Does Connecticut Want to Become the Abortion State?
Governor Lamont is trying a novel approach to attract businesses to Connecticut – marketing abortion. He has even released a video.
According to the Governor, “Connecticut has a record of providing equal opportunity to all people and one of the strongest records to protecting reproductive [abortion] rights.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s Abortion-Promoting Video
He is correct. In 1990, Connecticut was the first state to pass a trigger law in case Roe vs. Wade was overturned, allowing abortions until fetal viability. With present technology, this is 23-24 weeks, or the end of the second trimester. In April of this year, this law was updated making Connecticut a sanctuary state to women seeking abortions while allowing abortions during the third trimester if the mother’s health is affected.
But this definition of health includes psychological health allowing conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to be considered. As these conditions have somewhat vague definitions, they can be diagnosed in almost anybody with careful questioning. Thus, Connecticut now joins China and North Korea in allowing third trimester abortions for any reason. No other western democracy permits this.
It is often reported that third trimester abortions (about 1% of abortions) are only done in cases where the mother’s health is in danger or because of severe fetal abnormality. But this is not true. According to a study done by the Guttmacher Institute (a pro-choice organization), the vast majority of mothers have these abortions for personal, not medical reasons.
Because of the recent reversal of Roe vs Wade, states will craft their own abortion policy and many will restrict it. But it is unlikely that businesses will relocate because of the Governor’s plea. Nor is it likely that women with early pregnancies will come to Connecticut since it is much easy to abort an early pregnancy with the pill, Mifepristone. While some conservative states will ban Mifepristone, they will soon discover that such bans are about as effective as laws against using marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines.
Thus, Connecticut is poised to become a mecca for women seeking second and third trimester abortions for non-medical reasons as few other states will allow this – let alone have a governor marketing it. And the people of Connecticut have the right to know what this entails, so – with apologies to my more squeamish readers - here goes:
Before abortion was legalized, illegal abortions were done by a method called Dilation and Curettage (D and C). The cervix (the entrance to the uterus that houses the unborn child) was dilated and the uterus scraped with a scalpel to remove the unborn child.
But the longer the duration of the pregnancy; the riskier the procedure. The wall of the uterus became thinner and the unborn child larger; thus, requiring more scraping. This increased the chance of a life-threatening uterine perforation. It was also difficult to be certain that the entire unborn child had been removed – what abortionists referred to as “retained products of conception” - risking future infertility.
While pro-choice forces have argued that legalized abortion made the procedure safer, a major reason for decreased maternal complications and death was advancing technology. A suction device thirty times more powerful than a vacuum cleaner was invented. This is inserted into the uterus and quickly dismembers and sucks out the unborn child with minimal maternal complications. But this procedure only works in the first trimester at the end of which the unborn child is 2.5 inches long, or the size of a plum.
After abortion was legalized, second and third trimester abortions were still technically difficult using the D and C method, even though they had moved from the back-alley to the operating room. Abortionists tried a safer technique using a medication called Pitocin to induce uterine contractions to expel the unborn child. But this occasionally resulted in a live birth and abortionists had to pith (stick a scalpel into the base of the skull severing the spinal cord) the baby to complete the procedure. This was illegal and when abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell was caught doing so, he was sent to prison.
Another technique employed was the hypertonic saline abortion. The abortionist drained the amniotic fluid (the fluid surrounding the unborn child) and replaced it with concentrated salt water. The unborn child then swallowed this salt water causing convulsions while the skin was scalded. Death occurred in about thirty minutes and the dead baby was either delivered spontaneously or via induction.
The problem with this technique is that the mother felt the unborn child kicking frantically inside of her as she died. Then she saw the dead baby expelled from her uterus, complete with scalded skin, what the abortionists called a “candy apple baby” because of the appearance of her head. This led to many screaming and distraught mothers, making for an unpleasant workplace environment and rendering worker retention problematic.
But abortionists were soon able to avail themselves to a new technology – ultrasound. This enabled the abortionist to visualize the unborn child in real time and perfect a technique called Dilation and Extraction (D and E). The cervix is dilated and then a forceps (large tweezers) dissects the unborn child limb by limb with ultrasound visualization. This is not easy to perform as the unborn child thrashes around after the first limb has been removed to in a futile attempt to avoid further dismemberment. Once this is completed, the remaining torso and head are then crushed and pulled out piecemeal.
The assisting nurse reassembles these body parts into a dismembered baby jig saw puzzle to make sure no remnants of the unborn child remain in the uterus, as this can lead to complications such as infection and infertility. From the maternal point of view, this is a low-risk procedure in the hands of a skilled abortionist.
Some third trimesters, especially those near to birth, use the induction technique. Under the guidance of ultrasound, the abortionist injects a toxic substance such as potassium chloride into the unborn child’s heart. After death, a uterine-contracting drug such as Pitocin expels the dead baby.
Does Governor Lamont really believe the citizens of Connecticut will be proud that our state will become a mecca for these procedures?
It is unlikely this will be a major political issue, even though a recent poll demonstrated 46% of Connecticut residents believe abortion should be legal for only up to six weeks and only 34% believed third trimester abortions should be legal – a number that would certainly diminish if this 34% understood what is involved.
Yet the entire Democratic congressional delegation (Senators Blumenthal and Murphy along with Congressmen Himes, DeLauro, Courtney, Hayes and Larson) voted to make abortion legal all nine months while Governor Lamont is trying to attract business to the state by touting this position. Why?
It is because they know the Republicans will not only never make this an issue; but cower in fear when abortion is mentioned. Connecticut Republicans choose to run fiscal conservatives and social moderates, even though a candidate of this nature has not won a statewide election in almost thirty years (i.e. John Rowland in 1994).
This year is no exception. Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski eschews volatile social issues preferring to concentrate on tax and budgetary policy. The party-endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Themis Klarides, is such a strong supporter of abortion rights that she recently attended a Planned Parenthood rally. Her primary opponents, Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj are both pro-life, but they will likely split the conservative vote giving Klarides the nomination.
In Fairfield County, the party-endorsed congressional Republican candidate Ms. Jayme Stevenson supports abortion rights; but it is unclear at this point whether she supported the recent expansion of abortion rights in Connecticut. But her opponent, Dr. Michael Goldstein, quotes the Hippocratic Oath in opposition.
What is ironic is that the only way Republicans have any chance of winning is highlighting the Democratic support of late abortions to the minority community. When the Connecticut legislature voted this year to make Connecticut an abortion sanctuary state, fourteen of the twenty members of the minority caucus – all Democrats – voted against it! The BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement is now extending to unborn Blacks.
During the debate Rep. Treneé McGee, a 26-year-old Black Democrat from West Haven, stated “I want to speak to the history of this industry [abortion] and why I think it’s destructive to my community. Black women make up 14% of child-bearing population yet obtained 36.2% of all reported abortions. Black women have the highest abortion ratio in the country — 474 abortions per 1,000 live births.” Democrats are trying to silence Ms. McGee by running a pro-choice Democrat against her and removing her from office.
But Ms. McGee is not the only Black representative tired of seeing abortion promoted in their communities. Two Black State Senators, Marilyn Moore of Bridgeport and Patricia Billie Miller of Stamford made passionate statements against the bill while criticizing Planned Parenthood for establishing abortion clinics in minority neighborhoods. And Senator Moore should know. She once worked for Planned Parenthood.
It’s too bad Connecticut Republicans have no plans to run ads in minority communities pointing out how the Democrats are promoting the abortion clinics in their neighborhoods as a place where out-of-staters can arrange second and third trimester abortions. Not only it is the right thing to do; it is the only way they can win.