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CounterPunch
March 13,
2003
Partial Birth Abortion Bans
Why Does the
Big Lie Continue?
by KARYN STRICKLER
Overturning Roe v. Wade is only one route to the
return of demeaning, deadly back alley abortions. Anti-choice
extremists have used political and physical intimidation to decrease
the number of abortion providers to it's lowest level in the
30 years since Roe, leaving women with very limited access to
abortion services. They're working to run clinics out of business
with onerous restrictions. The U.S. Congress is currently considering
the most sophisticated and effective in a large arsenal of legislative
weapons, a so-called "partial birth" abortion ban.
On May 14, 1998 every abortion clinic
in Wisconsin ceased operations when a federal judge refused to
block a state law banning "partial birth" abortion.
Doctors said the ban was so broad that they could face life imprisonment
for performing any abortion at any stage of pregnancy -- even
for those using standard methods early in pregnancy. Women regained
access to abortion services only after prosecutors promised not
to prosecute doctors for first trimester procedures. Welcome
to the reality of so-called "partial birth" abortion
bans.
Eight years after the anti-choice movement
first introduced "partial birth" abortion legislation
in the U.S. Congress and state houses across the country, it
is still not recognized for what it is: part of a carefully crafted,
national strategy to ban all abortion. It's easy to understand
why anti-choice zealots portray the bans as narrowly drawn for
the limited purpose of stopping a certain late-term abortion
procedure. The mystery is why many pro-choice leaders and the
mainstream media have been slow to expose the reality that nowhere
in most of the bills is there any reference to stage of pregnancy--not
viability, not trimesters nor weeks of gestation. A simple look
at the legislation reveals that calling these bills bans on late-term
abortion is factually inaccurate.
The term "partial birth" abortion
cannot be found in any medical dictionary because it is a political
term that anti-choice zealots made up as part of their public
relations campaign to stigmatize all abortion. When talking about
the bans, advocates use graphic language about late-term abortion
that is different from anything found in the legislation itself.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG),
which represents most ob-gyn specialists, has rejected these
bans, which fail "to use recognized medical terminology
and fail to define explicitly the prohibited medical techniques
it criminalizes."
Federal Judge Gerald Rosen, a George
H. W. Bush appointee, permanently enjoined an early Michigan
ban because it was so vague that doctors lacked notice as to
what abortion procedures were banned. A temporary restraining
order against legislation in Arkansas said that the "act
applies at any stage of gestation," and that it defies logic
to say that the language applies to only one type of abortion.
Despite evolution in the language defining "partial birth"
abortion since these decisions, a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision
in Stenberg v. Carhart found a Nebraska statute unconstitutional
and said that the definition of "partial birth" abortion
remains so broad that it could outlaw the safest, most common
methods of abortion used in the second trimester of pregnancy.
When voters are shown the reality of
the legislation they reject attempts to ban "partial birth"
abortion. The Center for Reproductive Rights (formerly the Center
for Reproductive Law and Policy) reports that "after voters
in Washington, Maine and Colorado were educated about 'partial
birth' abortion, ballot initiatives on this issue were defeated
in all three states." The Center's 1998 national poll of
registered voters revealed that an astonishing 77% were seriously
concerned that such bans allowed no exceptions for serious harm
to a woman's health and 69 % were very troubled that the legislation
is deceptive, banning the safest and most commonly used abortion
procedures.
It's time to wake-up to the reality of
this bogus legislation in order to protect the lives, health
and dignity of women seeking safe and legal abortion. So called
"partial birth" abortion bans have passed the U.S.
Congress many times over the past several years and were vetoed
by President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush reiterated
the high priority he places on passage of a "partial birth"
abortion ban in his State of the Union address. He is anxiously
awaiting the arrival of the bill, delivered by the Republican
majority and compliant Democrats in Congress, so that he can
make it the law of the land. Prosecutors and judges appointed
by Bush could then interpret the legislation to broadly ban abortion
procedures -- exactly as anti-choice radicals intend.
The pro-choice majority and its leaders
must change the debate on "partial birth" abortion
bans, rejecting the deceptive terms offered by anti-choice extermists
since it has no relation to the content or purpose of the legislation.
They must act decisively with a clear, unified message before
this dishonest strategy has the intended effect of banning all
abortion and rendering Roe v. Wade a hollow shell.
Karyn Strickler is
the former executive director of the Maryland affiliate of the
National Abortion Rights Action League where she successfully
codified the principles of Roe v. Wade in state law. She was
the founder and executive director of Fifty plus One, where she
led an effort to defeat so-called "partial birth" abortion
in Maryland in 1998 and to educate the media and pro-choice leaders
across the country on the issue. She can be reached at: fiftyplusone@erols.com
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