The truth behind late-term abortions

“The baby is born, the mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully, and then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby. I don’t think so.” This was the comment President Trump made on a rally Saturday, April 27th, about late-term abortions.

The term late-term abortion is often debated. Some define it as abortion after 16 weeks, others say it is after 20 weeks that it is considered late. Late term abortions are often considered more controversial than earlier abortions because the fetus is more developed and sometimes it is able to survive independently.

The truth is, very few women actually receive abortions past the 21st week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “The majority of abortions in 2015 took place early in gestation: 91.1% of abortions were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation; a smaller number of abortions (7.6%) were performed at 14–20 weeks’ gestation and even fewer (1.3%) were performed at ≥21 weeks’ gestation.”

Most of the time women only get abortions that late in pregnancy if there is some new development. A lot of the time there is a problem with the fetus that means it will be very unlikely to survive for long after being born. Other times they realize that the mother won’t survive giving birth, making her only option for survival to getting an abortion. Most women would not carry a baby that long if they did not want it; in most scenarios, they do want the baby, but something comes up with late-term abortions that mean that one or both the mom and the baby wouldn’t survive.

The fact of the matter is, that you never know why a woman wants or needs to get an abortion. Even if you are against them, you don’t need to stop them from happening, just don’t get them yourself. It is a personal preference and you can make your own decisions but not someone else’s. You never know what a woman is going through, and to ban all abortions just because you don’t like them is, in my personal opinion, wrong and not fair to all the women whose lives would be forever changed by a baby they can’t provide for.

The baby is born, the mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully, and then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby. I don’t think so.

— Donald Trump

President Trump needs to better educate himself about topics before spouting out random things he believes are true. It spreads false information and does not help educate anyone and creates more unneeded conflict.