Comments on: Don’t Get Cocky, NYT Editors! Los Angeles Times Editors Also Know How to Regurgitate Talking Points from the Left!

By: Patterico’s Pontifications » A Discussion of Abortion — Part Four: When Does a Fetus Resemble a Baby?

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:18:42 +0000

[...] Look at that last picture. Try not to be blinded by ideology and just ask yourself, as a human being: are you comfortable with stabbing that creature in the head with a pair of scissors and sucking out its brains? Because we allow that every year in this country, on normal fetuses aborted by women whose reasons for doing so are usually not medical in nature. [...]

By: Regret

Regret — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

“…or 2) “my ass.” And I’m afraid that neither one constitutes a very impressive source.”

Well, there’s another example of making a claim without a source. Don’t you have any pictures?

By: Stephen Duncan Jr

Stephen Duncan Jr — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I think you’re being quite unfair to the way pro-choice people use the statistics. The section that you didn’t bold from the Post is the germane data:

“Only in the small subgroup of women whose abortions are done extremely late — in the last one-third of gestation — are most of the fetuses malformed, and most of the pregnancies initially desired.”

That’s the info I’ve always heard from pro-choice advocates. That late-term (last third) abortions are generally done due to malformed fetuses, and that the woman’s life is frequently in danger. Never has the claim been made to me, at least, that this was true of “partial-birth abortion” techniques in the middle third.

It’s not an issue of anyone attempting to be misleading. It’s the sad, frequent case of talking at cross-purposes: what’s the real topic? The techniques (D&E) or 3rd trimester abortions?

I for one, was indeed not aware that D&E was used frequently in 2nd trimester abortions, and it’s something I’ll have to look into now.

By: Patterico

Patterico — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Where to begin?

Here is an article from the Canberra Times that says:

However, from 1998 to 2002, there were 377 late-term abortions - classified as more than 20 weeks (of which 16 were performed at 24 weeks or later). The mother’s “mental health” was the most common reason for late- term abortions, with 196 recorded in the five years.

The proponents of late-term abortion always insist the majority of late-term abortions are done almost entirely for severe congenital abnormalities. In fact most late-term abortions in South Australia are of healthy foetuses.

The article makes two points relevant to our discussion:

1) Contrary to your definition of “late-term” abortions as taking place solely in the third trimester, the article classifies “late-term” abortions as abortions occurring after 20 weeks. That includes about two months of the second trimester, since the third trimester lasts from weeks 28 to 40.

2) The article provides further evidence that most late-term abortions are of healthy fetuses — exactly what the sources I quoted say.

This may explain why, in the sources I quoted, “pro-choice” groups do indeed claim that late-term abortions are generally of malformed fetuses — an untrue claim made by partisans.

As far as I know, partial-birth abortion and dismemberment within the womb are simply alternative techniques for performing late-term abortions. Which technique is used is generally a preference of the individual doctor. If you have different information, let me know.

By: Patterico's Pontifications » L.A. Times Deception on Rehnquist’s Legacy

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

[...] orial is its obeisance to the talking points of the abortion lobby. (Readers of this blog