Posted on 11/16/2003 8:01:43 AM PST by kattracks
For years the pro-choice crowd defended partial birth abortion as an absolute last resort; certainly not a decision any woman or her doctor would take lightly.But at least one practitioner of the grisly procedure discussed the topic recently in almost matter-of-fact tones - and dared Attorney General John Ashcroft to prosecute him under the new law banning the operation.
NewsMax.com's Fr. Mike Reilly reports that Dr. Warren Hern described a partial birth abortion he performed for MSN.com readers on October 22, 2003.
"Earlier this year, I began an abortion on a young woman who was 17 weeks pregnant," recalled Hern.
"Because of the two days of prior treatment, the amniotic membranes were visible and bulging. I ruptured the membranes and released the fluid to reduce the risk of amniotic fluid embolism."
The doctor's account turned gruesome as he decried the baby's life being snuffed out.
"Then I inserted my forceps into the uterus and applied them to the head of the fetus, which was still alive, since fetal injection is not done at that stage of pregnancy. I closed the forceps, crushing the skull of the fetus, and withdrew the forceps."
The baby, now dead, "slid out more or less intact," Hern noted. "With the next pass of the forceps, I grasped the placenta, and it came out in one piece. Within a few seconds, I had completed my routine exploration of the uterus and sharp curettage."
Dr. Hern said the loss of blood was minimal and that his patient, who was awake, hardly felt the operation.
"Did I do a 'partial-birth' abortion?" the abortionist asked MSN readers. "Will John Ashcroft prosecute me?"
What really pains me is that we have politicians and interest groups in this nation who support and defend this horrible procedure.
And what of the Hippocratic oath. I read this oath and can, in no way, understand how this procedure squares with the oath that all physicians take.
"You do solemnly swear, each man by whatever he holds most sacred
That you will be loyal to the Profession of Medicine and
That you will lead your lives and practice your art in uprightness and honor
That into whatsoever house you shall enter, it shall be for the good of the sick to the utmost of your power, you holding yourselves far aloof from wrong, from corruption, from the tempting of others to vice
That you will exercise your art solely for the cure of your patients, and will give no drug, perform no operation, for a criminal purpose, even if soliCited, far less suggest it
That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the lives of men which is not fitting to be spoken, you will keep inviolably secret
These things do you swear. Let each man bow the head in sign of acquiescence
And now, if you will be true to this, your oath, May prosperity and good repute be ever yours, the opposite, if you shall prove yourselves forsworn."
It's not Newsmax's fault that this POS Doctor takes great pride in destroying the lives of unborn babies, is it?
Please define "sensationalistic." As I read the doctor's words, I fail to see where NewsMax is sensationalizing anything. The doctor is clearly teasing the issue and he's the one who brought up Ashcroft. Your backhanded jab at NewsMax for sharing this story is unwarranted. Is it agenda driven, perhaps?
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