What Methods Does Tiller Use To Kill Babies?
WHAT METHODS DOES TILLER USE TO KILL BABIES?
WHAT DOES TILLER DO WITH THE DEAD BABIES?
DOES
TILLER PERFORM LATE-TERM ABORTIONS ONLY IN CASES OF HARDSHIP?
IS
ABORTION SAFE FOR THE WOMAN?
DOES A BABY EVER SURVIVE AN ABORTION?
LIES!
WHAT
CAN I DO TO STOP THE KILLING?
SCRIPTURES
AND QUOTES
The text above is from his website.
Tiller has developed a late-term abortion method that he calls MOLD. MOLD is an abbreviation of the components used in the abortion: Misoprostol, Oxytocin, Laminaria, and Digoxin. Tiller claims this method duplicates "normal, safe, natural miscarriage".
On the first day of the process, Tiller kills the baby by injecting a drug called Digoxin into its heart. Tiller guides a long needle through the mother's abdomen into the baby's beating heart.
Tiller claims the baby feels no pain, but he doesn't explain how the heart drug Digoxin can accomplish this.
Also on the first day, Tiller inserts laminaria into the woman's cervix.
Laminaria are thin sticks of seaweed material that absorb moisture and expand. The process dilates (opens) the cervix for the abortion. Tiller will replace the laminaria each day using more sticks each time. This process can take several days.
Several women who have told their abortion stories say the laminaria is very painful. Some say they still experience pain years after their abortions. "Jeanne"said, "I have permanent cervical scarring from the laminaria that will cause me pain the rest of my life." "Jessica" said, "I have had nothing but problems with my female parts. I have had cervical dysplasia, which is bad cells in your cervix that require many painful treatments." "LaDonna" described the pain as Tiller and his staff inserted the laminaria, "I had this horrible pain in my cervix that to this day I can't explain (to this day I still experience that pain from time to time)."
After the baby is dead and the cervix is fully dilated, Tiller delivers the dead baby while the mother is under twilight anesthesia. He uses Versed and Nubain for anesthesia. Misoprostol and Oxytocin are used to induce labor. Misoprostol (Cytotec) is an ulcer medication that is not labeled for use in abortions. Tiller uses this medication "off label."
Up to ten women at a time will be in a communal "labor and delivery" area with only a curtain to separate them.
The whole process takes several days... usually starting on a Tuesday and ending on a Thursday or a Friday. During this time, the mother often stays at a motel. In a video he made, Tiller admits that sometimes a dead baby is born at the motel:
"Probably the last frequently asked question is, "Have we ever had a delivery at the hotel or away from the center?" and the answer to that is "Yes, we have." Since our process is not allowed in any hospital, we occasionally have a delivery away from the center or at the hotel. The good news about that is that in over 10,000 deliveries, we have never had an admission to the hospital or a major complication because we had a delivery away from the center. We sort of conceptualize this as nature taking charge of the process and rushing ahead of the schedule of the doctors, nurses, and their patients. We will agree that it's uncomfortable, it's awkward, it's scary, and it's inconvenient. But the good news is, we have never had a major complication because we had a delivery away from the center or at the hotel."
Click here to listen to Tiller say this.
He also mentions this in the consent form that the woman must sign.
The next day, the woman receives a check-up examination and then is sent home.
For earlier abortions, Tiller uses suction abortion (vacuum aspiration) or dilatation and evacuation (D&E.) Tiller offers the abortion drug RU-486 (Mifeprex) in some early cases.
Click here to read the testimonies of women who have endured this procedure.
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Following is the partial transcript of a 1996 video that Tiller made to advertise his late-term abortions.
Fetal Demise: Although you may find this a little difficult and a little uncomfortable, on the first day that you arrive at the clinic we will make an injection of a mediation called digoxin into the fetus to initiate fetal demise. And we do that for three very specific reasons. The first reason is so that there will be no fetal pain. We have learned with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of patients that women have the question about, "Will this be painful for our baby? Will this be painful for my baby?" And the answer to that is "no." We make an injection directly into the fetus with a medication called digoxin on the day that you arrive so that the baby will expire painlessly. The first reason is no fetal pain. The second reason is no live birth and I know that you may have worried about that, and the third reason is that once the fetus has expired, then your body and nature will detect that and you will -- it will help prepare your body for a normal, safe, natural miscarriage: Fetal Demise.
The second part of the program, the second component of the program is cervical modification. Cervical modification means opening the cervix and we do that by repeated insertions of multiple laminaria. Laminaria are small, match-stick like pieces of - uh - seaweed. These are little sponges and what we do on Tuesday, we insert these little sponges into your cervix and they swell up and open your cervix. We take them out later that day or again on Wednesday, we insert more - double the number - and we continue that insertion, dilatation, and removal and replacement of laminaria however many times as is necessary to get your cervix widely dilated before you come in for your premature delivery.
The third component of the program is premature delivery of the stillborn. When it is time for you to deliver, and that is usually Thursday morning or Friday morning, you will be admitted to our outpatient labor and delivery area in our hospital - in our outpatient hospital-like environment. We will start an IV with - uh - IV fluid medication, normal saline. You will receive high doses of medication for twilight anesthesia. Most of my patients simply do not remember much about their labor or their delivery. How long does the labor last? The labor doesn't last very long compared to a full-term delivery. Fifty percent of our patients are delivered in approximately two hours. Eighty-four percent of our patients are delivered in approximately four hours. Ninety-five percent of our patients are delivered in six hours. Now that time is from the time the patient is admitted and the IV is started until the delivery is completely over, so it doesn't take an extraordinarily long time. The only time in this process that the woman is separated from her significant other is the first hour to hour and a half that the woman is admitted to the labor rooms. That is her time with the doctors, that's her time with the nurses. We are breaking the bag of waters, starting IVs, and other pretty intensive activities for the woman. Other than that the significant other, the family member, the husband can sit with the patient during her short labor and accompany her to the delivery room. We understand that this is a joint activity and that the woman will need the support of her significant others, her husband, uh - or her family during this process.
Following is a summary of abortion methods as explained on Tiller's own website.
Methods of abortion
The method of abortion used is dependant on the gestational age (how far along the pregnancy is) and the pregnant woman's physical condition. More than 90 percent of all abortions are done in the first trimester (the first 14 weeks after a woman's last menstrual period).
Early non-surgical abortion
(to 8 weeks LMP, 6 weeks conception)
A drug is given to the pregnant woman which stops the development of the pregnancy. A second drug is administered which helps the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy. About 10% of abortions by this method fail and a vacuum aspiration must be performed to remove the embryo.
First trimester abortions by vacuum aspiration
(to 14 weeks LMP, 12 weeks conception)
Local anesthetic (numbing medicine) is injected into or near the cervix. Intravenous medication may be administered to ease discomfort. The opening of the cervix is gradually stretched, and a tube attached to a suction machine is inserted into the uterus. The uterus is emptied by suction. After the suction tube is removed, a curette (a spoon-like instrument) is used to scrape the walls of the uterus to be certain it has been completely emptied of the fetus and other products of conception. The procedure takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
Second trimester abortions by dilatation and evacuation
(15 weeks or more from last menstrual period)
Dilators (small, tapered segments of absorbent material which expand as they become moist and slowly open the cervix) may be put into the cervix for several hours or overnight. Intravenous medication may be given to ease discomfort and prevent infection. A local anesthetic is injected into or near the cervix. If dilators have not been used or expansion is incomplete, the cervix is carefully expanded with a succession of smooth tubes. The fetus and other products of conception are removed from the uterus with instruments and suction curettage. The procedure takes about 10-30 minutes.
Second and third trimester abortions by induction method
(22 weeks or more from last menstrual period)
Prior to inducing labor, the cervix is opened with dilators (see above) over a period of hours or days. Fetal death is accomplished with an injection of medication in the fetus. Drugs are administered which help the uterus to contract and expel the fetus. The time from the beginning of the procedure to delivery varies greatly; at Women’s Health Care Services most women deliver in 1 to 4 hours. Following delivery and removal of the placenta, intravenous medication will continue for a short time to make certain the uterus has contracted and bleeding is controlled. In rare cases where the induction method fails or cannot be used, an extraction procedure (similar to an abortion by D&E) or a hysterotomy is performed to remove the fetus. A hysterotomy is similar to a caesarean section delivery and carries the same risks.
Following is a summary of abortion methods as explained by Life Dynamics. These descriptions are general and may not apply specifically to Tiller's clinic.
VACUUM ASPIRATION
Vacuum aspiration is performed with a machine that uses a vacuum to suck the baby out of the uterus. The vacuum is created by a hand held pump (manual vacuum aspiration) or by electricity (electric vacuum aspiration). The electric machine is far more common in the US. Generally, the manual pump is only used to kill children who are less than 6 weeks old. Except in the very earliest abortions, the mom's cervix will be dilated large enough to allow a cannula to be inserted into her uterus. The cannula is a hollow plastic tube that is connected to either the hand or electric pump by a flexible hose. As a vacuum is created, the abortionist runs the tip of the cannula along the surface of the uterus causing the baby to be dislodged and sucked into the tube - either whole or in pieces. Suction curettage is a variation of vacuum aspiration in which the suction machine is used to get the baby out, with any remaining parts being scraped out of the uterus with a surgical instrument called a curette. Following that, another pass is made through the mom's uterus with the suction machine to help insure that none of the baby's body parts have been left behind.
CHEMICAL ABORTIONS
Some first trimester abortions are not accomplished using surgery, but chemicals. This procedure begins when the mom is given either mifepristone (Mifeprex; RU486) or methotrexate. Mifepristone causes the baby to become detached from its mother's uterus while methotrexate is actually toxic to the baby and, therefore, kills it directly. Once the child is either detached or dead, the mom is given a labor-inducing drug which causes the uterus to cramp and expel her dead baby. This type of abortion only works up to about the 9th week of pregnancy.
DILATION AND EXTRACTION
The D&E (dilation and extraction) is the most common type of second trimester abortion. During this procedure, the mother's cervix must be dilated much more than in a first trimester abortion simply because her baby is now too large to pull it from the uterus solely by using the suction machine.
After sufficient dilation is accomplished, the abortionist begins the D&E procedure by rupturing the amniotic sac which contains the unborn child. He then begins the process of dismembering the baby and pulling it out of the uterus in pieces. To do this, the abortionist uses suction as well as surgical forceps which basically act like a pair of pliers. He inserts this instrument into the uterus and starts to open and close it until a part of the baby or placenta is grasped. That piece is torn off and is pulled out. This process is repeated until the abortionist feels that the procedure has been completed.
Sometimes, the baby's skull is too large to pull out of the uterus, so the abortionist must first crush it with the forceps. The abortionist will know that the child's skull has been sufficiently collapsed when the baby's brains flow out of the uterus. Among abortionists this is called the "calvaria sign" and it signals that the skull will then be much easier to remove.
Once the abortionist has pulled out everything he can feel with the forceps, he will use a curette to scrape any remaining parts off the sides of the uterus. After that, the suction machine can be used again to vacuum up whatever debris is still in the uterus.
Throughout a D&E procedure, all of the extracted baby parts are placed on a tray where they are then reassembled. This is done to make certain that the entire baby is accounted for and that no parts are left behind.
One way that the D&E procedure is often made easier is by killing the baby a day or so before the procedure is scheduled. This extra step is generally referred to as a "ditch" and is accomplished by inserting a long needle through the mother's abdomen and into the heart of her baby. Then, a chemical agent - usually digoxin - is injected through the needle causing the child's death. The advantage of doing this is that the feticidal agent (digoxin) causes the child's body to soften, making the dismemberment and removal process much easier. Despite that advantage, however, ditching does have one potential downside. Because the chemical used to kill the baby is toxic, it is crucial for the abortionist to know that he has inserted the needle into the baby and not the mother. To verify that, the abortionist will sometimes let go of the needle before injecting the drug and see if it jumps around independent of the mom's movements. If so, he knows that he has hit the baby and can proceed. (This part of the ditching process is sometimes referred to as "harpooning the whale").
HYSTERECTOMY & HYSTEROTOMY
Of the more than one million American babies killed by abortion every year, approximately 5000 are destroyed in this manner. The relative rarity of these procedures is driven by the fact that they have a higher incidence of maternal complications and death than other abortion methods. During a hysterectomy abortion, the mother's entire uterus (including the baby) is removed and the baby usually dies during the procedure. The hysterotomy abortion is similar to a cesarean section. The abortionist does not remove the uterus, but cuts it open and removes the baby. If the child was not killed prior to removal, it is set aside to die.
Tiller uses sonogram on this woman. Her large stomach indicates she is a late-term case.
Preparing for sonogram.
The surgery room. Notice the light blue stirrups on the left side of the table. The blue cabinet on wheels is an anesthesia machine.
The sonogram machine.
A syringe with spinal needle is used to inject Digoxin into the baby's beating heart to kill it.
Laminaria are used to open the cervix. Three brands of laminaria are shown above.
A Cannula is used in suction abortions.
Forceps are used to grasp, twist, and pull the baby.
A Curette is used to scrape the uterine wall.
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