In a recent opinion piece for the New York Times, abortion doctor and mother, Christine Henneberg, explains the contradictions between being a mother, especially whilst being pregnant, and ending the lives of unborn babies in the womb.
She recognises the contradiction between being a pregnant mother and carefully monitoring the growth of her own child in the womb and performing abortions “well into our patients’ second trimester, when the fetus is well-formed and easily recognizable as humanlike, even ‘life’-like. Baby-like.”
Dr Henneberg says that she copes with this by “compartmentalizing” what she does at work – performing abortions – and the care she has for her own baby.
However, the abortion doctor makes clear in this piece that this is not an easy task and that she “almost fell apart [when she] was in [her] second trimester, performing a 17-week [abortion] on a patient.”
She goes on to explain how the reality of what she was doing became apparent: “the fetus, which is normally extracted in parts, came through the cervix intact. I dropped it in the metal dish and I saw it move, or thought I did. It was all I could do not to run from the procedure room crying.”
“How does [she] continue to do this work?”
Doctor Henneberg uses the very fact of her own motherhood to draw attention to the fact that this, like an abortion, is a choice. She justifies this by saying “somebody has to do the work”.
Clare McCarthy from Right To Life UK said:
“This piece makes for a very disturbing read. The honesty with which she writes about the graphic nature of her work as an abortionist is sickening, but at least a break from the euphemistic language usually used by abortion providers.”
“While pregnant, this abortion doctor writes about how she delivered an “intact” baby that was still moving, and the “perfect curl” of the dead baby’s fingers and toes reminders her of her own baby.”
“There are many cases of those who have previously worked in the abortion industry and have left their jobs after a change of heart, some of whom have now become the most articulate advocates for the pro-life movement, such as Abby Johnson, former abortion clinic director, and former abortionist, Dr Anthony Levatino.”
