By Gretchen Keiser

A new abortion procedure is being developed in Atlanta which injects an adult dose of the medicine digoxin directly into the heart of the five-month-old fetus, killing the baby in the womb.

The new procedure has been used approximately 600 times at Midtown Hospital on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, according to a report by Dr. James Waters, who was medical director of the Hospital until several weeks ago.

Thomas Allibone, administrator of the facility, refused to confirm or deny that the procedure, called digoxin induction abortion, is currently being used for late second-trimester abortions (20 to 24 weeks gestation).

“Dr. Waters was working on (the procedure) on an experimental basis,” Allibone said. He said that Dr. Waters had been discharged two weeks ago for undisclosed reasons.

Asked whether the procedure is still being used, Allibone said, “If it is, I won’t say yes. If it isn’t, I won’t say no. We’re not going to give any more information.”

Details of the procedure were presented August 16 as one section of a two-day summer conference sponsored by the Emory University Family Planning Program and held at Grady Memorial Hospital’s Steiner Auditorium.

Dr. Waters presented a report describing the method and comparing the results of 203 cases in which he said digoxin injections were used, as compared with 203 cases in which the alternative procedure of saline induction abortion was used.

He said the new method was safer for the woman than saline induction and appears to be completely successful at killing the baby before delivery. Other methods of abortion used during the late stages of pregnancy sometimes result in a “live birth” – the survival and birth of a premature infant after an attempted abortion.

The “live birth” baby has already been exposed in saline induction abortions to a “very toxic medication which severely depresses them and damages them,” Dr. Waters noted.

During 1980, 1981 and 1982, Midtown Hospital had 14 “live births” according to records kept by the Georgia Department of Human Resources. Dr. Waters said in his report that there had been no “live births” at Midtown Hospital in 1983 or, so far, in 1984.

According to the report presented at the conference, the new digoxin induction abortion depends upon an ultrasound examination to reveal the size of the infant and the location of the heart. After some preparatory procedures on the woman, a needle is injected, sending first a saline solution and then digoxin into the heart of the baby.

The amount of digoxin used is .25 milligrams, which was described as a standard adult dose of the medicine by several doctors contacted later. Dr. Waters said the dose was “below the therapeutic level” given normally to an adult.

His report also described several indications that could show that the needle had penetrated the heart, including a return of blood from the heart or an immediate change in the rhythm of the heartbeat of the baby.

Four hours following the injection the pregnant woman would be checked to see if the baby was dead. The woman would still have to go through labor and delivery of the dead infant. The report said the mean abortion time with digoxin induction was 14.14 hours.

Normally, digoxin is used to correct and control abnormal heartbeats and heart failure in adults and children. According to the 1984 Physicians Desk Reference, it is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for use to treat failure and to correct dangerous variations in the heart rate.

Dr. Kenneth Dooley, a pediatric cardiologist at Emory Medical School and Emory University Clinic, said digoxin has been used in a therapeutic way to correct the abnormal heartbeat of a baby in the womb by administering a proper dose orally or intravenously to the pregnant woman.

Given a description of the digoxin method of abortion, Dr. Dooley said, “Basically what you’re doing is injecting a poison into the baby’s heart and circulation system. That will stop the heartbeat and, in turn, the baby dies.”

Of the procedure, Dr. Dooley said, “To my knowledge, it (digoxin) has never been used in this method to treat anything.”

The saline method of induction involves the injection of a needle through the abdominal wall of the mother into the amniotic sac in which the baby is floating. A concentrated salt solution is injected into the amniotic fluid which the baby breathes and swallows and which results in poisoning. As in digoxin injection abortion, the woman must still go into labor and delivery. The mean time for saline induction abortions in the 203 cases was 13.18 hours, according to the report.

Statistics presented by Dr. Waters indicated that the saline induction abortions resulted in incomplete abortions in 47.5 percent of the 203 cases, meaning that the placenta was not naturally aborted with the baby and had to be removed. In digoxin induction cases, 26.6 percent resulted in incomplete abortions, according to his statistics.

Dr. Waters, who also performs abortions as part of a private practice in obstetrics and gynecology, would not discuss what conflict had resulted in his recent departure from the Midtown Hospital staff.

He said that he had begun the digoxin induction procedures there after visiting an unidentified doctor in Kansas last December who had done similar work. He said his data was presented last May to a National Abortion Federation meeting in California.

Mr. Allibone said that the seminar in Atlanta Aug. 16 was given without the knowledge of Midtown Hospital. He refused to discuss the procedure and whether or not women who received digoxin induction abortions were aware that they were taking part in an experimental procedure and gave their consent.

The digoxin induction method was unfamiliar to all of those contacted either in the medical field or in the pro-life arena.

Dr. Steven Zielinski, senior medical consultant to Americans United for Life, a Chicago-based pro-life organization, said that he had not heard of the procedure, which he saw as a way of ensuring that late abortions in the second trimester would not result in “live births.”

An Atlanta doctor who specialized in high-risk obstetrics, who asked not to be identified, said that technological and medical advances over the last 20 years have made it possible to treat the fetus in the womb and ensure the birth of a healthier baby.

The doctor pointed out that direct injections into the fetus in the womb have been made to drain dangerous fluid levels and to give blood transfusions.

“Direct injections into the fetus have been primarily used to benefit the fetus,” the doctor said. “This manipulation (digoxin induction) is not to benefit the fetus.”