On Wednesday, October 19, the last presidential nominee debate took place, drawing the attention of both old and young voters, but as usual, Donald Trump took the opportunity to say another set of controversial comments. There were a number of different topics that included (but were not limited to) immigration, foreign affairs, and the supreme court. One other topic they touched upon was abortion – specifically late-term abortion, in which Hillary Clinton is supportive of.
Donald Trump was clearly against it saying that Hillary supported the idea of abortions as late as nine months pregnant. “If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Now you can say that that’s okay, and Hillary could say that that’s okay, but it’s not okay with me,” said Trump.
But it is okay because good news for you Donald, nine-month abortions don’t really exist. Any baby taken out of the womb by nine-months and before the due date isn’t even called an abortion. This level of ignorance about what an abortion actually is just comes to show why men, especially pro-life men, should not be making any decisions in Washington about a woman’s own body.
Majority of abortions take place before five months, but only 1.3% of abortions take place during or after 21 weeks, according to Jen Gunter, an obstetrician and gynecologist. The number of doctors that perform late-term abortions are significantly lower than the number of doctors that perform regularly timed abortions.
Usually, when a woman is considering such an action, they usually have two choices: abortion pills and in-clinic abortion procedures.
The abortion pill is generally used to end early pregnancy and is taken 10 weeks after the first day of a woman’s last period. Of course, you can’t just pick up the pill at your local super-market. Women need to talk with a doctor and discuss any medical history and perform test to make sure the pill will be safe to use. However, the pill is known to be highly effective.
Planned Parenthood list three steps to taking the pill. First, a woman will be given antibiotics and mifepristone, which prevents pregnancy from continuing by blocking the hormone progesterone. The second medication is called misoprostol, which empties out the uterus. Afterwards, a woman must follow up with their doctor to make sure everything is okay and that the abortion is complete.
If by any chance, the pill does not work, a woman has the opportunity to make an appointment for an in-clinic abortion. There are two types: aspiration and D&E.
Aspiration is the most common type of abortion, even more common than abortion pills. During this procedure, the uterus is emptied by either manually suctioned with a syringe or they use a machine-operated suction. D&E, or Dilation and Evacuation, usually takes place after 12 weeks of pregnancy. According to the OBOS (Our Bodies Our Selves) website, this procedure “involves removing the fetal and placental tissue with a combination of suction and instruments.”
(For more specific information about the pill and in-clinic abortions, you can enter the Planned Parenthood website. )
However, procedures like partial-birth abortions are already banned in much of the United States. Late-term abortion is mainly done when the life of the mother is at risk. Even when the ban didn’t exist, these types of abortions were rare with only about 0.2%.
The idea of a baby aborted "three or four days before pregnancy" as Trump says isn't even possible. Babies taken out of the womb days before the due date is considered a delivery by doctors.
