A late-term abortion by any other name is still a violent act that destroys a human being.
But to staunch abortion advocates, killing some humans is fine as long as we are “medically accurate” in the way we refer to it. An article by Robin Marty in Cosmopolitan condemns the phrase “late-term abortion” and insists we all stop using it:
But in reality, no one should be using it. There is no specific medical definition for a “late-term abortion,” and because of that, abortion opponents are using it to mean anything they want.
Marty’s argument that there’s no specific medical definition renders the phrase void in her view; she then cites the pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) whose Executive Vice President and CEO of ACOG, Hal Lawrence, M.D, says:
Though many media reports and other literature use the phrase ‘late-term abortion,’ it is not accurate and should not be used. A full-term pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy with a gestational age between 39 weeks and 40 weeks, 6 days. “Late term” refers to a pregnancy with a gestational age of 41 weeks to 41 weeks, 6 days. Abortions are not performed at “late term.”
That reasoning is illogical; the later part of anything is loosely defined as being in the last 50 percent. A late-term pregnancy is generally considered to be in the third trimester. Even the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute discusses the laws on “later term abortions,” pointing out that late-term abortions are generally those committed “post-viability.” While Guttmacher and other abortion advocates disagree on when viability occurs, the fact remains that late (or later) term abortion is one that is done after a certain point in pregnancy.
READ: Correcting the media’s false narrative on late-term abortion is a must
Marty’s argument seems founded on ACOG’s Lawrence and his comments, especially when he adds:
Clinicians sometimes use the term “early abortion” to refer to abortions that occur up to 70 days gestational age, when medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol are highly effective. The term “later abortion” is sometimes used to describe abortions that occur after 12 weeks gestational age. Describing these abortions as “late-term” is simply inaccurate.
Marty adds that the “medically inaccurate terminology has already become ingrained in the rhetoric” of pro-lifers, as if somehow a preborn human isn’t being violently killed if a “medically accurate” phrase is used. Perhaps Marty is attempting to paint pro-lifers as “medically inaccurate,” which she hopes will therefore lead people to doubt the scientific facts about fetal development, and about other claims made by pro-lifers. After all, if “late-term” abortion isn’t really a “thing,” then no human beings are killed in the late stages of pregnancy… right?
Wrong. While pro-abortion doctors and those who profit from abortion may choose to gloss over the death of innocent children, Dr. Anthony Levatino, an OB/GYN and former abortionist (who, therefore, knows quite a bit about the stages a baby is developed when being killed), confirms that late-term abortion is a reality. Levatino explains in this video animation what happens in a third trimester abortion of a viable human being:
Marty seems to be ignorant of the fact that she is using and promoting her own brand of rhetoric, which spins an inaccurate narrative. As Live Action News has repeatedly reported, late-term third trimester abortions absolutely exist and are completely legal in several states. In fact, infamous late-term abortionist, Dr. Warren Hern, advertises late-term abortion services on his own website.
Still, Marty plays her rhetoric card by citing another abortion advocate, Johanna Schoen, associate professor of history at Rutgers University and author of the book Abortion After Roe. Marty writes on Schoen’s opinion:
[T]he use of the phrase “late-term abortion” is actually meant to group together any procedure after the first trimester and erase any distinction in development along the gestational period of the pregnancy. “It immediately makes the conceptual jump to the idea of a viable fetus, and implies that they are all viable at that point,” she said. “There is no longer a second trimester. Instead they hope to make the emotional jump to just a viable baby. If it’s not a first-trimester abortion, then it is a viable baby, and there is nothing in terms of development in between.”
Schoen should be wise enough to realize that generalizing every pro-lifer is bad logic. Further, many second trimester abortions are of viable babies, as the second trimester extends from the 14th through the 27th week of pregnancy.
In this video animation, Dr. Levatino explains a second trimester dilation and excavation abortion, a procedure during which some viable babies are aborted:
What Marty is really trying to do is tear down the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that the US House had not yet voted on. It later passed and the Senate has introduced its companion bill.
Marty objects, saying, “Public debate over abortion is already extremely challenging. But it’s even more challenging once it becomes clear that the terms being used have different meanings depending on the audience.”
She concludes her illogical argument saying that the legislation on late-term abortion isn’t really that:
But it is not a “late-term” abortion ban, and it is up to those who support abortion rights to explain that, and push back on anyone who uses that phrase – our friends and families, the media and politicians, and yes, even our own allies.
In essence, if someone calls it a “late-term” abortion ban, beat ‘em down with your words until they agree with us. Earlier in her column she insists that meaningful dialogue matters, but now she says people should “push back” on anyone who doesn’t use her sanctioned terminology. Why?
Because if we continue to allow abortion opponents to mislead the public and erase the distinction between a developing fetus and a viable baby ready to be born, then we allow them to completely erase the physical and emotional needs of the pregnant person, as well as any ability for them to make the medical decisions that are best for them, their families and, yes, sometimes even the fetus itself.
Whatever Marty’s logic, there can be no true justification for killing a preborn human being who may very well be viable at the time of abortion (though viable or not, every person deserves a chance to develop without his or her life being sucked out of the womb in the name of choice).
Marty doth protest too much. Her lengthy column seeks to tear down a phrase in an effort to justify late-term abortion by calling it something else. A violent act of destroying a human life by any other name is still a violent act of human destruction. And no amount of illogical reasoning or expert abortion quotations can change that fact. It’s not about language; it’s about life.
