The surgical method described in this paper differs from classic D&E in that it does not rely upon dismemberment to remove the fetus. Nor are inductions or infusions used to expel the intact fetus. Rather, the surgeon grasps and removes a nearly intact fetus through an adequately dilated cervix. The author has coined the term Dilation and Extraction or D&X to distinguish it from dismemberment- type D&Es. This procedure can be performed in a properly equipped physician’s office under local anesthesia. It can be used successfully in patients 20–26 weeks in pregnancy. The author has performed over 700 of these procedures with a low rate of complications.

Description OF Dilation and extraction method (D&x)

Dilation and extraction take over three days. In a nutshell, D&X can be described as follows: dilation; more dilation; real-time ultrasound visualization; version (as needed); intact extraction; fetal skull decompression; removal; clean-up; recovery......

Abortion politics focuses on extremes. At one end is the deeply held belief that intentionally terminating a pregnancy from the moment of conception is murder. At the other end is the deeply held belief that “The embryo is not a child. It is not a baby. It is not yet a human being.” (Ramsey 2006, 722, n. 4) The enactment and the aftermath of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a prime example. Even in the U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld its validity, Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) (5–4) generated sharp and unusually emotionally charged exchanges between the five at oral arguments and in the majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions. After reading the excerpts above, listening to the oral arguments and Justices Kennedy (majority) and Ginsburg’s (dissent)announcement of the opinions at http://www.oyez.org/   cases/2000–2009/2006/2006_05_380, and the section “When Does Life Begin?” pp. 324–325, do you believe statutes that make partial birth abortions murder or feticide are wise public policy? Explain your answer.