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ARLINGTON, VA (July 26, 2016) — As Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention today, national pro-life organization Live Action released a new video that exposes the cruel late-term abortion procedure Planned Parenthood and its political allies advocate using to end the lives of fully developed preborn children.
Planned Parenthood has consistently fought state and federal restrictions on late-term abortions and lobbies for abortion into the ninth month of pregnancy, up until the moment of birth. Many of the nation’s political leaders fully support its efforts.
In Live Action’s new four-minute Third Trimester Induction Abortion video, former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino uses medical animations to show how an abortion in the last trimester is done: with a long needle thrust into the baby or the amniotic sac to deliver a lethal dose of digoxin to cause cardiac arrest. At 25 weeks, the baby is fully developed, can usually survive outside of the womb, and can feel the pain of the long needle being thrust into her brain or heart.
Federal law makes it legal to abort babies into the ninth month. While some states have restrictions, all states allow abortion into the ninth month for certain exceptions, and eight states allow abortion until birth for any reason (Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington State).
“While the abortion industry claims that late-term abortions are an insignificant number of abortions and they’re only done because of a disability the baby has or to protect the life of the mother, the evidence says just the opposite,” said Lila Rose, Live Action’s president and founder.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2012 that 1.3 percent of abortions were committed at 21 weeks’ gestation and later. “With nearly one million abortions annually in the U.S., abortionists are killing close to 13,000 children every year who are often fully developed and can survive outside the womb. Instead of making their mark on the world, these children’s lives are brutally cut short during a violent late-term abortion,” Rose said.
Additionally, research published by the Guttmacher Institute found that most late-term abortions were not done for medical reasons — abortions for fetal abnormalities ‘make up a small minority’ of late-term abortions, and those for saving the mother’s life are even a smaller number.
Rose continued, “The abortion industry denies the science of fetal development and continues to advocate for aborting fully developed, viable children who can feel the pain of the abortionist’s needle that’s used to kill them.
“When Cecile Richards speaks at the Democratic National Convention, America sees Planned Parenthood’s extremist and cruel agenda on display. Cecile Richards tries to cover up the abortion agenda with euphemisms like ‘women’s health care’ and ‘reproductive rights,’ but Live Action developed this video to strip away the flowery language and force our nation’s leaders — regardless of party — to see the inhumanity and barbarism that Planned Parenthood is really advocating.”
Additional information:
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The New England Journal of Medicine reports that with medical intervention, the survival rate of babies born at 26 weeks is as high as 81 percent – with 75 percent of those children having no severe impairments.
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The claim that late-term abortions are mostly done for medical reasons isn’t backed by the evidence. Diana Greene Foster, professor at the University of California – San Francisco’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, is the author of a 2013 study published by the Guttmacher Institute that examined the reasons for late-term abortions. From FactCheck.org: “She said based on limited research and discussions with researchers in the field that abortions for fetal anomaly ‘make up a small minority of later abortions,’ and that those for life endangerment are even harder to characterize.”
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More than 1,000 OB/GYNs, neonatologists, and other physicians have concluded that abortion is never medically necessary to save a mother’s life. While life-saving treatment for a mother may result in the death of her preborn child, there is a fundamental difference between a woman receiving medical treatment for her condition versus choosing an abortion to directly end her pregnancy. (See the Dublin Declaration as well as video of Dr. Levatino explaining this.)
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While Planned Parenthood does not commit third trimester abortions itself, the abortion chain lobbies against restrictions on them, for example, with its call for abortion on demand with no restrictions and its opposition to abortion bans after 20 weeks, when medical science shows children in the womb can feel pain.
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Live Action’s “Abortion Procedures” video series garnered nearly 50 million views in their first four months of release, making them the most-viewed pro-life videos in history. All four videos, including this Third Trimester Induction Abortion video, can be viewed at AbortionProcedures.com.
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In May 2016, Live Action conducted a survey through national independent polling company Survey Monkey of 511 self-identified “pro-choice” women ages 18-30. (This was an expansion of a previously-released survey to get to 511 total respondents.) Live Action asked their opinions on abortion, showed them the Second Trimester D&E Abortion video, and then asked their opinions again. Here’s what we found:
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32 percent viewed abortion “less favorably” after watching the video.
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30 percent said there should be more restrictions on abortion.
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49 percent said the videos should be shown to high school sex education classes.
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40 percent said that pregnant women considering abortion should see them.
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Information presented in the Abortion Procedures videos is backed by peer-reviewed medical journals and has been developed and reviewed by practicing OB/GYNs, medical professionals, and former abortionists.
