[Munchkin03]

"Coreen Costello, a full-time mother of two, testified to Congress: "When I was seven months pregnant I was having premature contractions. . . . During an ultrasound, the physician became very silent. . . . My husband reassured me that we could deal with whatever was wrong. We had talked about raising a child with disabilities. We were willing to take whatever God gave us. . . . My doctor . . . informed me that they did not expect our baby to live. She was unable to absorb any amniotic fluid and it was puddling into my uterus. . . . This poor precious child had a lethal [neuromuscular disease] and had been unable to move for almost two months. The movements I had been feeling . . . had been nothing more than bubbles and fluid." For Coreen and her husband, who were both pro-life, terminating the pregnancy was not an option. "I wanted her to come on God's time. I did not want to interfere." Later doctors discovered that the baby's body was stuck in a transverse position, wedged against her cervix. "Due to swelling, her head was already larger than that of a full-term baby. Natural birth or induced labor were not possible. I considered a caesarean section, but experts at Cedars-Sinai Hospital were adamant that the risks to my health . . . were too great. . . . The doctors all agreed that our only option was the intact D&E procedure. [Afterward] my husband and I held her tight and sobbed. . . We memorized every inch of her tiny body. . . She wasn't missing part of her brain. There was no hole from scissors. There was a needle hole covered with a regular band-aid on the back of her head. She looked peaceful. . . . I had one of the safest, gentlest, and most compassionate ways of ending a pregnancy that had no hope." Coreen became pregnant again, and recently gave birth to a healthy son."

Also, in "Abortion, Law, and Health," an article published by the New England Journal of Medicine (I'd assume they were pretty balanced, without some major bias one way or the other), NOTHING is mentioned of the word "scissors," and the description is more similar to that of Mrs. Costello's than of the diagram posted above. One of the reasons that this procedure is preferred by doctors is that it leaves the baby in a better condition than in other procedures, allowing for an examination of the body afterwards. Also, it leaves the remains in a better condition for funeral and burial.

If someone can give me concrete evidence from an established, reputable medical journal, that women are having this procedure out of convenience, I would be more than happy to see this. Until then, however, I believe that these procedures are a last resort, and they are used for crisis pregnancies in which the life and future fertility of the mother are in danger.

I would have no problem with the diagram if it truly portrayed what happened. I volunteer at clinics, and I'm used to seeing the pictures of aborted fetuses that anti-choicers hurl at the women going into the clinics.