He hadn't seen an abortion before and was 'disturbed' by what he saw

In a recent man-on-the-street interaction, a man said he was "disturbed" by what he saw when he viewed an animated depiction of a D&E (second trimester) abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• A man interviewed in Philadelphia who started out calling himself "pro-choice" ended up saying he wouldn't be able to support abortion past "one month" after viewing a D&E animation.

• He was not aware of the violence involved in the procedure, or of the development of the preborn baby.

• Regardless of how developed a preborn child is, he or she is a human being from the moment of fertilization and has an inherent right to life.

The Details:

Live Action interviewed a man on the streets of Philadelphia about his thoughts on abortion. At first, he called himself "pro-choice," but with the caveat that "if it's not medical and you're just choosing to do it, I don't really agree with it."

When asked if he would limit an abortion at any time during gestation, he said he would limit it to "probably the first six months." He then watched a video about the common second-trimester abortion procedure, the D&E (dilation and evacuation), often referred to as a "dismemberment abortion," because this is what a D&E does to the body of a preborn child.

He did not know anything about how an abortion is done:

Can One Video Change Your Mind About Abortion?

After watching the video, his one word reaction was, "Disturbed."

"Now seeing it is, it's a little different because seeing a whole baby in there is one thing, but me saying six months — I'm really at like one month now..." he said. "No, that was a full, assembled baby and... it was just disturbing."

He added that he was not aware about "the breaking of the bones and the skull, the disturbing parts like ripping the limbs away and stuff like that."

In truth, though many people believe babies in the first trimester are not yet "fully assembled," they truly are amazingly complex.

This is the video he watched:

2nd Trimester Abortion | Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) | What Is Abortion?

The Context:

As described on the website WhatIsAbortion.com, a second-trimester D&E involves a great deal of violence:

To prepare for a D&E abortion, the abortionist uses laminaria, a form of sterilized seaweed, to open the woman’s cervix 24 to 48 hours before the procedure. The laminaria soaks up liquid from the woman’s body and expands, widening (i.e., dilating) the cervix....

After the amniotic fluid is removed, the abortionist uses a sopher clamp — a grasping instrument with rows of sharp “teeth” — to grasp and pull the baby’s arms and legs, tearing the limbs from the child’s body. The abortionist continues to grasp intestines, spine, heart, lungs, and any other limbs or body parts. The most difficult part of the procedure is usually finding, grasping and crushing the baby’s head.

After removing pieces of the child’s skull, the abortionist uses a curette to scrape the uterus and remove the placenta and any remaining parts of the baby.

The abortionist then collects all of the baby’s parts and reassembles them to make sure there are two arms, two legs, and that all of the pieces have been removed.

The Bottom Line:

At one point, the man noted, "You can't have an opinion on something if you don't know the full story."

Most Americans do not know "the full story" about abortion and what it does to preborn children; once they learn, they may change their minds. Regardless of whether a preborn baby is one month old or six months old in the womb, he or she is a unique human being with an inherent right to life.

Visit WhatIsAbortion.com to learn more about the most common abortion procedures.