ABORTION

ALLISON HERWITT, Government Relations Director, NARAL, June 5, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Please help me understand the issue. Previously, we were told that partial birth abortion was something that didn’t technically exist and that in the rare cases where it is performed to save the life of a woman, the ban would not affect such cases. Now, there are reports that the previous reports were wrong and that the procedure does exist for purposes of abortions. Does or does not partial birth abortion exist for the use of abortions? Also, does this bill that Congress is working on provide for an exception in the life of a woman?
HERWITT: It’s not surprising that you have questions about this bill. It’s designed to mislead the public. There is no such thing as “partial-birth” abortion. It’s a political term made up by the anti-choice movement, and has no medical meaning.
Furthermore, sponsors talk about one procedure in a graphic and misleading manner. They are betting on the fact that most observers won’t read the language of their proposal carefully-because there, it’s clear they do not outlaw only one procedure. The bill’s definition is broad and vaguely worded, designed to sweep in other safe and common procedures. Also, the bill isn’t limited to the post-viability stage, so it outlaws constitutionally protected abortions that happen much earlier than they claim. The bill does include a very narrow exception for a woman’s life, but none at all for her health-and aside from this being dangerous for women, it’s also unconstitutional.
Rather than criminalizing safe medical care, we believe the government should focus on proactive policies that protect women’s health and reduce the need for abortion. Better contraception, sex education, and pre-natal care would be a good start.

STEVE CHABOT, Member of Congress, June 5, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Please help me understand the issue. If there is no such medical term as partial birth abortion, as your opposition claims, why bother banning it, or vice versa, what is the harm in banning it? Your opposition claims you are banning broader procedures than what you describe as partial birth abortion. What exact procedures are you proposing to ban, and is the language in your bill specific enough that it limits the ban to what you are describing as partial birth abortion?
CHABOT: There clearly is a procedure that occurs in the country about 5,000 times a year that by common acceptance is now called partial birth abortion. There are other terms which can be used but that is the accepted term now through common usage. It is a procedure in which a baby, most commonly in the fifth month of pregnancy, some of the babies being viable, some not, is delivered through the birth channel all but the head, which remains inside the mother, than a sharp instrument, generally a pair of scissors, is used to puncture the back of a child’s skull and then a tube is inserted and the brains are sucked out. This causes the skull to collapse and the now dead baby is pulled completely out of the mother. Had the baby been killed in this manor completely outside the mother it would of course be considered murder. The only difference is a matter of inches. There now exists a consensus in this country that this procedure is barbaric, gruesome, inhumane, and should not be permitted in a society that likes to call itself civilized. The vote to ban this procedure in the House yesterday was 282 in favor of banning to 139 against the ban. 62 Democrats agreed with almost all the Republicans to ban the procedure.

JANICE SHAW CROUSE, Beverly LaHaye Institute Executive Director, April 23, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: I fear that, while abortion is terrible and should be prevented, when a woman makes a decision to have an abortion, she has made a very strong and personal decision. Why would it be better for such a woman to have to get a risky, illegal abortion as opposed to getting a safer legal abortion.
CROUSE: She shouldn’t do either. She should talk to a crisis pregnancy center where she would learn that there are other options that are better for her and certainly better for her child.