Governor Rick Perry has called for a special session of the Texas legislature that will, in part, deal with an abortion practitioner who, like Kermit Gosnell, killed babies born alive.
Gov. Rick Perry yesterday expanded the special session call to include legislation relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers and facilities.
“The horrors of the national late-term abortion industry are continuing to come to light, one atrocity at a time. Sadly, some of those same atrocities happen in our own state. In Texas, we value all life, and we’ve worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child,” Gov. Perry said.
Perry added, “We have an obligation to protect unborn children, and to hold those who peddle these abortions to standards that would minimize the death, disease and pain they cause.”
Perry is referring to Douglas Karpen, a Houston abortion practitioner who is being considered the second Kermit Gosnell for killing babies born alive after abortion. A video expose’ of Douglas Karpen has three former abortion clinic employees of abortion practitioner Douglas Karpen exposing horrific practices that took place at his abortion clinic.
That a second Kermit Gosnell would be operating in Texas is so revolting that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is demanding an investigation. Local officials responded and “Harris County authorities and the Texas Department of State Health Services are investigating, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.
A collaboration of pro-life organizations, including Texas Alliance for Life, support measures to increase protection for unborn babies and tighten safety standards for abortion facilities.
“We are grateful to Gov. Rick Perry for adding protection of mothers and unborn babies to the issues considered in the special session,” said Joe Pojman, Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life. “We believe that the recent allegations against Houston abortion physician Douglas Karpen, along with conviction of Kermit Gosnell, highlight the urgent need for pro-life legislation to be passed quickly. We cannot allow these atrocities to continue for two more years when we have the opportunity to address them right now.”
Earlier during the special session Texas Alliance for Life sent a letter to the Governor urging him to add pro-life issues to the call. Texas Alliance for Life also joined with pro-life groups by signing a joint letter to Governor Perry asking him to expand the special session to include a pro-life agenda.
The legislation that will be addressed is sponsored by Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy). Senate Bill 5 will require abortion facilities to:
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Increase abortion facility safety standards to shut down Gosnell-like abortion providers in Texas,
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Require the 18,000 RU-486 abortions performed each year be done according to FDA safety standards,
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Require physicians who perform abortions to be qualified to treat life-threatening complications after botched abortions, and
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Protect unborn children who can feel pain from the horror of abortion.
In the video, the former abortion workers brought forward evidence of illegal late-term abortions in the form of photos taken on their cell phones at the Karpen’s clinic on Schumacher Lane in Houston.
The photos were scandalous. They depicted two babies aborted well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks in Texas. Their necks had been cut.
“The photos show babies that are huge, with gashes in their necks, indicating that these babies were likely born alive, then killed, just as Kermit Gosnell did at his ‘House of Horrors’ clinic in Philadelphia,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “In fact, there are numerous similarities between Karpen and the Gosnell case, including the disregarding of complaints by the authorities that allowed both men to continue their illegal operations.”
The video interview of the three informants verified the worst.
“When he did an abortion, especially an over 20 week abortion, most of the time the fetus would come completely out before he cut the spinal cord or he introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot of the fetus, in order to kill the fetus,” said Deborah Edge, who worked as a surgical assistant for Karpen for about 15 years until leaving in March, 2011.
“I thought, well, it’s an abortion you know, that’s what he does, but I wasn’t aware that it was illegal…Most of the time we would see him where the fetus would come completely out and of course, the fetus would still be alive,” Edge continued.
How often did this happen?
“I think every morning I saw several, on several occasions,” she said. “If we had 20-something patients, of course ten, or twelve, or fifteen patients would be large procedures, and out of those large procedures, I’m pretty sure that I was seeing at least three or four fetuses that were completely delivered in some way or another,” said Edge, acknowledging that these babies would be alive.
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She described how some babies would emerge too soon and would be alive, moving, and breathing. She also told of how Karpen would sometimes deliver the babies feet first with the toes wiggling until he stabbed them with a surgical implement. At the moment the toes would suddenly splay out before going limp. Sometimes he would kill the babies by “twisting the head off the neck,” according to Edge.
During the interview the former abortion clinic employee says: “the fetus would come completely out and of course, the fetus would still be alive” and the abortion clinic employee added “I’m talking about the whole floor dirty. I’m talking about me drenched in blood.”
One abortion clinic employee is quoted as saying, “I thought, well, it’s an abortion you know, that’s what he does, but I wasn’t aware that it was illegal. Most of the time we would see him where the fetus would come completely out and of course, the fetus would still be alive.”
“He does a lot of huge abortions. A lot of the times, we would bring the big fetus that were over age, we would re-open the bag and just look at it and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so big,” the abortion clinic staffer adds. “Sometimes he couldn’t get the fetus out. He would yank pieces – piece by piece – when they were oversize. And I’m talking about the whole floor dirty. I’m talking about me drenched in blood.”
