Repeal the 8th Lie No. 15 – Abortion up to birth is a fiction.

llNo, this has to be false because in reality, abortion occurs in many countries right up to the moment of birth, including Britain as any basic google search will confirm. Want to skip the google search? The facts below should help clear up the false allegations around this pro-choice lie.

This allegation was subject to a debate Newstalk’s Pat Kenny (31/3/16) Show hosted. The abortion debate was between pro-choice Senator Ivana Bacik and the Pro-Life Campaign’s Cora Sherlock. The two got into a heated dispute when Sherlock accused Bacik of supporting abortion up to birth, and claimed that there are many jurisdictions which allow late term abortions. Bacik rejected this, and told Sherlock to “stop lying”.

Given that repeal the 8th supporter, Senator Ivana Bacik has been campaigning for abortion for years, one would think that she would have informed herself on the law on this issue of late term abortions in other countries including the UK. It seems however that this is not the case.

The issue was Factchecked by the Journal.ie who not surprisingly confirmed the fact that abortion is indeed available up to birth in many jurisdictions including England and Wales.

The Journal.ie found from a basic search that in 54 jurisdictions in 22 countries abortion is legal up to birth, including some of the world’s most populous nations.

The following is a transcript of the conversation on the program

Ivana Bacik: No, of course I don’t. Nobody does. That’s utter nonsense…I support the sort of sensible time limits that you have in every other European jurisdiction.

Cora Sherlock: But you know, there are many jurisdictions which allow abortion up to birth, so do you support that?

IB: No there aren’t, Cora. You know it, and I know it…No Cora, there aren’t. Just stop lying.

CS: I don’t have the list of countries, here, where that happens.

IB: No of course you don’t, because it just doesn’t happen.

As stated above any basic google search would have confirmed that abortion is available in many countries, including Britain, right up to the moment of birth. For instance the aborting of child diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome and cleft palate up the moment of birth has been much reported in British media and the fact that pro-choice Senator Bacik would state on national television that this is not the case is shocking.

Are late-term abortions rare?

Sadly, not as rare as people would think. Late-term abortions, or post-viability abortions are abortions that usually take place between 22 weeks through the third trimester. Doctors will be quick to say that “late-term” is not the technical term for these abortions, however, they describe quite well abortions that are performed late in pregnancy and often after when that baby is viable, or can survive outside of the womb.¹

Pro-choice activists will argue that late-term abortions are rare and only done when there is serious risk to the mother’s health, the health of the baby or health of both. This is simply untrue.

As the links below show, late-term abortions are happening globally and the US and Holland are two of the biggest offenders. In the US, more than 12,000 abortions, of their 1 million performed in 2011, happened after 21 weeks. That is 1.3%. ² That may not look like a large number, but that’s the same amount of people living in Castlebar, Co. Mayo in 2011.³

In Holland, abortions are available up to 24 weeks and in some circumstances up to the moment of birth, sounds like a late-term abortion, does it not? In 1998 the Fink method was used for aborting late-term pregnancies. This method involves the use of forceps to dismember the child one piece at a time. From that year 4,847 abortions were from the second trimester which is 18% of the abortions for residence of the Netherlands.⁴

The common misconception surrounding abortions, and in particular late-term abortions, is that the “foetus” cannot feel anything, therefore it does not matter that they are brutally killed. However, an unborn baby can feel pain at 20 weeks,⁵ but for some reason it is legal for their dismemberment past 20 weeks. Not only can they feel pain, but at 23-24 weeks that child can survive outside of the womb.⁶

There is no question that it is extremely risky for a premature baby to survive outside the womb, but advancements in medicine have shown us that they can, and yet for some reason a viable child can have their lives terminated at 21 weeks and in some jurisdictions up until birth?

What reasons are there to have a late-term abortion?

The real reasons for seeking a late-term abortions are not at all what you may think. It is no secret that pro-choice advocates, such as Jen Gunter, an American OBGYN, say that late-term abortions are only performed for ‘very severe’ birth defects, but that is simply not true.

A study carried out by the Guttmacher Institute on women who had obtained a late-term abortion found the main reasons for obtaining same were:

“They were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous.”

The study data did not include woman who were having abortions “on grounds of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” ⁷ Meaning that of those in the survey, none of them were pursuing late-term abortions for medical reasons.

It is unbelievable how the pro-choice advocates flash the most extreme and saddening reasons for late-term abortions to the cameras, when in reality they are not the majority of reasons why women actually have late-term abortions. Late discovery of pregnancy and trouble finding a provider or the funds for abortions are illegitimate reasons to get one, especially to get one after 20 weeks.8 The real reasons are fixable, treatable, but should not be at the cost of the unborn baby’s life.

The Cover Up

The hypocrisy of it all, is that the Repeal the 8th movement argue that these abortions do not happen, just as repealer Ivana Bacik did. She is not the only one though, Dr. Aaron B. Caughey, the chairman of obstetrics and gynaecology at Oregon Health and Science University claimed that third trimester abortions or abortions up to the moment of birth are not happening in the US, when clearly they are.

The famous US late-term abortionist Dr. Warren Hern advertises for third-trimester or late-late-term abortions right on his website. In a book he wrote, he said that the reasons for the third trimester abortions which he performs are for various reasons. However he states, “At times, medical considerations enter into the picture, but decisions are usually made on the basis of such factors as desire or lack of desire for parenthood, stability of relationships, educational status, emotional status, or economic status, among others.” ⁹And still those who lobby for the repeal the 8th amendment argue late-term abortions aren’t happening?

England is no better than the US. “Jane Ellison, the public health minister, says the British parliament has not adequately defined the term “serious handicap” in its abortion laws, which has led to a loophole by which babies with very minor disabilities can be aborted after the 24-week legal limit.”10 As statistics have shown, such loophole has led to over 2,600 babies to be aborted in 2012 on the grounds that there was “substantial risk” that the baby would be “seriously handicapped”. To make this fact worse, 160 of those abortions occurred at 24 weeks.11

See here how late-term abortions are carried out.

1 https://www.dailydot.com/irl/late-term-abortion/

2 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/21/doctors-trump-wrong-late-abortions/92515324/

3 http://www.cso.ie/en/census/census2011reports/census2011populationclassifiedbyareaformerlyvolumeone/

4 Pryor, M. 2001. “Abortion in the Netherlands: Why Holland has the lowest abortion rate in the Western World.” Wellington: Marilyn Pryor.

5 http://www.doctorsonfetalpain.com/

6 http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pregnancy-weeks-21-22-23-24.aspx

7 Foster, Diana (December 2013). “Who Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks?”. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 45 (4): 210–218. doi:10.1363/4521013. Retrieved 9 September 2014. https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4521013.html

8 https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4521013.html

9 ‘Warren Hern Abortion Practice’ (Philadelphia: J Lippincott, 1990) 39.

10 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10759079/Abortions-are-not-for-minor-disabilities-says-minister.html

11 Ibid