Are Partial-Birth Abortions Common?
According to Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers (1997), and other sources, it appears that partial-birth abortions are performed 3,000 to 5,000 times annually. (Even those numbers may be low.) Based on published interviews with numerous abortionists, and interviews with Fitzsimmons in 1997, the vast majority of partial-birth abortions are performed in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy, on healthy babies of healthy mothers. Why is it called “Partial-Birth”? Under state laws, a live birth occurs when a baby is entirely expelled from the mother and shows any signs of life, however briefly — regardless of whether the baby is viable, i.e., developed enough to be sustained outside the womb with neo-natal medical assistance. Even at 4 months (20 weeks), perinatologists say that if a baby is expelled or removed completely from the uterus, she will usually gasp for breath and sometimes survive for hours, even though lung development is usu
