The abortion industry continues to reveal just how far it will go to normalize the destruction of human life. In 2021, just prior to the Dobbs decision, the Later Abortion Initiative, part of Ibis Reproductive Health, circulated a fact sheet that promotes what it calls “patient-centered pregnancy tissue viewing” (PCV). On the surface, the practice is described as a “compassionate, client-driven option” that allows women to view the “products of conception” following an abortion. In reality, it is a macabre attempt to normalize abortion and obscure the truth of what has taken place: the deliberate ending of an innocent human life.
The Reality Behind “Pregnancy Tissue”
The language used in the fact sheet is striking. By referring to the remains of an aborted child as “pregnancy tissue” or “products of conception,” abortion advocates work hard to dehumanize the preborn baby. This is intentional. By using deliberately vague language, pro-abortion ideologues seek to distance both the abortionist and the woman from the reality that abortion does not simply remove “tissue”—it ends the life of an preborn child. When clinics offer women the “option” to view the remains, they are acknowledging, even if indirectly, that what was destroyed in the abortion is not just tissue. Indeed, the fact sheet admits that abortionists often struggle with showing women “recognizable fetal parts”–particularly in later abortions.
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Exploiting Grief and Confusion
The abortion industry claims that PCV is designed to help women process their emotions, reduce guilt, and provide closure. But what kind of closure can come from the sight of one’s own child’s dismembered body? Instead of acknowledging the profound harm caused by abortion, the practice risks deepening trauma.
The fact sheet even describes special accommodations in cases of late-term abortions, such as swaddling the remains of the baby or offering memorial certificates. These are practices typically reserved for grieving parents after a miscarriage or stillbirth. To see them applied in the context of an abortion is deeply disturbing. It further exposes the contradiction at the heart of the abortion industry: recognizing the humanity of the child only after his or her life has been deliberately ended.
A Tool for Normalization
The abortion lobby frames PCV as “client-centered care,” part of a broader strategy to make abortion appear compassionate and thoughtful. In reality, this is a cynical attempt to normalize abortion while deflecting from the truth. By turning the viewing of fetal remains into an optional, almost therapeutic exercise, abortion advocates hope to reduce the stigma and moral weight attached to abortion.
But the stigma exists for a reason. Abortion ends a human life. Glossing over that fact with sanitized terminology and staged “closure” rituals does not change the reality.
What This Reveals About the Industry
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of this initiative is not what it says about women, but what it says about the abortionists themselves. The fact sheet admits that staff often feel discomfort, ambivalence, or emotional strain when facilitating PCV. Some abortion workers reportedly use it as a way to “strengthen their commitment” to abortion work. This acknowledgment underscores the moral conflict inherent in the practice of abortion—a conflict that no amount of rebranding or ritualized viewing can erase.
A Call to Confront the Truth
National Right to Life believes women deserve authentic compassion and support, not euphemisms and staged coping mechanisms that mask the violence of abortion. True empowerment comes from life-affirming options: prenatal care, adoption services, and community support for mothers and families.
“Patient-centered pregnancy tissue viewing” does not empower women. It exploits their grief and attempts to make the unacceptable acceptable. At its core, it is an admission of the humanity of the unborn child—a humanity that cannot be denied, no matter how carefully the abortion industry tries to conceal it.
We must reject efforts to normalize abortion and instead work toward a culture that acknowledges the dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death. Anything less—any nonsense that abortion is “redeemed” by “patient-centered pregnancy tissue viewing”—betrays not only the unborn, but also the women who are told that their best “option” is to participate in their child’s destruction.
