Tom Coburn: “I am amazed at what I just heard, and I want to tell my colleagues that medically, what we just heard is an incorrect…”

“I am amazed at what I just heard, and I want to tell my colleagues that medically, what we just heard is an incorrect, inaccurate statement. This procedure is never used in first trimesters, it will have no effect on first trimester abortions whatsoever. That was the implication. The Kansas data for the first 3 months of this year show that what the gentlewoman from Illinois just stated is not true. The Kansas data shows that, in fact, these were viable infants with no significant medical complication. So I do not deny that I want every abortion in this country to end, but that is not why I am supporting this. This procedure harms women, and there are several other procedures under which the same end result could be accomplished. So let us keep clear what the facts are here. Babies without brains can be delivered other ways than this way at a whole lot less risk to the mother. Do not lose sight of that fact. There is no question I am not much of a politician, but I am a physician, and I have delivered 3,500 babies and I have cared for women with complications from this procedure. Let us stay on what the issue is. The issue is, women who have children that are nonviable can, in fact, have a termination under another method. Number two, under the laws of Kansas, as now is happening, viable fetuses and babies are being terminated with impunity when there is no cause to do so.”