In addition to being an abortionist, Lisa Harris is also a mother. In a startling account, Harris matter-of-factly recalls an abortion she committed on a baby who was about 18 weeks gestation — exactly the same age as the pre-born child she was carrying in her own womb. The story comes from a 2008 piece she published in the journal, Reproductive Health Matters:
As I reviewed her chart I realized that I was more interested than usual in seeing the fetal parts when I was done, since they would so closely resemble those of my own fetus. I went about doing the procedure as usual, removed the laminaria I had placed earlier and confirmed I had adequate dilation.
In her cold and clinical manner, Harris recalls the steps she took to carry out the abortion. She suctioned the amniotic fluid. She used forceps to reach into the woman’s uterus and rip off fetal parts. It was these parts that Harris was “more interested than usual” to examine, so that she could form a better mental image of what her own in-tact baby looked like. She says she “felt lucky” that the baby was in a position that allowed her to easily grasp the baby’s arms and legs with her forceps.
At the moment Harris ripped off the baby’s leg, her own baby kicked her forcefully:
I could see a small foot hanging from the teeth of my forceps. With a quick tug, I separated the leg.
Precisely at that moment, I felt a kick – a fluttery “thump, thump” in my own uterus. It was one of the first times I felt fetal movement.
At this point, the reader begins to wonder whether Harris is really human. Can a person be so callous that, instead of human compassion for the dying child, they feel curiosity — even luck? Apparently, Harris’ own body was more aware of the proper human reaction to that scenario than her “conscious brain” was:
There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a “thump, thump” in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes – without me – meaning my conscious brain – even being aware of what was going on.
I felt as if my response had come entirely from my body, bypassing my usual cognitive processing completely. A message seemed to travel from my hand and my uterus to my tear ducts.
Far from lamenting the tragedy, Harris uses the story to express pity for herself and other abortionists whom she believes suffer from the movement’s failure to talk about these tiny but fully-formed body parts. Live Action News contributor Sarah Terzo quoted the piece written by Harris in 2008.
Harris concluded her piece by lamenting that the pro-choice movement has left providers to suffer in silence because it has “not owned up to the reality of the fetus, or the reality of fetal parts.” Indeed, it often insists that images used by the pro-life movement are faked.
Having children did, according to Harris, awaken some of her humanity to the reality of her profession. She recalls her job becoming “sadder” amid the struggle of beholding her healthy, live infant’s small baby parts juxtaposed with the dismembered, lifeless and limp parts of the babies she killed. Nevertheless, Harris did not give up her profession despite this “sadness.”
