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  • My name is Dr. Anthony Levatino.

  • 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 steelit’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 youre at or what youve 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 bigit’s all the same.

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

My name is Dr. Anthony Levatino.

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