The claim has often been made by abortion advocates that legal abortion is needed to save the life of a woman who experiences life threatening complications in pregnancy. Writing on behalf of medical organizations which count more than 30,000 physicians, five physicians explain why “it is never necessary to intentionally kill a fetal human being to save a woman’s life.”
In an February 17th article in Public Discourse, the authors state: “There are rare circumstances in which a mother’s life is in jeopardy due to either pre-existing conditions or pregnancy complication. It is extremely rare for this to occur prior to the point of viability (currently 22 weeks after last menstrual period, 20 weeks after fertilization). After 20 weeks fertilization age, it is never necessary to intentionally kill the fetal human being in order to save a woman’s life.
In cases where the mother’s life actually is in danger in the latter half of pregnancy, there is not time for an abortion, because an abortion typically is a two to three-day process. Instead immediate delivery is needed in these situations, and can be done in a medically appropriate way (labor induction or C-section) by the woman’s own physician. We can, and do, save the life of the mother through delivery of an intact infant in a hospital where both the mother and her newborn can receive the care that they need. There is no medical reason to intentionally kill that fetal human being through an inhumane abortion procedure, e.g. dismembering a living human being capable of feeling pain, or saline induction which burns off the skin, or feticide with subsequent induction.”
Source: Harrison, Donna, M.D., Cretella, Michelle, M.D., Schirger, John, M.D., Stevens, David, M.D., Orient, Jane, M.D. It is never necessary to intentionally kill a fetal human being to save a woman’s life: In support of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The Public Discourse, February 17th, 2019
