is also a life-long, active, practicing Christian. There are many people out there who are pro-choice and also religious. But, the very vocal minority gets all the attention ...