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Information about Hydrocephalus and D&X

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NOTE - Significant portions of this web page are out of date; it is retained here for archival purposes for use by professionals only.


"No doctor, zero, would kill a healthy nearly full term baby."  I have a special interest in so-called partial-birth abortion because so much of my life is about this basic human problem--how do you get the baby out?  As difficult as it can sometimes be to birth/deliver a baby with a much-larger-than-average head with a diameter of five (5) inches, how would you even begin to get a baby out when the head has a diameter of twenty (20) inches without butchering the woman?  (A basketball is less than 10 inches in diameter.) You could leave the baby inside.  Maybe the woman's uterus would rupture, maybe not. Obviously, the baby would die at some point.  Then it would start decomposing, which would really endanger the woman's life.  Or you could develop the relatively humane procedure of Dilation and Extraction.  It's hard to believe that you could use the word humane with D&X, but it is relatively humane.  If you can think of any alternatives that are truly more humane to either the mother or the baby, the medical world would really like to hear about it.



Others are referred to:

fetalhydrocephalus.com - This site is dedicated to helping parents and families of children with congenital hydrocephalus. In addition to the usual medical definitions of what hydrocephalus is, we focus on how to take care of these children at home. We provide information on many aspects of hydrocephalus . . .  This website was created by a Mom with the help of doctors, therapists and parents of children with hydrocephalus to provide a place where parents can find information on the care that is needed for these wonderful children. Everything is explained in plain English, in terms that the average person can understand without a medical background.



From: Haley Peach [10/19/16]

Late term abortions seem to be a big factor in conservative voters. The things you hear about it sound shocking and extreme. Well, it sounds extreme because it is. Let me share with you some facts about late term/third trimester abortion.

First, it is important to know that there are only four doctors who openly perform third trimester terminations. Only four. Dr Carhart, Dr Hern, Dr Sella, and Dr Robinson. If an abortion is needed beyond the point of viability, specifically in the third trimester, it is up to the discretion of one of these 4 doctors, and you must travel to them (only 7 states allow this). To even visit with them is not cheap. It isn't used as a birth control or "oops, changed my mind" option.

The point of viability is 24 weeks. That is when a fetus is considered viable. That means, if for some unfortunate circumstance, a woman had to deliver at that time, the chances of the baby surviving are great. It would be difficult, with a long NICU stay, but it would be more favorable towards living. That being standard, to terminate a pregnancy after that point is seen as taboo. If the fetus can survive outside the womb, then why are you terminating it?

That's where we go back to the first statement. There are only four doctors in this nation that will perform the procedure. They do not do it all willy nilly. No doctor, even these four, will terminate a healthy pregnancy just because. IT. DOES. NOT. HAPPEN.

88.7% of all abortions happen in the first trimester, or the first 12 weeks. Of that, the majority is at or before 6 weeks. 8.5% of all abortions happen in the second trimester, with the majority at the 13-14 week mark, and withering to a small less than 1.3% after 21 weeks. After 21 weeks, the number is 2%. Our continues to stagger down, with the vast majority at 21-22 weeks, down to virtually none, <1%, after 24 weeks.

Of that 1%, it dwindles even less and less significantly after 24 weeks. And by then, it isn't really by choice. As I started earlier, it seems extreme because it is. It is a major decision made by the woman and her medical advisors.

Almost all 24+ week abortions are wanted pregnancies. Women and families who wanted the baby, who've prepared for a baby, who've named or connected with the baby. Then they get a diagnosis. The pregnancy isn't healthy.the baby won't survive in utero to term. The baby won't survive delivery. The baby has severe developmental abnormalities. The baby's brain didn't develop. The baby has a fatal diagnosis. The baby would not live very long after birth and would be a painful and short life. Occasionally, the mother has a diagnosis where continuing the pregnancy would likely result in the death of the mother, but mostly, it's the baby, that while past the "point of viability" in gestational age, isn't actually viable. These pregnancies and losses are wanted and mourned.
"Okay but what if a woman decided at 34-36+ weeks just to have an abortion?" Assuming you're talking about a healthy pregnancy, the doctor wouldn't terminate. At that point, the baby would just be delivered. If the mother didn't want it, the living baby would be placed as a ward of the state and adopted out. No doctor, zero, would kill a healthy nearly full term baby.
The conditions for a late term abortion to occur would have to be extreme. Recreation abortion past viability is not a thing. You can "what if..." it all you want, but it is not a thing. The what ifs aren't humored, because they literally do not happen.

21% of all pregnancies, excluding miscarriages, end in abortion. 1 in 5. The chances are, you know someone who has had one. They're often silent, and your attacks let them know they cannot trust you. But of that 21%, they're almost all in the first trimester and before 6 weeks.

Let me give you links if you're unsure. Let me find you resources. Let me recommend you watch 'After Tiller' (it's on Netflix). Let me support you if you're scared about your choice.

If you have a question, I'll gently educate you. Just comment. If you want sources, I'll provide them. If you want to refute my statements, be civil and provide credible sources.

I want to end the stigma about abortion. Especially the shenanigans about late term abortion. Please, look into this.


According to Dr. William F. Harrison, a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology writing in the Arkansas _Times_ a weekly newspaper, "approximately 1 in 2000 fetuses develop hydrocephalus while in the womb." Usually not discovered until LATE in the second trimester, "it is not unusual for the fetal head to be as large as 50 centimeters (nearly 20 inches) in diameter and may contain ... close to two gallons ... of cerebrospinal fluid." (The average *adult* skull is about 7 to 8" in diameter.)

Studies show that most elective abortions occur in the first trimester. Second or third trimester abortions are usually because of birth defects or danger to the mother.

Dr. Harrison says the partial birth and the "draining" of the fetus' skull is actually drawing off of this fluid from the brain area of the fetus. The collapsing of the fetal skull is to allow the removal without the brutal rupturing of a woman's uterine passage or necessitating a classic cesarean section that poses its own dangers to a woman and any future pregnancies. The fetus with severe hydrocephalus cannot live and we wish someone would let people like Ralph Reed, Orin Hatch, Pat Robertson, and Pope John Paul II know that they are condemning women to death for no reason - no reason except their damned puny male egos.

Approximately 500 women face this procedure each year. Mild to moderate hydrocephalus can be sometimes be treated in utero and the fetus saved, and some very mild cases can be delivered and treated after birth. Those which have advanced or severe hydrocephalus cannot. Without the "partial birth" abortions, their births can easily kill their mothers with no chance of fetal survival.


For those women who have discovered catastrophic problems with their pregnancies and have decided to terminate the pregnancy rather than risk death due their own medical condition or otherwise tragic result in carrying a pregnancy to term . . . there is some good information at the web pages of the Boulder Abortion Clinic.  "Our purpose is to provide the safest possible abortion care and termination of pregnancies for fetal anomalies or medical indications.  We provide this care for women in a confidential, humane, and dignified outpatient setting giving the maximum emotional and social support."

 

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