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this investigation of Planned
Parenthood's based on false premises one
after another after another it's time to
stop wasting time get on it with
meaningful work and stop picking on
women and trying to take their choice
away I yield back the balance of my time
the time of the gentleman has expired we
welcome our distinguished witnesses
today do you and each of you swear that
the testimony that you are about to give
shall be the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth so help you God
and I'll now begin by introducing
today's witnesses the first witness is
dr. Anthony levatino dr. levatino is a
board-certified obstetrician
gynecologist over the course of his
career dr. levatino has practice
obstetrics and gynecology in both
private and university settings
including as an associate professor of
ob/gyn at the Albany Medical College and
dr. levatino we'll begin with you
welcome Thank You chairman and members
of the committee I only have five
minutes so I'm gonna get right to it
second trimester D&E abortions perform
between roughly 14 and 24 weeks of
gestation your patient today is 17 years
old she's 22 weeks pregnant her baby is
the length of your hand plus a couple of
inches and she's been feeling her baby
kick for the last several weeks but
she's asleep on an operating room table
you walk into that operating room
scrubbed and gound and after removing
laminaria you introduce a suction
catheter into the uterus this is a 14
French suction catheter if she were 12
weeks pregnant or less basically the
width of your hand are smaller you could
basically do the entire procedure with
this but babies this big don't fit
through catheters this size after
suctioning the amniotic fluid out from
around the baby you introduce an
instrument called the sulfur clamp it's
about 13 inches long it's made of
stainless steel the business end of this
clamp is about two and a half inches
long and a half inch wide there are rows
of sharp teeth this is a grasping
instrument when it gets ahold of
something it does not let go a DNA
procedure is a blind abortion so picture
yourself introducing this and grabbing
anything you can blindly and pull and I
do mean hard and out pops a leg about
that big which you put down in the table
next to you reaching again pull again
pull out an arm of the
same length which you put down in the
table next to you and use this
instrument again and again to tear out
the spine
the intestines the heart and lungs head
and the baby that size is about the size
of a large plum you can't see it but you
pretty good idea you got it if you've
got your instrument around something and
your fingers are spread about as far as
they go you know you did it right if you
crush down on the instrument white
material runs out of the cervix that was
the baby's brains and you could pull out
skull pieces then you have a day like I
had a lot of time sometimes a little
face comes back and stares back at you
congratulations you just successfully
performed a second trimester Dini
abortion you just affirmed your right to
choose one more question dr. levatino
why did you end your practice of doing
abortions I did over 1,200 abortions
over a four-year period in private
practice not counting the ones that I
did during my training I met my wife
that during my first year of training at
Albany Medical Center we got married
about a year later and found that we had
an infertility problem after years of
failed infertility treatment and several
years trying to adopt a child we were
blessed with the adopting a little girl
that mean we named Heather in August of
1978 as sometimes happens in those
situations my wife got pregnant the very
next month and we had two children ten
months apart
two months short of my daughter
Heather's sixth birthday she was killed
in an auto accident literally died in
our arms in the back of an ambulance
anyone who has children might think they
have some idea of what that feels like
but unless you've been through it
yourself
you have no idea whatsoever I know
people find it hard to believe but what
do you do after disaster you bury your
child and then you go back to your life
and I don't remember exactly how long it
was after my daughter died that I showed
up at Albany Medical Center Oh our
number nine to perform my first second
trimester DNA abortion I wasn't thinking
of it as anything special this was
routine to me but I reached in literally
pulled out an arm or leg and got sick
you know earlier on I described stacking
up body parts on the side of the table
it's not too
you know gross people out use a simple
term when you do an abortion you need to
keep inventory you have to make sure you
get two arms and two legs and all the
pieces if you don't your patients going
to come back infected bleeding or dead
so I soldiered on and finish that
abortion and I know it sounds as I said
hard for people to believe but I'm I'm
telling you straight up my experience
you know after over 1200 abortions first
and second trimester up to 24 weeks and
all the rest of it and being very
dedicated to it well the first time in
my life I really looked I really looked
at that pile of body parts on the side
of the table and I didn't see her
wonderful right to choose and I didn't
see all the money I just made all I
could see was somebody's son or daughter
and I stopped doing late term abortions
after that and several months later
stopped doing all abortions thank you
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