Do saline abortions, where babies are burned in salt, still happen in the U.S.?

(GRAPHIC photo of abortion is included in this article.)

The horrors of saline abortion are well known among the pro-life movement. Saline abortions fall under the method known as “instillation abortion” — a method where substances including saline, digoxin, potassium chloride, or prostaglandin are injected into a mother’s womb. Instillation abortions are typically performed on older preborn babies who are often able to feel pain (something that studies have confirmed).

Saline abortion is also considered a surgical abortion procedure. It is performed by injecting a saline solution into the mother’s uterus, directly into the amniotic sac. The baby is not only poisoned, but also chemically burned alive from the inside out. The outer layer of his skin is burned off. It will take him over an hour to die. The saline solution also induces contractions, so about a day later, the mother will give birth to her dead baby, although some babies have survived (more on that later).

All abortion procedures are horrifying and violent, but saline abortions are so terrible, that they are very rarely performed anymore… or are they?

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released an abortion surveillance report from 2013. The big news that got the most attention in the media was that abortions have decreased — they have actually hit a record low, which is good news. But Secular Pro-Life dug a little deeper, and what they found was something disturbing.

Table 22 broke down the various abortion methods. And thanks to Table 22, we know that at least 113 instillation abortions (the method that includes saline abortions) were performed in 2013.

The true number is almost certainly higher, as only 36 states report their abortion data back to the CDC. States like California and New York are not included. And at least 45 babies older than 21 weeks had this horrible procedure done to them — at a stage of life when they could scientifically feel pain — and they were cruelly forced to suffer this unimaginable pain until they died. (Some studies some babies can feel pain earlier than 20 weeks, possibly as early as 5.5 weeks.)

Why is this surprising? Because the abortion industry insists that saline abortions don’t really happen anymore. And perhaps the scariest part of this is that saline abortion is known to have a high failure rate. Babies can be born alive after the attempted abortion — babies like Gianna Jessen and Melissa Ohden, two saline abortion survivors who have been mocked by pro-choicers, and who the abortion industry pretends either don’t exist, or claims are myths and frauds. But the truth is that thousands of babies survive abortion, and saline abortion has become less popular in large part because it’s so likely to fail, resulting in the baby’s survival.

So when it does fail, what happens?

One abortionist strangled the baby. One nurse reported that babies born alive after saline abortions were suffocated to death. One abortionist testified that the babies would just be left to die, and that this usually took several days. Abortion workers have testified that abortion survivors were abandoned until they died; some saw the abortionists kill the babies themselves.

There’s a reason the abortion industry denies that saline abortions still happen. But now we have indisputable proof from the CDC that horrific instillation abortion procedures do happen, even in 2013, and there is no proof from the CDC or elsewhere that saline abortions are not still included. In fact, in the last available report where the CDC describes types of instillation abortions, saline is specifically mentioned as a procedure that is still used, particularly on babies over 16 weeks. Even pro-abortion sources still discuss saline abortions as a method of inducing “fetal demise.”

Partial-birth abortion has been banned federally because it is cruel and inhumane; why, then, does the law still allow for saline and other instillation abortions to take place?