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On 9 Oct 2003 at 17:54, Rayilyn Brown wrote: > I thought "partial birth abortion" referred to late term abortions > performed if in the opinion of the doctor the mother's life was in > danger or the fetus wasn't viable, e.g., it had no brain. Please > correct me if I am wrong. "Partial birth abortion" is a procedure where a pregnancy is terminated by mechanically extracting an unborn baby after the *birth* process has started. Such abortions are performed late in pregnancy (third trimester), and, because the head is large, the baby cannot be removed without puncturing the skull (which is soft in a baby) and sunctioning out the contents (brain). The puncture of the skull and the sucking out of the brain is *probably* painless to the baby; although I am not so sure about the pulling on the rest of the baby's body (to get it so that the head can be punctured) is painless. In cases where the baby is grossly malformed (such as the anencephaly described by Rayilyn, many would argue that this procedure is justified (although it seems strange that such gross fetal malformations are not diagnosed earlier in the pregnancy and the abortions carried out earlier). But this is not the usual case with "partial birth abortions". They are usually employed in pregnancies which are perfectly healthy, but in which the mother, for whatever reason, decided "late" to have an abortion (when the baby was actually viable!). Some states restrict the performance of abortion to the first and second trimester of pregnancy (allowed by Roe v Wade); but other states, like my state, California, permit abortion right up until the time of full delivery of a full-term baby. Seems rather strange that a few inches (passage of a small part of the baby through the birth canal can change the organism from a "piece of tissue" (something which can be killed and discarded) to a human being (which must be protected). BTW, none of this discussion really has anything to do with stem cell research, which is yet another issue. Best, Bob ********************************************** Robert A. Fink, M. D., F.A.C.S., P. C. 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222 Berkeley, California 94704-2636 Telephone: 510-849-2555 FAX: 510-849-2557 WWW: http://www.rafink.com/ mailto:[log in to unmask] "Ex Tristitia Virtus" ********************************************* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn