Partial-Birth Abortion

This abortion procedure involves completely delivering the baby’s body except for the head. While the head is still inside the mother, a sharp instrument is forced into the back of the baby’s head to make an opening for a suction instrument to siphon the brain out of the skull. After the brain is removed, the skull is crushed and the rest of the baby’s body is delivered.

Dr. James McMahon -- who claims to have invented the method -- and Dr. Martin Haskell, who wrote a monograph explaining how to perform the procedure that was distributed by the National Abortion Federation in 1992, have made statements to the press and published literature on brain suction abortions.

McMahon has circulated literature in which he refers to having done a "series" of "more that 2,000" abortions by the partial-birth method (which he calls "intact dilation and evacuation"). However, in an article by Karen Tumulty that appeared in the January 7, 1990 issue of Los Angeles Times Magazine, McMahon was quoted as saying, "Frankly, I don’t think I was any good at all until I had done 3,000 or 4,000," referring to abortions "in later pregnancies." In literature he has circulated seeking abortion referrals, McMahon strongly advocates the partial-birth method for late abortions, so one could assume that he uses this method on most of his late term abortions.

The baby feels pain in this "procedure."

Professor Robert White, Director of the Division of Neurosurgery and Brain research laboratory at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, told the Congressional Constitution Subcommittee, "The fetus within this time frame of gestation, 20 weeks and beyond, is fully capable of experiencing pain." Dr. White analyzed the partial-birth procedure step-by-step and concluded, "Without doubt, this is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure."

In an article discussing pain in connection to brain suction (partial-birth abortions), Paul Ranalli M.D., a neurologist in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto states that "intriguingly, far from being less able to detect pain, such premature newborns may be more sensitive to painful stimulation. He said that one study, regarding babies born under 30 weeks, indicates that it may be that "the newly established pain system is ‘raw’ and unmodified at such a tender age."