By Thea Jarvis

According to statistics on file at the Georgia State Department of Human Resources, a total of 14 live births occurred at Atlanta’s Midtown Hospital over a three-year period, from 1980 to 1982.

The hospital, located at 144 Ponce de Leon Avenue, advertises as “Georgia’s Only Licensed Hospital Specializing in Abortions,” offering the service on a sliding scale through the second trimester of pregnancy (24 weeks).

Midtown is the state’s only all-abortion facility.

A computer printout issued by the Department of Human Resources’ Vital Records division determined that live births occurring at Midtown Hospital numbered 10 in 1980, three in 1981 and one through October, 1982.

Death certificates for the 14 aborted babies indicate both the approximate interval between the onset of the abortion process and the death of the child, as well as the length of time the child lived.

Certificates of death are a matter of public record in the State of Georgia, although birth certificates are considered confidential.

The maximum time period an aborted baby sustained life outside the womb in the three-year study of Midtown was 13 hours and five minutes. According to the death certificate, dated April of 1981, the immediate cause of death was “pulmonary insufficiency, therapeutic abortion.”

Another death certificate, which states that life was sustained after an abortion for five hours, 55 minutes, cites “extreme immaturity – 19 week gestation” (length of pregnancy) as the cause of death.

During the 1980-82 time frame, the shortest period of time recorded for an aborted baby to have lived outside the womb was 20 minutes. Death was attributed to “Saline induction to terminate pregnancy. Extreme immaturity – 22 weeks.” The time that elapsed between onset of the abortion and death of the baby was 12 hours.

Other abortion babies are recorded as having lived 23 minutes, 25 minutes; 30 minutes 35 minutes; 50 minutes; one hour, 46 minutes; two hours, 16 minutes; three hours, 10 minutes; four hours, 10 minutes; five hours, five minutes; and six hours, 20 minutes.

In an attempt to clarify the statistics, The Georgia Bulletin contacted Midtown Hospital and spoke with Thomas Allibone, administrator of the facility. Allibone claimed that the hospital adheres to certain guidelines when a live birth results from the abortion procedure.

This includes immediate notification of the attending physician, a monitoring of the “fetus” by hospital personnel, and possible issuance of orders over the phone or in person, Allibone stated.

The medical judgment of the doctor, he contended, determines the treatment given and the possibility of transport to a newborn care unit. Although transport to the neo-natal unit at Grady is available at Midtown, death certificates gave no indication that this procedure was used in any of the instances studied.

“The physician makes the medical decisions, not the administrative staff,” Mr. Allibone emphasized carefully.

Certificates of death in the State of Georgia require a listing of a “cemetery or crematory name” on the actual record of death. In the case of the 14 live births at Midtown, nine death certificates show “hospital disposal” or “Midtown Hospital” under the category of “cemetery or crematory name.”

This means that these aborted babies were born at Midtown, lived for a time there, and died in the hospital.

The remaining five certificates report that the cemetery or crematory name was “n/a” or “unknown.”

Questioned about this dimension of hospital procedure, administrator Allibone replied that the bodies were released to a state licensed undertaker. He declined to state the undertaker’s name.

Allibone said that “hospital disposal” meant Midtown had taken responsibility for the aborted fetuses, not that the hospital disposed of the remains on their own premises.

Only six death certificates report “removal” in the space which calls for a specification of “burial, cremation, removal.” Six other death certificates list “disposal” or “hospital disposal” in this category; two state only “other.”

In the view of Thomas Allibone, “the live birth problem has been there since the beginning” of abortion medicine and exists all over, though the numbers of live births have, he claims, decreased over the years.

“We report (live births). A lot of people do not,” he said with some pride. “We don’t try to hide anything in that respect.”

According to a study Allibone himself compiled, the percentage of live births occurring at Midtown between 1979 and 1982 was 0.0009% of the total number of abortions performed. He declined to state how many abortions took place at the hospital during the time.

The State Department of Human Resources, however, indicates that Midtown performs an average of almost 500 abortions per month (6,000 per year). The hospital’s percentage of live births must be placed in the context of actual numbers to clearly state the case.

The concern of Midtown Hospital, Thomas Allibone insists, is that of “women having a choice.” Moral considerations are not the foundation upon which services are dispensed at Midtown, he emphasized.

Despite this, he is aware that Midtown operates in the “most complicated area of abortion medicine,” the second trimester of pregnancy. For this reason, he stressed, Midtown urges women who are contemplating abortion to “come in early” to prevent complications.

Those who do come to Midtown seeking an abortion – whether early or late – undergo some scrutiny to determine the gestation period involved

A menstrual history of the patient is taken and a physical examination is conducted. In the case of pregnancies over 12 weeks, an ultrasound (sonogram) test is always performed, Allibone stated emphatically.

While the Midtown Hospital in Atlanta stands by its own guidelines regarding patient health and live birth monitoring, the laws that govern such procedures in the State of Georgia are both brief and ambiguous.

Article 5 of the Georgia Code deals with abortion. Section 16-12-141 refers to the possibility of a live birth occurring in the third trimester of pregnancy and what should be done if such should occur:

“No abortion is authorized or shall be performed after the second trimester unless the physician and two consulting physicians certify the abortion is necessary in their best clinical judgment to preserve the life or health of the woman. If the product of the abortion is capable of meaningful or sustained life, medical aid then available must be rendered.”

If meaningful and sustained life occurs during the second trimester of pregnancy, what kind of medical aid must then be rendered?