Partial Birth Abortions
Project Thesis
Coined by opponents of reproductive rights, the “Partial Birth Abortion” movement was used to distort public understanding of an uncommon abortion procedure called dilation and extraction (D&X). Acting as a Trojan horse, the pro-life community attempted to usher in stricter abortion restrictions using ambiguous language in their 1995 and 2003 proposed ban on the D&X procedure. Ensuing responses from the medical, religious, and political community, “partial birth abortions” remained highly controversial up until the 2007 Supreme Court ruling upholding the 2003 ban.
The Terminology of “Partial Birth Abortions”
The term “partial birth abortions” (hereafter PBA) refers to a late second trimester to third trimester abortion procedure called D&X (see below). “Partial birth abortion” is not a medical term. Labeled “graphic, inflammatory language [that] is not a medical term and exists to distort the clinical reality” by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, partial birth abortion is a political term [1]. The term "partial birth abortion" (see Priests For Life Video) was invented by Douglas Johnson, a lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and Republican Representative from Florida, Charles Canady [2]. Together with Keri Folmar, the lawyer who drafted the original Congressional legislation banning the D&X procedure that was proposed by Charles Canady in June 1995, the term “partial birth abortion” came to life [3]. We have decided to use the term “partial birth abortion” (PBA) throughout our project in order to stick with the language present in the 1995 and 2003 bans on partial birth abortions.
What is a D&X abortion?
The medical term for a PBA procedure is an intact dilation and extraction. This is a medical procedure performed in the later stages of a pregnancy. It involves partially birthing the fetus, piercing the skull with surgical instruments, and suctioning out brain matter in order to fit the skull of the fetus through the cervix. It becomes known as a "partial birth" due to labor being induced in order to get the fetus into the birth canal where surgical tools can terminate the pregnancy.
How often are D&X abortions performed?
Statistics from 1995 by the Guttmacher Report confirm that almost 99% of abortions occurred within the first 20 weeks of gestation with an overwhelming majority in the first trimester (87.9%) [4]. According to a new survey of abortion providers by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) the D&X procedure is rarely used “accounting for about 0.03% to 0.05% of all abortions in 1996. AGI projects a total of about 650 D&X abortions were provided in 1996," [5].
This project was curated by Sarah Brown, Allie Hay, and Harrison Mazurkie. Sarah focused on the exhibits pertaining to politics and legislation. Allie focused on the exhibits pertaining to religion. Harrison focused on the exhibits pertaining to the medical community.
1. “ACOG Guide to Language and Abortion,” ACOG, https://www.acog.org/contact/media-center/abortion-language-guide
2. Hannah Armitage. “Political Language, Uses, and Abuses: How the Term ‘Partial Birth’ Changed the Abortion Debate in the United States,” Australasian Journal of American Studies Association, Vol. 28, No 1, (July 2010), 21.
3. Ibid.
4. Susan A. Cohen and Rebekah Saul. “The Campaign Against ‘Partial-Birth’ Abortion: Status and Fallout,” The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, December (1998): 9
5. Ibid.