Partial Birth AbortionNOTE: Partial birth abortion is currently banned by the US Supreme Court. The Freedom of Choice Act would supercede the federal ban and in effect re-legalize partial birth abortion. The following information has been shortened and simplified from the original version which is outdated. The original text can be found HERE for those who are interested. You can see the full text of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 HERE. This would be null and void if the Freedom of Choice Act were to pass. According to this ban, partial birth abortion “is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessaryand should be prohibited.” What is a Partial-Birth Abortion?* The definition of partial-birth abortion is “an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.” A number of physicians were involved in the drafting of this language to ensure that it is medically accurate and does not encompass any other form of abortion or legitimate medical procedure.
What Are the Circumstances?. * Partial-birth abortion is not a legitimate medical procedure and is not needed for any particular circumstances. While the American Medical Association has officially taken no position on H.R. 1833, the AMA’s Council on Legislation–made up of 12 doctors–voted unanimously to recommend that the AMA Board of Trustees endorse H.R. 1833. A member of the Council said they “felt this was not a recognized medical technique,” and that the council members agreed that the “procedure is basically repulsive.” (Congress Daily. Oct. 10, 1995) What Are the Circumstances? (Continued) * Dr. Martin Haskell stated: “And I’ll be quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week range… in my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons. And the other 80% are purely elective….” (1993 Interview with AM News) * Dr. McMahon uses the partial-birth abortion method through the entire 40 weeks of pregnancy. He claims that most of the abortions he performs are “nonelective,” but his definition of “non-elective” includes reasons such as the mother’s youth or depression. * Dr. McMahon sent the Constitution Subcommittee a graph showing that, even at 26 weeks of gestation, half the babies that Dr. McMahon aborted were perfectly healthy, and many of the babies he described as “flawed” had conditions that were compatible with long life, either with or without a disability. For example, Dr. McMahon listed nine partial-birth abortions performed because the baby had a cleft lip. * The National Abortion Federation sent out a June 18, 1993, letter to its members regarding the partial-birth abortion method (then called dilation and extraction). The letter counseled, “Don’t apologize: this is a loyal abortion procedure.” The letter also stated, “There are many reasons why women have late abortions: life endangerment, fetal indications, lack of money or health insurance, social-psychological crises, lack of knowledge about human reproduction, etc.” Eye Witness Account* Registered nurse Brenda Pratt Shafer witnessed several partial-birth abortions while working for an Ohio abortionist. She described one of these abortions in a July 9, 1995, letter to Congressman Tony Hall:
* Partial-birth abortions are usually performed from 4 1/2 months to 9 months of pregnancy. In a tape-recorded interview with American Medical News, the doctor who performed the procedure described above said that in his practice, “80%” of these procedures “are purely elective.” ——————————————————————- Provided courtesy of: |
|
|
|
|