Democrats cannot fully hide the horrible reality of abortion, even from themselves.
Even enthusiasts for baby-killing want to feel good about themselves.
This basic psychological impulse is why a pair of Democrats lied during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee exchange about abortion. Responding to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Peter Welch of Vermont asserted that “late-term abortions are very rare, and it’s almost always — really probably always — where there’s a medical emergency and the life of the woman is imperiled.”
Citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois added that women “need” late-term abortions in cases of “maternal health endangerment; diagnosis of severe fetal abnormality which didn’t show up or develop until late in the pregnancy; restrictive state laws that made it difficult for a woman to get an abortion earlier in pregnancy.” As Ramesh Ponnuru pointed out, the CDC has collected no such data.
Furthermore, we know that late-term abortions are routinely done for elective reasons. Last year, The Atlantic profiled abortionist Warren Hern, who specializes in late-term abortions and will do them at any point in pregnancy, for any reason. He estimates that at least half of the late-term abortions he commits are elective, and he even admitted to committing a third-trimester abortion for sex selection.
Similarly, this year, The New Yorker published a puff piece about a Maryland abortion mill that commits abortions well into the third trimester — and the piece quotes one of the founders complaining that they don’t do them even into the ninth month. The story makes it clear that many, if not most, of that facility’s late-term abortions are done for elective reasons; the article offered examples ranging from relationship problems to one woman who just didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was 30 weeks along.
These are not obscure or right-wing sources, but flagship publications of pro-abortion liberalism, and their reporting is clear that elective, late-term abortions are routine in at least some facilities. Nonetheless, supporters of unrestricted abortion, including in the Senate, regularly pretend they never happen.