A RECENT FACEBOOK post has claimed that Minister for Health Simon Harris is proposing what’s known as “partial-birth abortion” in Ireland. 

An attached image makes several claims about how a late-term abortion is carried out. 

This claim, posted by Cherish all the Children Equally, has been shared more than 270 times on Facebook.

But is there any concrete evidence to back up these statements?

The claim:

That partial-birth abortion will be permitted in Ireland and that a foetus can be killed up until it has ‘completely emerged’ from the body of a woman.

The image also makes several procedural claims. In terminating a pregnancy a doctor “grabs the baby’s legs with forceps”, “delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head”, “jams scissors into the baby’s skull” and that “the child’s brains are sucked out causing the skull to collapse”. 

Cherish All the Children Equally, a group which campaigned to maintain the eighth amendment of the constitution, describes itself as a Republican group of “left-wing men and women who feel that the progressive pro-life voice has been missing so far from the debate”.

The Procedure: partial-birth abortion:

Partial-birth abortion is known medically as an “intact dilation and extraction”. This is the more accurate description of the procedure which removes an intact foetus from the uterus.

It is also known as “dilation and extraction”, or “D & X” in the United States. It is different from a D & C (dilation and curettage), which is routinely carried out in obstetrics in Ireland, or D & E (dilation and evacuation).

The D & X procedure has been against federal law in the United States since 2003.

That procedure involves removing the foetus by dilating a pregnant woman’s cervix, pulling the body out through the birth canal and, notes Canadian-American gynaecologist Dr. Jennifer Gunter, “decompressing the cranium with suction if needed”.

“That may be hard for some to read, but this is surgery,” says Gunter. 

The term “partial-birth abortion” originated in the United States in 1995 when both houses of Congress first introduced legislation to ban the procedure.

According to the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, however, “partial-birth abortion” is not a medical term and is “vaguely defined in the law”.

Physicians and lawyers have interpreted the banned procedures as including intact dilation and evacuation unless fetal demise occurs before surgery.

What is proposed in Ireland?

The question is whether the “intact dilation and extraction” method (“partial-birth abortion”) will be used in Ireland. 

TheJournal.ie contacted Cherish All the Children Equally in relations to its claims. 

A spokesperson for the group said that the image of a partial-birth abortion “is just from Google images” and linked to the general scheme of the bill to regulate the termination of pregnancy, published in March. 

What does the legislation here propose, though?

The legislation proposes access to terminations of pregnancy without restrictions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Terminations up to this point are carried out using the abortion pill. In this instance, medication is used to cause an early miscarriage. The female may experience cramping and heavy bleeding. One pill is administered and taken before the second pill is taken up to 72 hours later.

Between 12 and 24 weeks, the legislation states that it shall be lawful to carry out a termination of pregnancy where two medical practitioners certify that, in their reasonable opinion formed in good faith:

• there is a risk to the life of, or serious harm to the health of, the pregnant woman,
• the foetus has not reached viability, and
• it is appropriate to carry out the termination of pregnancy in order to avert that risk.

The bill, currently making its way through the Oireachtas, provides for access to terminations when a mother’s life is at risk or her health is at serious risk. And when there is a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality.

The legislation follows on from May’s referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution.

Between 10 and 24 weeks the abortion pill can still be used and, in this case, the medication used makes the womb contract and push out the pregnancy. From 22 weeks an injection to the womb may be required.

However, some of these terminations would be surgical procedures carried out under general anaesthetic and the pregnancy would be removed through the cervix by a special forceps. Surgical methods used between 12 and 24 weeks include vacuum aspiration which removes the pregnancy via “gentle suction” and can be carried out under sedation up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. This is not the same as a D & X.

According to the BPAS, it may be necessary to stop the fetal heartbeat with an injection before the surgery, depending on the woman’s medical history. 

Another surgical method is the “dilation and evacuation” method, used between 15 and 24 weeks. This method involves removing the pregnancy using a narrow forceps through the neck of the womb.

This procedure is carried out with sedation if the pregnancy is under 19 weeks, and with general anaesthetic if it is over 19 weeks.

The difference between this method and the D & X method (partial-birth abortion) is that the foetus is not intact when it is surgically removed. 

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined the issue of whether a foetus feels pain in this study and said that “evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited” but added that “fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester”.

Under the proposed legislation, if a foetus has reached the stage of viability, and there is a risk to the life or serious risk to the health of the mother, there will be an early live delivery by Caesarean section and practitioners will provide medical care to the premature baby.

Harris sought cabinet approval for the text of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 yesterday and intends to publish the text of the abortion legislation over the coming days and introduce it in the Dáil next week.

What happens after the 24 week period (six months)?

Doctors say a foetus usually reaches viability at about 24 weeks. 

According to a spokesperson for the Department of Health, if the foetus has reached viability after the six-month period then a termination may not be carried out.

If doctors are worried about the health or life of the mother, an early live delivery may be carried out. There will be no terminations on request after 12 weeks pregnancy. 

The spokesperson added that the minister “is not now and has never proposed ‘Partial Birth Abortion’”. 

We rate this claim by Cherish All The Children as FALSE.

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