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Partial Birth
Abortion
Intact Dilation and Evacuation
On December 7, 1995, the United
States Senate passed the Partial-Birth
Abortion Ban Act which would end partial-birth abortions by a margin of
54-44. House members voted 2-to-1 in favor of the ban, 288-139 [Republicans
215-15; Democrats 73-123; Independents 0-1]. When it reached the desk of
President Bill Clinton on April 10, 1996, he vetoed the Act, thereby allowing
the brutal procedure to continue with no restrictions.
In spite of
testimony by medical experts to the contrary, Clinton justified his action with
the claim that this procedure affects only hundreds of people and was necessary
to protect the life and health of the mother - even though the abortionists
themselves admitted its use was purely elective.
Once again on Oct. 8,
1997, the House passed a Partial Birth Abortion Ban by a veto-proof vote of
296-132. The Senate passed the bill in May (64-36), three votes less than the
two-thirds majority that would be needed to override Clinton's veto. On Oct.
10, 1997, President Clinton again signed the veto papers, this time privately
and without fanfare in the Oval Office. On July 23, 1998 the House again voted
to override President Clinton's veto by a vote of 296-132.
Ban Passed
into Law
On November 5, 2003, with
Bill Clinton out of the way, President Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion
Ban Act (S. 3) into law.
The partial-birth abortion
procedure is used after 20 weeks (4 1/2 months) of pregnancy -- often to six
months, seven months, and even later.
Critics have characterized
Partial Birth Abortion as an unnecessarily brutal act that no one should
tolerate. "You wouldn't treat an animal this way," Judiciary Committee Chairman
Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., one of the House's foremost abortion opponents, said
during floor debate. Charles T. Canady, R-Fla., the bill's chief sponsor, said
the procedure was perilously close to homicide.
"The only difference
between the partial birth abortion and homicide is a mere three inches," said
Rep. Charles T. Canady, R-Fla. "Most partial-birth abortions are performed on
the healthy children of healthy mothers."
The "Health"
Exception
The bill passed by Congress
allows a partial-birth abortion to be performed if necessary to save a women's
life. But pro-abortion groups and President Clinton also demand an exception
for "health" abortions - a huge loophole that would allow partial-birth
abortions for "emotional well-being" or "depression."
The late Dr.
James McMahon, who performed abortions on all of the women who Bill Clinton
paraded before the public when he vetoed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
testified that only 9% of the 2,000 partial-birth abortions he performed
involved "maternal health" [the most common being "depression"]. Another 56% were for "fetal flaws,"
ranging from trivial to grave; the most common being Down Syndrome.
Over one-third involved neither fetal nor maternal
indications, however trivial - in other words, "elective".
 Dr.
Martin Haskell, who has performed over 1,000 partial-birth abortions, said that
he performs them "routinely" for non-medical reasons, and that 80% are "purely
elective." Medical experts testified before congressional committees that it is
never necessary to kill a baby that has been allmost entirely delivered to
preserve the life or health of the mother.
The American Medical
Association's board of trustees released a report in May 1997, saying there are
no situations in which "intact dilation and extraction [known as partial-birth
abortion] is the only appropriate procedure to induce abortion."
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Shame on Bill
Clinton for vetoing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban and shame on the Congressmen
and Senators who have supported this brutal and inhuman act.
"Although they know
God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not
only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice
them." [Romans 1:32]
My heart is broken when I think
that the American public would elect leaders who would legalize, condone and
encourage this brutal murder of babies only seconds before delievery. Their
next step is to legalize snuffing the life of an unwanted or imperfect baby
moments or days after delivery. |
"Lied through
my teeth"
In Feb. 1997, Ron
Fitzsimmons, a leader of the pro-abortion movement and Executive Director of
America's National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted he had "lied
through my teeth" in the ABC "Nightline" program in November 1995 about both
the number of and the main reason for partial birth abortions. He now says
there are far more partial birth abortions performed than was previously
acknowledged, and on healthy women bearing healthy fetuses. It was Fitzsimmons'
statistics which claimed only about 500 such abortions, which were cited by
President Clinton when he vetoed the ban on partial birth abortions.
Surprise! Surprise! It turns out there are thousands of partial birth
abortions performed every year (as many as 3,000 to 4,000 according to
Fitzsimmons) - almost 1,500 in one New Jersey abortion clinic alone!
Anesthesia's
Effect on the Baby
Medical experts
testified that babies at this age can experience great pain. The anesthesia
given to the mother has little or no effect on the baby, according to
congressional testimony by the nation's leading anesthesiologists, including
the president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. |
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Partial-Birth
Abortion is an Affront to Everything this Nation Stands For.
President Clinton, working hand-in-glove with
pro-abortion Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, tried to fool the American
people by proposing a phony ban. This is playing politics with unborn children
and is designed to provide political cover for politicians and not save babies
lives.
How far have these Congressmen and Senators slid down that "slippery slope" of abortion toward infanticide? Is it
right to kill a fully delivered child? Consider the exchange between Sen. Rick
Santorum (R., Pa.) and Senator Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) during the Senate
debate on whether to override Clinton's veto of the ban on partial birth
abortions.
Sen. Santorum: "If that baby
were delivered breech style and everything was delivered except for the head,
and for some reason that that baby's head would slip out - that the baby was
completely delivered - would it then still be up to the doctor and the mother
to decide?"
Sen. Feingold: "The standard of saying it has to be a
determination, by a doctor, of health of the mother, is a sufficient standard
that would apply to that situation."
Sen. Santorum: "That doesn't
answer the question. Let's assume the head is accidentally delivered. Would you
allow the doctor to kill the baby?"
Senator Feingold: "That is a
question that should be answered by a doctor, and by the woman who received the
advice from the doctor."
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