{"id":265201,"date":"2022-04-03T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T20:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=265201"},"modified":"2022-04-01T22:58:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T03:58:12","slug":"acog-changes-definitions-early-late-term-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/acog-changes-definitions-early-late-term-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"ACOG changes definitions of ‘early term’ and ‘late term’ abortion – but why?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has released its\u00a0guide<\/a>\u00a0for language on abortion. In it, the organization claims that the term “late-term abortion”\u00a0has “no clinical or medical significance.” However, the phrase “late-term abortion” has been used<\/a> by the abortion industry and media alike for decades to define abortions committed later in pregnancy. The changing of the ACOG’s terminology has historically been beneficial to the abortion industry \u2014 and this change is no different.<\/p>\n

The ACOG, whose pro-abortion stance was led<\/a> by population control enthusiasts, has come to the defense of abortion for years. Back in the 1960s, the organization chose to\u00a0redefine<\/a> the term “conception” \u2014 the word long-understood to mean the creation of a new, unique human life beginning at fertilization \u2014 to implantation<\/em> \u2014 the point at which a new human life implants in the uterine wall. This was done to accommodate a pro-abortion, pro-contraception agenda.<\/p>\n

Now, ACOG has set its sights on \u201clate-term abortion,\u201d claiming, “This phrase has no clinical or medical significance.”<\/p>\n

Instead, “Term,” says ACOG, has “historically referred to the 3 weeks before and 2 weeks after a pregnancy\u2019s due date.”<\/p>\n

“To be even more clinically accurate, ACOG now refers to early term (37 weeks through 38 weeks and 6 days of gestation), full term (39 weeks through 40 weeks and 6 days of gestation), late term (41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days of gestation), and postterm (42 weeks of gestation and beyond) \u2014 and abortion does not happen in this period,” the ACOG guide adds.<\/p>\n

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ACOG Guide to language and abortion<\/p><\/div>\n

Live Action News reached out to Dr. Ingrid Skop, a\u00a0board-certified OB\/GYN and Charlotte Lozier Institute Senior Fellow and Director of Medical Affairs, to interpret ACOG’s claim.<\/p>\n

“Technically, a term delivery is one that occurs between 37 and 42 weeks gestation with the due date occurring at 40 weeks. It is perfectly normal for a pregnancy to go up to two weeks past the due date,” Dr. Skop claimed.\u00a0Therefore, ACOG is defining<\/a> “late-term” narrowly as only those abortions that could happen at 41 to 42 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

“ACOG is using a very limited definition of ‘late-term’ to fool the public into thinking abortions don’t happen later in pregnancy. They know full well when a layman uses ‘late-term abortion’ they are referring to a later abortion but not necessarily one from 41 to 42 weeks,” Dr. Skop told Live Action News.\u00a0“Just because ACOG does not know of a case of abortion occurring 41 to 42 weeks, doesn’t mean the law would prohibit one. In fact, ACOG has never supported a restriction that would prevent such an abortion.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Skop added, “What everybody knows intuitively is that late term [abortion] is referring to abortion later in the pregnancy.\u00a0It’s just ACOG obscuring the meaning of terms.”<\/p>\n

Redefining “early term” abortions masks the truth<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Today, babies are tragically aborted at all stages of development \u2014 even mere days prior to birth, as evidenced by a recent <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> from Kentucky’s Department for Public Health,\u00a0Office of Vital Statistics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kentucky<\/strong> has indicated that, while a pregnancy lasts for about 40 weeks, the lives of two preborn babies were violently ended by abortion in the state at 37 and 38 weeks gestation in 2019<\/a>, and two babies were killed by abortion at 35 and 37 weeks gestation in <\/span>2017<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to ACOG’s new guide, abortions between 37 and 38 weeks will now technically be called “early term” and should be recorded as such. This will obscure from the public how many abortions are actually occurring late in pregnancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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KY abortion up to birth 35 to 37 weeks gestation Kentucky 2019 and 2017<\/p><\/div>\n

In <\/span>2018<\/span><\/a>, the clinical estimated fetal ages of babies aborted (up to birth) in Minnesota were as follows: two at 31 weeks, one at 36 weeks and one at 39 weeks gestation.\u00a0Tragically,\u00a0Minnesota<\/strong>\u2018s 2020 abortion report also\u00a0recorded<\/a>\u00a0one abortion committed at 35 weeks gestation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, the abortion committed at 39 weeks is to now be properly defined as a “full term” abortion, according to ACOG standards.<\/p>\n

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Minnesota abortion up to birth 2020 and 2018 gestation above 31 weeks<\/p><\/div>\n

Nowhere in ACOG’s guide or website does the organization call for stricter federal requirements for reporting of abortion by gestational weeks, especially those deemed later in pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Lies, lies, and more lies<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Abortion industry insiders like ACOG present abortion to the public as if later abortions either rarely ever happen or take place<\/span>\u00a0solely for reasons of “health.” ACOG has<\/span>\u00a0promulgated this deception for decades, even after it was\u00a0<\/span>exposed<\/span><\/a> for its lies in the 1990s during the debate over so-called \u201cpartial-birth abortion\u201d when <\/span>abortion leader Ron Fitzsimmons admitted 3,000-4,000 “partial birth abortions” took place each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fitzsimmons also <\/span>admitted<\/a> that abortion advocates <\/span>lied<\/a> about partial-birth abortion statistics, and <\/span>stated<\/a> the procedure was actually committed thousands of times <\/span>on healthy babies<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Partial Birth Abortion Ron Fitzsimmons admits lie exposes late abortions on healthy babies<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1995, Congress passed a partial-birth abortion ban which was vetoed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Then, in <\/span>March 1997<\/a>, during another Congressional hearing on the topic, Senator Orrin Hatch played a PBS news show, \u201c<\/span>Partial Truth<\/a>,\u201d which examined media bias surrounding late term abortions. (Read statements from journalists regarding the lies and distortions\u00a0<\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n