Posted on 02/10/2002 9:47:57 PM PST by J.R.R. Tolkien
Doctor Troubled by Pain of Infants in Abortion
February 8, 2002
www.massnews.com
Letters to the Editor
Thomas V. Messe, M.D.
As a physician, I am always concerned about the level of pain my patients have. One group of people who never receive attention to their level of pain is unborn children. Many scientists have discovered that unborn children experience pain as early as seven weeks gestation. This has been shown by accelerations in their heart rate and brain waves during an abortion. There is no question that a baby in the 2nd and 3rd trimester experiences pain during an abortion. I would like to see legislation passed that makes women aware of fetal pain and gives them the option of receiving some sort of pain medicine during the procedure.
Saline abortions are probably the most painful procedures for infants. This technique is used after 16 weeks of pregnancy, when enough fluid has accumulated in the amniotic fluid sac surrounding the baby. A needle is inserted through the mothers abdomen and 50-250 ml (as much as a cup) of amniotic fluid is withdrawn and replaced with a solution of concentrated salt. The baby breathes in, swallowing the salt and is poisoned. The chemical solution also causes painful burning and deterioration of the babys skin. Usually, after about an hour, the child dies. The mother goes into labor about 33 to 35 hours after instillation and delivers a dead, burned, shriveled baby. About 97% of mothers deliver their dead babies within 72 hours.
The "Dilation and Extraction" (D&X), or "intact D&E" (IDE) is sometimes referred to as Partial Birth Abortion. This procedure is used on women who are 20- to 32-weeks pregnant -- or even later into pregnancy. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist reaches into the uterus, grabs the unborn babys leg with forceps and pulls the baby into the birth canal, except for the head, which is deliberately kept just inside the womb. (At this point in a partial-birth abortion, the baby is alive.) Then the abortionist jams scissors into the back of the babys skull and spreads the tips of the scissors apart to enlarge the wound.
After removing the scissors, a suction catheter is inserted into the skull and the babys brains are sucked out. The collapsed head is then removed from the uterus.
Animals in veterinarian offices and in research labs are not allowed to suffer like this. Why do we let members of our own race suffer in this fashion 1.5 million times a year? Lets make it a law that these victims receive anesthesia.
- Thomas V. Messe, M.D.
Groton, CT
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Oh yeah? Where are your sources? Now we know why some people die during the operation, their heart just cannot cope with the accelerated rate.
The unborn children do not sleep all the time and when being aborted they wake up. Do you really think that we are so stupid?
Expressed views such as this do great, irreparable harm to conservative thought. Threats of murder help no one. You are MUCH sicker than any abortionist, IMNSHO.
Oh, come on. He got the votes already.
My thoughts exactly. I don't understand why they both retracted what they said. Perhaps they preferred to be PC, and if that's the case, then shame on them.
Those pictures won't have a lasting impact on someone contemplating abortion.....!!!!
This is the affect of telling people what they can and cannot do. You have proved my argument. Tell someone that they cannot or must not do something, and you can be certain some will do it, just to defy your presumptuousness.
Hank, take a look at these pictures.
Don't worry Hank, they "won't have a lasting impact" on you. < /sarcasm >
You said, "How's that? Did you ask them?"
I could say, I remember. Fact is, you just didn't read what I said, which was this: "Accelerated heart rates and 'brain waves' occur in people under anesthesia when they are operated on. We know they feel no pain." The antecedent of "they" is "people under anesthesia," and they do not feel pain. Isn't that the whole point of anesthesia?
As for the unborn, there is no evidence that they "feel" anything, anymore than a person under anesthesia, who also reacts to what would be pain, if they could feel it. No one can actually perceive what a unborn experiences, and the visible evidence is proof of nothing. Most people would prefer to assume the worst in all cases, however. If the unborn feel pain, they must ask themselves, what their God's purpose would be for that, I mean other than pure cruelty. My God does no allow the unborn to feel pain.
Hank
An anesthetized person can often answer questions when asked, but is nevertheless, totally unconscious. Nerve processes do not equate to consciousness. No matter how much processing is going on, if the consciousnees is not awake, no pain is felt.
It is beginning to look to me like most of the people on this thread really hope the unborn do feel pain. What is the source of this morbid desire?
Hank
No, Hank. Most of the people on this thread don't want pre-born children to feel the pain of being dismembered or having a pair or scissors jammed into his skull and having his brains sucked out.
Not a chance. They wouldn't have time to do anything else.
As the great bulk of your posts prove.
Do you make it a habit of telling God what to do?
I will not post the relevant biblical passages to counter your notion that the "unborn" are insensate, but I will post this reference to a study which is counter to your intuition.
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