Americans United for Life Outlines the Life and Death Issues for Women at Stake in Texas Debate over Law Regulating Late-Term Abortions and Substandard Clinics

"Since the trial of 'house of horrors' Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, the nation has focused on what all too often takes place behind the closed doors of abortion clinics across America," said Dr. Yoest. "The time is now to save lives and protect women from an unregulated, unmonitored, and unaccountable abortion industry."

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Americans United for Life President and CEO, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, praised Texas Governor Rick Perry and members of the state House and Senate "for standing up for the rule of law, not mob rule, to protect the lives and health of women too often victimized in abortion clinics." In a second special session of the Texas Legislature, office holders will again consider a life-saving package of legislation aimed at reining in an unmonitored, unregulated and unsupervised abortion industry, as well as legislation based on AUL-model legislation that would require life-ending drugs to be administered only by following FDA protocols.

The newly renamed bills, HB2 and SB2, would also limit abortions after 5 months of pregnancy, would require that abortions take place in facilities regulated like out-patient surgical facilities, and be performed only by physicians who have admitting privileges at local hospitals so that the best care possible would be given in a life-threatening emergency.

While the Texas proposal would limit abortions after 5 months of pregnancy, Gallup polling indicates that 71 percent believe that abortion should be illegal beginning in the fourth month of pregnancy, and 86 percent believe that abortion should be illegal beginning in the seventh month of pregnancy.

"How astounding that in America today we trust abortion clinics to perform surgeries without regulations while we regulate veterinary clinics, hair salons, tattoo parlors and restaurants with the utmost care for public health concerns," said Dr. Yoest. 

She continued: "Governor Rick Perry and members of the Texas House and Senate should be commended for advancing this comprehensive protective legislation. We know that abortion harms women and girls, as well as unborn infants, and we see a growing consensus across the country, especially after the Kermit Gosnell trial, that abortions after 5 months of pregnancy are a horror."

"This should be an area of bi-partisan agreement. The American people are almost totally united in their support for the unborn as pregnancy progresses. One look at a woman carrying a child at 5 months should be enough to convince us that later-term abortions destroy an infant and expose women to the risk of great medical and emotional harm from such late-term procedures."

The strongest risk factor for a woman dying as a result of a botched abortion is how far along she is in her pregnancy. Compared to abortion at eight weeks of pregnancy, the relative risk of mortality increases exponentially (by 38 percent for each additional week) as the pregnancy progresses.

Empirical data shows that a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks is 35 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester. At 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester.

In fact, while abortion advocates attempt to downplay the dangers of later-term abortions, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute emphasizes the increased risk of late-term abortions, noting, "The risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pregnancy, from one death for every one million abortions at or before eight weeks to one per 29,000 at 16–20 weeks—and one per 11,000 at 21 or more weeks."

"Abortion advocates say this is a matter of women's health – and it is," said Dr. Yoest. "Texas lawmakers must pass SB 2/HB 2 in order to save lives and protect women and infants from a profit-hungry, unregulated abortion industry."

Since the Gosnell trial, nationwide momentum is building to protect women and girls from an out-of-control, unaccountable abortion industry. In fact, both Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation were aware of the "house of horrors" clinic where babies born during botched abortions were killed. To protect the women and girls of Texas from abortion industry abuses, AUL is co-hosting a national Twitter campaign, #Stand4Life.

For more information on the health risks of abortion for women and infants, click here.

SOURCE Americans United for Life