Minnesota Pro-Life Group Supports House, Senate Bills to Ban Saline Abortions 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 12, 2008
Editor’s Note: This story contains an account of the saline abrotion process and a picture of a victim of such an abortion.
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — A Minnesota pro-life group is supporting a new bill to ban saline abortions in what could become the next targeted method of abortion now that partial-birth abortions have been banned nationwide. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says the abortion procedure kills unborn children but is also dangerous for women.
Lawmakers introduced House and Senate versions of the bill, S.F. 3575 and H.F. 3947, this week.
“Saline abortions are one of the most brutal and inhumane medical procedures performed today,” MCCL legislative associate Jordan Bauer told LifeNews.com.
“Even though saline abortion causes horrific suffering for unborn babies and poses great dangers to women’s health, it is still legal in Minnesota," Bauer added. "It is long past time to outlaw this grotesque abortion procedure.”
In a saline abortion procedure, the abortion practitioner injects a long needle through the wall of the uterus and removes the amniotic fluid. Doing so robs the baby of the safe and nutrient rich environment needed to grow and develop.
The placenta is replaced with saline (salt) solution which is toxic to the unborn child when swallowed.
The baby’s heart stops beating within an hour or two and the salt burns and strips away the outer layer of the child’s skin.
Ultimately, the mother delivers a dead baby whose body is burned and shriveled as a result of the abortion process.
There have been rare cases in which a baby has survived a saline abortion, such as that of pro-life advocate Gianna Jessen.
The group says the process also presents a host of medical risks for women.
If the saline enters the mother’s bloodstream, it can cause severe dehydration, seizures, coma and death. Injection of saline into the bladder causes backache, burning and can damage internal organs.
The risks are so severe that saline abortions have been banned in other nations where abortions are legal — including Japan, Sweden and other countries.
“If Russia can ban saline abortions, why can’t we ban them in Minnesota?” Bauer asked.
“It is time for all Minnesota citizens and lawmakers to come together and make sure that a cruel saline abortion is never again performed in our state," she said.
The group believes the saline abortion ban would be declared constitutional in courts in the same way the Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortions.
"Because saline abortion is every bit as cruel to unborn children and dangerous to women, MCCL is confident the courts would rule a ban constitutional," the group concluded.
Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – https://www.mccl.org
