I’m a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist and I’ve performed over 1,200 abortions.

Today, I’m going to describe a 2nd Trimester Surgical Abortion,

called Dilatation and Evacuation, or D & E.

A D & E is performed between 13 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.

After administering anesthesia, the abortionist uses a weighted speculum, like this one, that

opens the vagina widely.

Because 2nd trimester babies are so large,

this greater access facilitates a late-term abortion.

Late term abortion requires that the cervix be prepared 24-48 hours in advance with laminaria.

Laminaria is a type of sterilized seaweed that absorbs water over 8-12 hours and swells

to several times its original diameter.

Once removed, metal dilators can be used to further open the cervix as needed.

Once the cervix has been stretched open, the suction tube is placed inside.

A baby at 20 weeks gestation is as big as the length of my hand,

from head to rump, not counting the legs.

The suction machine is turned on, and pale yellow amniotic fluid surrounding the baby

is suctioned out through the catheters.

But babies this big, they don’t fit through catheters this size.

The baby’s bones and skull are too strong to be torn apart by suction alone.

This is a sopher clamp.

A sopher clamp is made of stainless steel— it’s about 13 inches long.

The business end is about 2 1/2 inches long and a 1/2-inch wide,

and there are rows of sharp teeth.

This is a grasping instrument, and when it gets a hold of something,

it does not let go.

The abortionist uses this clamp to grasp an arm or a leg.

Once he has a firm grip, the abortionist pulls hard,

in order to tear the limb from the baby’s body.

One by one, the rest of the limbs are removed, along with the intestines, the spine, and

the heart and lungs.

Usually the most difficult part of the procedure is extracting the baby’s head, which is

about the size of a large plum at 20 weeks.

The head is grasped and crushed.

The abortionist knows he has crushed the skull when a white substance comes out of the cervix—

this was the baby’s brains. The abortionist then removes skull pieces.

He removes the placenta and any leftover parts of the baby with a curette, scraping

the lining of the uterus for any remaining tissue.

The abortionist then collects the baby parts and reassembles them to make sure that there

are two arms, two legs, and all the pieces.

Once all of the parts have been accounted for, the abortion is complete.

For the woman, this procedure carries a significant risk of major complications, including perforation

or laceration of the uterus or cervix, with possible damage to the bowel, bladder, and

other maternal organs.

Infection and hemorrhage can also occur, which can even lead to death.

Future pregnancies are also at a greater risk for loss or premature delivery due to abortion-related

trauma and injury to the cervix.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m Dr. Anthony Levatino, and in the early part of

my career as an OB/GYN I performed over 1,200 abortions.

One day, after completing one of those abortions, I looked at the remains of a preborn child

whose life I had ended, and all I could see was someone's son or daughter.

I came to realize that killing a baby at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason, is wrong.

I want you to know today, no matter where you’re at or what you’ve done,

you can change.

Make a decision today to protect the preborn.

Thank you for your time.

I will no longer do any more abortions.

When you finally figure out that killing a baby that big for money is wrong, then it

doesn’t take you too long to figure out it doesn’t matter if the baby is this big,

or this big, or this big, or maybe even this big— it’s all the same.

And I haven’t done any since then and I never will.