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The Supreme Court has decided to rule on a 2003 federal law banning partial birth abortion (Washington Post: Abortion Case to Test New Justices). In other words, "It's ON!"??

You can bet the farm that N.O.W., Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and Hilary Clinton will be lined up to put forward their opinion of how this case should be decided. On the other side, James Dobson, the American Family Association, the ACLJ, and most Evangelicals will be presenting their position just as fervently.

Before this debate goes any further, let's start with an understanding of what "partial birth abortion" is, from a medical standpoint. Both sides should agree that it is a "medical procedure," regardless of what else it may be.

The following instructions/descriptions of the procedure are taken from a paper entitled Second Trimester Abortion: From Every Angle, available here as a PDF. It was presented at the Fall Risk Management Seminar of the National Abortion Federation in September of 1992. Though it was presented 14 years ago, the medical details remain largely the same. Dr. Martin Haskell is the author.

In a 1993 interview, Haskell said he used to perform dismemberment abortions (definition, also called D&Es) up to 24 weeks. He went on to say,

But they were very tough. Sometimes it was a 45-minute operation. I noticed that some of the later D&Es were very, very easy. So I asked myself why can't they all happen this way. You see the easy ones would have a foot length presentation, you'd reach up and grab the foot of the fetus, pull the fetus down and the head would hang up and then you would collapse the head and take it out. It was easy. . . . Then I said, "Well gee, if I just put the ultrasound up there I could see it all and I wouldn't have to feel around for it." I did that and sure enough, I found it 99 percent of the time. Kind of serendipity.

Below is his description, along with illustrations (available here), of this procedure that he now "routinely performs… on all patients 20 through 24 weeks," or 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 months pregnant. I will summarize as necessary, but will use exact quotes as often as possible. I will avoid block quotes for the sake of readability.

When you hear "partial birth abortion," think of this procedure:

The patient goes in two days before the surgery for preliminary preparation of the cervix. She returns the second day for further preparation and dilation of the cervix. On the third day, the patient is given Pitocin, the cervix is prepared, and the "membranes are ruptured, if they are not already." "The surgical assistant places an ultrasound probe on the patient's abdomen and scans the fetus, locating the lower extremities."

"The surgeon introduces a large grasping forcep [sic]… through the vaginal and cervical canals into the corpus of the uterus. Based upon his knowledge of fetal orientation, he moves the tip of the instrument carefully towards the fetal lower extremities. When the instrument appears on the sonogram screen the surgeon is able to open and close its jaws to firmly and reliably grasp a lower extremity."

"The surgeon then applies firm traction to the instrument causing a version of the fetus (if necessary) and pulls the extremity into the vagina." Continue reading this post »