‘It Lived for Several Days,’ Abortionist Says About Baby Born Alive

By Sarah Terzo
Life News

Former abortionist Dr. Paul Jarrett gave his testimony at a conference held by the Pro-Life Action League called “Meet the Abortion Providers.” In a speech reproduced on the Priests for Life website, he talks about his experiences with late-term abortion.

An OB/GYN, Dr. Jarrett did his residency between 1970 and 1973 in Indiana. Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion throughout the United States, was decided in 1973, but in the first year of Dr. Jarrett’s residency, some abortions were being done legally. In Indiana at the time, a woman could get an abortion legally if she went to two psychiatrists and had them certify that her pregnancy was a threat to her mental health. According to Jarrett:

Although my textbook stated that true psychiatric indications for abortion were extremely rare, in practice it was relatively easy for a woman to get two psychiatrists to rubber stamp her abortion request for the price of a consultation visit.

By the time all the paperwork was done, these pregnancies were more advanced and were classified as second trimester. Technically, these could be between 14 and 27 weeks, but usually they were 18 – 20 weeks along.

He describes how these abortions were done:

This type of abortion was then done by hypertonic saline injection. In laymen’s terms this meant injecting a very caustic salt solution into the amniotic sac which the baby swallows, causing his death. Labor begins 12 – 36 hours later. A well liked member of the teaching faculty would inject the solution and the patient was admitted to the gynecology ward to await delivery.

Saline abortions were painful for both the baby and the mother. The child could take hours to die in the womb. The mother had to go through labor and essentially “give birth” to her dead baby.

Dr. Jarrett goes on to describe his role in the saline abortions:

It was my job to go to the ward and pick up the dead baby from the labor bed and make sure the placenta had all come out. This was my least favorite duty as a resident…

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