NEW YORK, April 8, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The partial-birth abortion ban trials are in their ninth day. Testimony Thursday in New York was provided by the Plaintiff’s key witness. The abortionist testified that he had performed abortion procedures on fetuses that were completely healthy, and whose mothers were also completely healthy. The abortionist also testified that there were no studies that show babies experience pain.
The abortionist related that he performs abortions up to the twenty-three weeks and six stage of fetal development. When he was questioned as to what he typically does when the baby’s head is stuck in the cervix, he indicated that sometimes when that happens he will pull off the baby’s head.
The abortionist continued his horrific testimony by saying: “I have continued to pull the body and the head comes off. I have also used scissors to pierce the base of the skull and suction out the brains, or I have also used an instrument to reach up and crush the skull.” The abortionist was asked: “Was there any indication because of the health of the mother, in the maternal health situations you listed, that made D-and-E the procedure you chose?” He answered: “No.” Q: “Have you ever in your career had a surgical abortion where the whole fetus came out without collapsing its skull?” A: “Yes, it has happened five to ten times, during the gestational age of sixteen to twenty-four weeks.” Q: “If a woman was seeking an abortion, would it be a concern that the intact fetus could live?” A: “Yes, especially if the fetus was the gestational age of twenty to twenty-four weeks.” The abortionist was also asked: “Would you perform a D-and-E even if you could get the whole fetus out? Would you continue with the abortion?” He responded: “If the mother wanted the abortion, I would do that procedure.”
The abortionist’s testimony indicated that although the Plaintiffs continue to claim that there are health benefits from removing an intact fetus, and that a more dilated cervix is safer than a less dilated cervix, the abortionists intentionally reduce dilation in order to ensure that the fetal head does not come out, because then they would have a live birth instead of a termination.
The abortionist testified that it’s safer for him to do a dismemberment D-and-E than an intact D-and-E. The abortionist also testified that in 99% of cases, the fetus is disarticulated (limbs ripped off) to some extent, because he said: “Even if just a foot is missing, it is disarticulated.”