In a conversation about late terminations of pregnancy on one of my pregnancy forums, one woman brought up partial birth abortion (i.e. intact dilation and extraction) and said, “Isn’t that far more barbaric than normal abortions?”
Actually, it’s not. There are basically two forms of abortion provided after 15 weeks. You can either get a D&E, which involves the fetus being suctioned out, where it does not remain intact, or you can get an IDX—or partial birth abortion—and deliver a relatively whole baby*. The brain is suctioned out and the skull is collapsed before delivering the head so that it does less trauma as it passes through the birth canal.
Although I totally get why you’d think IDX was so much more gruesome and barbaric than a D&E. Anti-choice propaganda certainly makes it out to be that way. But the truth is, for many people who have wanted pregnancies that are being terminated due to medical reasons, IDX is a far better option. Not only does it spare them having to go through full labor to deliver a child everyone knows will not survive, but it also gives them an intact child that they can see and say goodbye to.
It’s so frustrating and disheartening. You don’t even know what this procedure—or the standard procedure, for that matter—is, and yet, you feel perfectly comfortable calling it barbaric? How can you possibly speak to something you know nothing about? =\
* I want to add: actually in the US, IDX is no longer performed due to the Partial Birth Abortion Ban passed in 2003. It can only be used if the fetus is already deceased before the dilation and extraction takes place.