Abortion: Victim Of Hysterotomy Abortion

ABORTION : VICTIM OF HYSTEROTOMY ABORTION

Last Updated : July 23, 2006

This abortion procedure (although comparatively rare) is
essentially the same as a caesarian section birth: the
mother's abdomen is cut open and the child - typically still
alive - is removed from the womb. The baby here is being
lifted by one foot: as the umbilical cord is clamped and
cut. In Britain, although there has always been a legal duty
of care towards a liveborn baby who survives an abortion,
there have been documented cases of such babies being left
to die.

Since 1990 legislation has allowed the deliberate
destruction of a child up to birth when a pregnancy is
terminated under the relevant grounds in the Abortion Act.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
(RCOG), the professional body to which most doctors
performing abortions belong, issued advice to its members in
a 1996 paper Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality.

They advised surgeons to take steps to kill the baby before
delivery, e.g. by cutting the umbilical cord to stop the
infant's oxygen supply. This was to avoid the risk of
possible legal action if a baby should be 'liveborn' and
then die after abortion.

The risks of hysterotomy for the mother have long been
known. They include peritonitis, rupture of the operation
scar in a future pregnancy, thrombosis and pulmonary
embolism (The [Lane] Report on the Working of the Abortion
Act, Vol 1, HMSO, 1974).

Source : Information taken from the SPUC.org.uk web site

Go Back . . .

Victim of partial birth abortion . . .