[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2202-S2203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION
Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise to address recent revelations
concerning partial birth abortion. I also rise to draw my colleagues'
attention to the letter sent to President Clinton by a group of
American Roman Catholic leaders and read this past Sunday by Cardinal
Adam Maida at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit. That letter
urged the President to ensure respect for all human rights--including
those of the unborn--and called our attention to the misinformation
distributed by some of those defending partial birth abortion.
Mr. President, the abortion issue has been a difficult and divisive
one for this country. But the unfortunate procedure of partial birth
abortion need not be. The vast majority of Americans, even those who do
not share my
[[Page S2203]]
own strongly pro-life convictions, oppose partial birth abortion. This
overwhelming opposition helped produce legislation during the last
Congress that would have banned that morally troubling procedure.
Unfortunately, that legislation was vetoed by President Clinton. Now it
turns out that that veto was based in part on inaccurate information.
Mr. President, those who sought to defend partial birth abortion did
so on the grounds that it was rare, undertaken only in cases of severe
fetal deformity and strictly a late-term procedure. These arguments
served to make the procedure seem less morally troubling to some in the
pro-choice camp. But it turns out that these supposedly mitigating
factors do not exist. Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the
National Coalition of Abortion Providers, is quoted in the February 26
New York Times as saying that he ``lied through [his] teeth'' in making
each of these claims.
It turns out, Mr. President, that literally thousands of partial
birth abortions are performed in this country every year. It also turns
out that the vast majority of these regrettable procedures are
undertaken voluntarily--aborting perfectly healthy unborn children. And
it turns out that partial birth abortions are being carried out on
mothers in their second trimester of pregnancy.
I know that abortion is an issue that raises troubling issues for
many people. I know that I cannot help but take a strong pro-life
position, because of my faith and because of my own personal
experiences. My experience, having witnessed the births of my three
children and having just had a nephew born 12 weeks premature, tells me
that the loss of an unborn life is a great tragedy. My nephew was born
during a time in his mother's pregnancy when many unborn children are
still subject to partial birth abortion.
I know that not everyone shares the pro-life position. But in my view
it is clear that any reservations about restricting abortion need not
and should not apply to partial birth abortion. The fact that the
defenders of this procedure felt it necessary to mislead the public,
Members of this body and the President, shows how little support their
position really commands. Regardless of where one stands in the broader
abortion debate, then, all of us should be able to see partial birth
abortion for what it is: an unjustifiable and wholly unnecessary
tragedy.
Mr. President, it is my sincere hope that we will return as quickly
as possible to the issue of partial birth abortion. It is also my hope
that my colleagues will keep in mind this incident as they consider the
factors supposedly mitigating this unfortunate procedure, and vote to
end it once and for all.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article from the
Detroit News appear in the Record at this point.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Detroit News, Mar. 10, 1997]
In Detroit: Maida, Other Cardinals Urge Ban on Partial-Birth Abortions
(By Oralandar Brand-Williams)
Cardinal Adam Maida urged President Clinton to reconsider a
ban on partial-birth abortions during a public reading Sunday
of a letter sent to the president by a group of U.S. Roman
Catholic leaders.
``The public learned that partial-birth abortions are
performed not a few hundred times a year, but thousands of
times each year,'' Maida said during mass at Blessed
Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit.
Last April, Clinton vetoed a bill that would have banned
the controversial procedure in which a fetus is partially
extracted, feet-first, from the birth canal. The brain is
then suctioned out.
Critics call the procedure infanticide.
Congress failed to override Clinton's veto.
The letter to Clinton was also read Sunday by the six other
American cardinals who also lead archidioceses in the United
States and the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops. All signed the letter with Maida, which Clinton
received Friday.
``Mr. President, you are in a unique position to ensure
respect for all human rights, including the right to me which
is denied to infants who are brutally killed in partial-birth
abortion,'' urged the letter.
The letter asks Clinton to acknowledge that he was misled
about partial-birth abortion, and urges him to ask Congress
to pass a bill banning them. The letter also seeks a pledge
that Clinton will sign it into law.
Two weeks ago, Ron Fizsimmons, executive director of the
National Coalition of Abortion Providers, said he
intentionally misled the public in previous remarks about the
procedure. Fitzsimmons said he feared that if the truth were
known about the frequency of partial-birth abortions, it
would damage the cause of abortion rights.
Blessed Sacrament parishioner Canary Erving of Highland
Park said she supports Madia's efforts to get a ban on
partial-birth abortions.
``It's important that we keep our children,'' Erving said.
``If you have to have it and give it away, it's better than
destroying the life.''
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