Woman 'heard baby gasping'

Herald Sun ^ | 17 July 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

A WOMAN today wiped away tears as she recalled in a Sydney court her cousin's baby gasping for breath after being born four months prematurely.

It is alleged the baby's mother was unlawfully given abortion drugs by doctor Suman Sood, who is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

Dr Sood, 56, has pleaded not guilty to the baby's manslaughter and to two charges of procuring an illegal abortion.

Abortion is legal in NSW if, taking into account the patient's medical, social and economic circumstances, a doctor is satisfied that the pregnancy would endanger her life or physical or mental health.

In this case, it is alleged the abortion was illegal because DrSood did not assess whether the procedure was necessary to protect the mother's life or wellbeing.

The court has heard the 20-year-old patient was five months pregnant when she sought an abortion from Dr Sood.

Today's witness, who cannot be named, said she went with her cousin to Dr Sood's Fairfield clinic for her first appointment on May 18, 2002.

Dr Sood told her cousin to return two days later "to take tablets to get the procedure started", she said.

The woman said she spoke on May 20 to her cousin, who told her the doctor had given her two tablets, one orally and one vaginally.

Prosecutors allege the woman was given the drug prostaglandin in preparation for a termination, but Dr Sood has denied that she supplied the drug or agreed to perform an abortion.

The woman said she was at her cousin's house when she gave birth in the bathroom toilet early on May 21 to a boy.

An ambulance was called and the mother was taken to hospital.

The baby was initially thought to be dead.

The woman said she and her cousin were in the maternity ward when a nurse "said that the baby was still gasping for air and (asked) if we wanted the baby to be brought back into the room".

Her cousin was reluctant to see the baby, but the woman said she encouraged the nurse to bring him in.

She cried as she recalled holding the baby.

"Was it still gasping for air when you held it?" Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC asked.

"Yes," the woman replied.

The trial continues.

[Aussie Dasher]

Lock the b*tch up and throw away the key!!!!!

[sinanju]

I'm not worried about her punishment. The irony was that the abortionist's only crime was in not taking the time to properly certify that the woman's "emotional health" would be endangered if she carried the baby to term.

Sounds the the aussie laws and loopholes are similar to our own.

[Aussie Dasher]

They're as bad, in reality, as the US.

That's why we're all praying for another vacancy on SCOTUS. A change in the US on abortion will inevitably flow through to Australia.

[Atchafalaya]

I include one more appointment in my prayers too.

[LibertarianInExile]

Actually, if we get a shift of one judge, the U.S. will be more like Australia. You have abortion laws that vary state by state. That was what American abortion law was pre-Roe. That is what it will be if Roe is overturned.

Too many on BOTH sides have fallen for the nutjob leftist rhetoric that overturning Roe leads to an end to abortion. What it leads to is an end for federal judges' involvement in the abortion business.

[cvq3842]

Right - it goes back to the states. And it appears that in states like New York, New Jersey and California, "abortion on demand" would remain the rule. That's where the idea of "a culture of life" comes in - to convince the people and their legislators at the state level.

[Verax]

5 month old "glob of tissue"...

Week Twenty-Two

• Your baby weighs close to a pound at this point!
• Your baby can now hear your conversations more clearly than before!. When you talk, read, or sing, expect her to hear you. Studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero.
• Eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed.
• Fingernails have grown to the end of the fingers.
• Be prepared for all those "Why" questions coming! Your baby's brain has entered a stage of rapid growth, especially in what's called the germinal matrix. This structure deep in the middle of the brain serves as a kind of factory for brain cells and disappears shortly before birth. But the brain's amazing expansion program continues until around the five birthday.
• With some help from mom, baby's liver is starting to break down bilirubin, a substance produced by red blood cells.
• If your baby is male his testes begin their descent to the scrotum.
• Primitive sperm have formed and he is producing testosterone.
• Length is 10.94 inches (27.8cm); weight is nearly 1 pound (430gm).