Murder leaves just two U.S. clinics for late abortions

*Medically necessary abortions include doomed fetuses

*Need to terminate may not show up until 5th month

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Coe was looking forward to an ultrasound to show her the fingers and toes, the upturned nose and the real promise of her unborn child.

Instead, she learned her fetus had hydrocephalus -- a sometimes uncontrollable swelling of the head which was progressing so fast that the baby's head could burst inside her womb.

"We had a baby that might not make it to birth, and if he did, he would pretty much be a vegetable," Coe said in a telephone interview.

Coe, who asks not to use her real name for fear of retaliation by anti-abortion extremists, traveled to Wichita, Kansas, two years ago for a late-term abortion, when the fetus was at 24 weeks gestation.

The clinic closed permanently on Tuesday after the fatal shooting last month of its founder, Dr. George Tiller, 67, a target of anti-abortion rights activists for years.

His murder dismayed foes and supporters alike, with each side fearing damage to their cause in the vitriolic national debate about the issue.

Tiller's clinic was one of only three in the United States offering abortions after the 24th week of gestation when a fetus potentially could survive outside the womb.

SPECIAL TARGET

Activists especially target such late-term abortions, painting the procedure as gruesome murder of a baby that might at worst have disabilities.

Dr. Pratima Gupta, an obstetrician and gynecologist who provides abortions in the San Francisco area, agrees that hydrocephalus can be deadly. "They don't have any normal brain tissue," she said.

The severity might not immediately be apparent until late in the pregnancy, or doctors and patients may want to wait, do repeat ultrasounds and hope for the best.

While opponents, usually religiously motivated, argue that only God should decide to take a life, abortion rights advocates say women must have a chance to save their health, their own lives, and provide a safe way to end a doomed pregnancy.

Gupta calls Tiller's murder devastating. "There are two other providers out there, but frankly, right now, they are not wanting to be very public about the services that they offer," she said.