(Oregon Right to Life) — Former abortion providers sat down with two women who survived attempted abortions as infants in an eye-opening discussion for the pro-life news and advocacy organization Live Action.
Scroll down to watch the interview.
Dr. Kathy Aultman and Dr. Anthony Levatino, both former abortion providers who have since quit the practice and become pro-life advocates, spoke with abortion survivors Claire Culwell and Melissa Ohden, as well as Live Action founder and president Lila Rose.
Dr. Kathi Aultman said she performed around 500 abortions during her career, including some up to around 24 weeks gestation.
“I was so focused on helping the woman,” Dr. Aultman said. “Even as I counted the body parts, I did not see them as human. I didn’t see them as people. It was just the procedure, the woman on the table, that was my focus, helping her, and I somehow was able to totally black out that child.”
“Between June 1980 and February of 1985, in private practice, I performed just under 1,200 abortions,” Dr. Anthony Levatino said. “About 10% of them, or 124 of them, were second-trimester D&E [Dilation and Evacuation] dismemberment abortions.”
READ: Methods of Abortion
During the conversation, Ohden and Culwell shared their own stories and had the opportunity to ask questions of the former abortionists.
“We’re talking about saline abortions. That’s who I am,” Ohden said. “The day that I now celebrate as my birthday is the day that I was accidentally born alive.”
Culwell, whose twin sibling was killed in a dismemberment abortion, spoke about wondering what her mother and twin experienced during the procedure and what she herself may have gone through as she survived the abortion.
Click below to watch the full conversation.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby. Read this and all of our position statements here.
