    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [February 28, 1996]
    [Pages 342-343]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Letter to Representative John Conyers, Jr., on Abortion Legislation
    February 28, 1996

    Dear John:

        I understand that the House is preparing to consider H.R. 1833, as
    amended by the Senate, which would prohibit doctors from performing a
    certain type of abortion. I want to make the Congress aware of my
    position on this extremely complex issue.

        I have always believed that the decision to have an abortion should
    be between a woman, her conscience, her doctor, and her God. I strongly
    believe that legal abortions--those abortions that the Supreme Court
    ruled in Roe v. Wade must be protected--should be safe and rare. I have
    long opposed late-term abortions except, as the law requires, where they
    are necessary to protect the life of the mother or where there is a
    threat to her health. In fact, as Governor of Arkansas, I signed into
    law a bill that barred third trimester abortions except where they were
    necessary to protect the life or health of the woman, consistent with
    the Supreme Court's rulings.

        The procedure described in H.R. 1833 is very disturbing, and I
    cannot support its use on an elective basis, where the abortion is being
    performed for non-health related reasons and there are equally safe
    medical procedures available. As I understand it, however, there are
    rare and tragic situations that can occur in a woman's pregnancy in
    which, in a doctor's medical judgment, the use of this procedure may be
    necessary to save a woman's life or to preserve her health. In those
    situations, the Constitution requires that a woman's ability to choose
    this procedure be protected.

        I have studied and prayed about this issue, and about the families
    who must face this awful choice, for many months. I believe that we have
    a duty to try to find common ground: a resolution to this issue that
    respects the views of those--including myself--who object to this
    particular procedure, but also upholds the Supreme Court's requirement
    that laws regulating abortion protect both the life and the health of
    American women.

        I have concluded that H.R. 1833 as drafted does not meet the
    constitutional requirements that the Supreme Court has imposed upon us,
    in Roe and the decisions that have followed it, to provide protections
    for both the life and the health of the mother in any laws regulating
    abortions.

        I am prepared to support H.R. 1833, however, if it is amended to
    make clear that the prohibition of this procedure does not apply to
    situations in which the selection of the procedure, in the medical
    judgment of the attending physician, is necessary to preserve the life
    of the woman or avert serious adverse health consequences to the woman.

        I urge the Congress to amend H.R. 1833 to ensure that it protects
    the life and the health of the woman, as the law we have been elected to
    uphold requires.

    [[Page 343]]

        Sincerely,

                                                                Bill Clinton

    Note: This letter was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on February 28 but was not issued as a White House press
    release.