Americans should applaud the new abortion legislation proposed in states like Virginia and New York. That’s because, in bowing to a progressive agenda, these bills are exposing abortion for what it is: death.
Several states already support abortion up until birth. But only now are Americans causing an uproar over them. That’s because certain politicians appear to not only support and celebrate unrestricted abortion, but also expand it to include newborns. Infanticide. That isn’t something that just concerns the pro-life movement and Republicans. It’s detached from Democrats. It’s out of touch with Americans. It’s atrocious to human beings.
Or it should be.
Americans expressed horror Jan. 28 when Democratic delegate Kathy Tran introduced a Virginia bill she said would allow abortion even while a woman is in labor. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, made more waves two days later during a WTOP interview where he defended the bill – and suggested leaving babies to die after birth.
“It’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s nonviable. If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam said. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
His comments came days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) on Jan. 22. Among other things, the New York law allows late-term abortion “at any time” to “protect a patient’s life or health.” The RHA also repealed protections for born babies that survive failed abortions.
Then there are other states, like Rhode Island, that are making headlines for bills that would repeal bans on partial-birth abortion.
Politicians promote these state laws for a myriad of reasons, from codifying Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, to making abortion more easily accessible in the name of women’s rights. In doing so, they beg the question the pro-life movement champions: When does life begin? The recent commentary and legislation from politicians does something else too: they remove the dissociation between the born and the unborn, death and abortion.
Abortion, and how it works, is something the media rarely detail. Dr. Anthony Levatino, an obstetrician-gynecologist who has performed more than 1,200 abortions, spoke about abortion with pro-life group Live Action in 2016. He described a third trimester induced abortion “which is performed 25 weeks to term.”
“At this point, the baby is almost fully developed and viable, meaning he or she could survive outside the womb if the mother were to go into labor prematurely,” he began. As the New York Times has previously reported, studies show that babies can survive at 22 weeks.
At the beginning, an abortionist “uses a large needle to inject a drug called digoxin” that “will cause fatal cardiac arrest,” Levatino continued. The needle goes “through the woman’s abdomen or through her vagina and into the baby, targeting either the head, torso, or heart” and “pierces the baby’s body.” The unborn baby’s life ends.
Then the abortionist “inserts multiple sticks of seaweed called lamineria into the woman’s cervix” which will “slowly open up the cervix for delivery of a stillborn baby.” A couple days later, the abortionist “replaces the laminaria and may perform a second ultrasound to ensure the baby is dead.” If he or she isn’t, the doctor will administer more digoxin.
The mother may end up giving birth at a home or hotel, he said, in which case “she may be advised to deliver her baby into a bathroom toilet.” But “if she can make it to the clinic, she will do so during her severest contractions.” He concluded, “if the baby does not come out whole,” then the abortionist “uses clamps and forceps to dismember the baby piece by piece.”
And unborn babies do have pieces by the third trimester – just like born babies. According to the Mayo Clinic, even in the second trimester, they already have fingerprints and can suck their thumbs. In the third trimester, they grow fingernails, detect light, and practice breathing.
Yes, there may be instances where the fetus has serious health conditions or the mother’s life is threatened. But that doesn’t appear to be the focus of new legislation that fails to detail circumstances where late-term abortion is permitted, or, as in Virginia, tries to reduce the number of physicians who agree on the necessity of abortion (if that even exists).
The legislation also overlooks millions of Americans. A Gallup poll released in June found 48% of Americans identify as pro-life, which is the same percentage of citizens that call themselves pro-choice. A Jan. 15 Marist poll showed 75% of Americans want abortion restricted to the first three months of pregnancy. Americans cherish a culture of life, and their outcry for the unborn human person is a cause for hope – hope that life might one day champion death.