For years, Dr. David A. Grimes has written books and manuals, detailing how to perform abortions.
Now, however, he is roundly condemning pro-lifers for “dwelling” on those exact same details. In an article for RH Reality Check, Grimes writes, with Carole Joffe, that the pro-life movement is attempting another “public-relations success” with new proposed legislation that would ban D&E abortions:
[T]hat same playbook is being used again in Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota in a new campaign to outlaw yet another second-trimester abortion method, “dilation and evacuation” (D and E). Once again, the medical term for this procedure has been replaced by a garish one, “dismemberment abortion,” and once again, abortion opponents are hoping that dwelling on the details of this procedure will lead lawmakers to ban it.
Well, note to Dr. Grimes: pro-life advocates came upon the term “dismemberment abortion” because that’s exactly what a D&E abortion is. In short detail, a baby is literally ripped apart with metal instruments, limb by limb. While still alive, the baby is made into piecemeal and taken, bit by bit, out of her mother’s womb.
By all means, don’t take my word for it. Here’s a longer description of a D&E abortion, written by Dr. Anthony Levatino, who performed abortions for eight years:
A second-trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure. The baby can be in any orientation or position inside the uterus. Picture yourself reaching in with the Sopher clamp and grasping anything you can. At twenty weeks’ gestation, the uterus is thin and soft, so be careful not to perforate or puncture the walls. Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard – really hard. You feel something let go, and out pops a fully formed leg, about 4 to 5 inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again, and out pops an arm about the same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp, and tear out the spine, intestines, heart, and lungs.
The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby’s head. The head of a baby that age is about the size of a plum and is now free-floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it if the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush down on the clamp and see a pure white gelatinous material issue from the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. If you have a really bad day like I often did, a little face may come out and stare back at you.
D&E Abortion Procedure via NRLC.
Once again, maybe pro-lifers are calling these abortions “dismemberment abortions” because that’s exactly what they are. If Grimes really believes in, as he claims, “the shared decision-making that is every patient’s right,” why isn’t he providing these details to the women who come in for a D&E abortion? Why is he so opposed to the specifics getting out in the media, to the public, and to his potential patients?
Of course, Grimes is, in general, opposed to the idea of free speech. One of his ideas includes “punishing” legislators who propose bans on dismemberment/D&E abortions. He writes: “How about a $10,000 fine, imprisonment for up to two years, or both?”
Could Grimes’ disdain for abortion facts being made public stem from the reality that ripping a baby apart – dismembering him – actually is inhumane, violent, and unspeakably cruel? Could it be because if Americans ever found out exactly what happens during an abortion, many more would be vehemently opposed?
Could it be because “dwelling on the details” paints an accurate picture of the humanity of the preborn child?
After all, when you start hearing about tiny legs, arms, and a crushed head being pulled out of a woman, you start realizing that we really are talking about a separate body, a separate individual, a separate person when we talk about any kind of abortion.
