The Townsville Hospital Leak: Queensland Health guidelines for ‘terminating’ a 22 week unborn child
It is a procedure developed for the purposes of ‘[the] administration of Medications to fetal heart under aseptic conditions to induce fetal asystole/death’. Essentially, the document uses sanitised medical language to describe the process for killing little babies in the womb after ‘22 weeks’.
Broken down into three separate sections, the document highlights twenty nine steps in total, the breakdown is as follows:
- Prior to Procedure
- During Procedure
- Post Procedure
Here are some of the gruesome details from each of the sections:
Prior to the procedure - The woman is counselled regarding her options and the implications depending on the reason for seeking the ‘termination’. The medical officer must explain the procedure and advise the woman of the risks.
The procedure itself - The procedure is performed under ultrasound guidance, it is for the practitioner to consider whether morphine should be administered to the unborn child. Morphine is not mandatory. Next the practitioner enters the amniotic cavity and the unborn child is injected in the heart with Potassium Chloride and Lignocaine. If the unborn child has not died another injection will occur to assist in that process.
After the procedure - 10 minutes after ‘the procedure’ has occurred the mother’s health is checked. The woman is then discharged or transferred to the next appropriate centre for care. To be clear - this involves giving birth to the child stillborn or, as happens, the child surviving and being left to die.
[i] Howe, Joanna. “Feticide/Selective Fetal Reduction”. Instagram. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/p/DZn2IQhExDr/?img_index=1; Instagram. “Joanna Howe’s Post.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/p/DZmR-fhPgAg/.