Expert: Margaret Sykes - 12/15/2000

Question
Those pictures of "aborted fetuses" that we see on pro-life web sites - are they really what the presenters claim them to be?

Answer
Hello Spartakus,

Nope, those pictures aren't what they are claimed to be.  Most "aborted fetuses" in photos shown by anti-choicers are either naturally aborted (miscarried) fetuses or stillborn babies.  Others are rubber or plastic fakes.  

Since a first-trimester suction abortion shreds the soft, jelly-like tissue of the embryo/fetus and endometrium, there is nothing to photograph in such cases.  A midtrimester surgical abortion does produce fetal parts, which are treated like plutonium under today's laws regarding the disposal of "potentially infectious materials" containing possible human bloodborne pathogens (OSHA regulations).  They are not available for casual photography.

Here's what Dr. Sarah Whippman, a British physician, had to say about the "aborted fetuses" depicted at AbortionTV.com:

"I think that at least some of them are actually rubber models, simply because the proportions are all wrong for them to be fetuses - in some of them, the presence of an adult hand in the picture makes it possible to tell the size of the supposed embryo or fetus, yet the proportion of head and limbs to trunk is all wrong for a fetus of this size.  So at least some of them seem to be fakes.  Many of the others look like term or near term babies, so it seems highly improbable that these specimens resulted from abortion - I suspect that at least a few photographs of macerated stillbirths have also been included and passed off as pictures of abortions.  I've seen abortions, and they look nothing like the pictures that are touted as being representative of abortion.  Too bad."

Another friend told me about some interesting information recently, which can be found in "Maternity & Gynecologic Care", 5th Edition, by Bobak and Jensen.  This is a professional medical reference book used by registered nurses.  I was given a quote from Chapter 40, page
1227:

"Caring for a baby who has died can be a difficult task for the nurse. It can be made more difficult if the baby has been dead for several days or weeks in utero, before birth. It may be helpful to have a colleague help in making the baby look as good as possible and in taking pictures, in some cases, decapitation or dismemberment has occured."

In other words, cases of miscarriage, stillborns, etc. can be quite gruesome, and they are not easy to deal with, even for medical professionals.  Unquestionably, many of the pictures of so-called "aborted fetuses" are actually photographs of this kind of thing.  

You can also see gruesome photos in medical textbooks.  I'm looking at my 1997 edition of Williams Obstetrics, which shows on p. 986 what can happen as a result of erythroblastosis fetalis, a condition that occurs when the system of an Rh-negative mother produces antibodies to an antigen in the blood of an Rh-positive fetus which cross the placenta and destroy fetal blood cells.  The photograph is of a "hydropic macerated stillborn infant."  (Maceration is when dead tissue softens and decays after being in water.)  The picture shows a very damaged baby with parts missing, its mouth open as if in pain, and skin damage and discoloration of the kind anti-abortion pictures claim is typical of saline abortions.  Yet this is a picture of what can, sadly, happen naturally inside a woman's womb.

I find it unconscionable that abortion opponents misuse death and autopsy photos of stillborn babies by posting them on the Internet as "aborted fetuses", or steal fetuses and mangle them to create propaganda.  How disgusting to exploit the tragic circumstances under which pictures of stillborn babies, often long dead in utero, are taken.  Talk about a lack of respect for the dignity of human life!

By the way, you know that beautifully-lit, heartwarming Lennart Nilsson photo of the thumb-in-mouth fetus that shows up on the covers of magazines every once in a while?  That's a picture of a dead fetus aborted (by hysterotomy) long ago, as are most "A Child Is Born", "miracle of life before birth" photographs.  It just goes to show that "aborted fetus" pictures are more about politics than reality.

All the best,

Margaret Sykes
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