[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[April 10, 1996]
[Pages 565-567]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Vetoing Partial Birth Abortion Legislation
April 10, 1996

    The President. Good afternoon, I have just met with five courageous 
women and their families, and I want to thank the Lines, the Stellas, 
the Watts, the Costellos, and the Ades all for meeting with me. They had 
to make a potentially life-saving, certainly health-saving, but still 
tragic decision to have the kind of abortion procedure that would be 
banned by H.R. 1833.
    They represent a small but extremely vulnerable group of women and 
families in this country, just a few hundred a year. Believe it or not, 
they represent different religious faiths, different political parties, 
different views on the question of abortion. They just have one thing in 
common: They all desperately wanted their children. They didn't want 
abortions. They made agonizing decisions only when it became clear that 
their babies would not survive, their own lives, their health, and in 
some cases their capacity to have children in the future were in danger.
    No one can tell the story better than them, and I want to call on 
one of them. But before I do, I want to say that this country is deeply 
indebted to them for being willing to speak out and to talk about the 
real facts, not the emo-


[[Page 566]]

tional arguments that, unfortunately, carried the day on this case.
    So I'd like to ask Mary-Dorothy Line to come up here and introduce 
herself and say whatever she'd like to say about why we're all here 
today.

[Mary-Dorothy Line described the circumstances and complications of her 
pregnancy which made the procedure medically necessary, saying that 
while she hoped that the same thing would not happen to anyone else, a 
safe medical option was needed. She thanked the President for 
understanding that the issue was women's health, not abortion, and for 
vetoing the legislation.]

    The President. Thank you.
    I'd like to ask Coreen Costello to come up and speak a little bit 
about her experience.

[Coreen Costello described the circumstances and complications of her 
pregnancy which made the procedure medically necessary. She stressed 
that it was not about choice but was a medical issue, and said that she 
was grateful that the President had listened to her family's story.]

    The President. Thank you.
    I would also like to thank Jim and their children, and William.
    Would you tell them what you told me in the office? Can you do it? 
This is Tammy Watts.

[Tammy Watts said that she had the same tragic story and that while 
there was nothing that could have cured her daughter, she was grateful 
that her doctors were able to perform the safe medical procedure to 
preserve her own health.]

    The President. Thank you, Mitchell--and those are the prints of your 
baby, right?

[Ms. Watts showed the President her daughter's handprints and 
footprints.]

    The President. Vikki, do you want to say anything?

[Vikki Stella described the circumstances and complications of her 
pregnancy which made the procedure medically necessary, concluding that 
it was God who had made the decision for her child to die.]

    The President. Thank you. And you have a baby here.
    Mrs. Stella. Yes, I have a little boy here.
    The President. You have a 3-month-old little boy here.
    Mrs. Stella. Nicholas.
    The President. Claudia, would you like to talk?

[Claudia Ades described the circumstances and complications of her 
pregnancy which made the procedure medically necessary. She said that 
all women deserved the finest medical care and thanked the President for 
taking that responsibility.]

    The President. Thank you very much.
    Thank you. Thank you, Richard. Thank you, Mitchell.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I asked these families to come here today to 
make a point that I think every American needs to understand about this 
bill. This is not about the pro-choice/pro-life debate. This is not a 
bill that ever should have been injected into that.
    This terrible problem affects a few hundred Americans every year who 
desperately want their children, are trying to build families, and are 
trying to strengthen their families. And they should not become pawns in 
a larger debate, even though it is a serious and legitimate debate of 
profound significance.
    I hope that we can continue to reduce the number of abortions in 
America. When I was Governor I signed a bill to restrict late-term 
abortions, consistent with the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, 
only cases where the life or health of the mother is at risk. When I 
asked the supporters of the bill here to try to take account of this, 
they said, ``Well, if we have a health exception you know you could--the 
doctor and the mother could say anything--they can't fit in their prom 
dress, that's a health exception--some terrible things like that.''
    And I said, ``No, no, no, I will accept language that says serious 
adverse health consequences to the mother--those three words. Everyone 
in the world will know what we're talking about. We're talking about 
these families.'' I implored them. I said, ``If you want to pass 
something on this procedure, let's make an exception for life and 
serious adverse health consequences so that we don't put these women in 
a position and these families in a position where they will lose all 
possibility of future childbearing, or where the doctor can't say that 
they might die, but they could clearly be substantially injured 
forever.''
    And my pleas fell on deaf ears. The emotional power of the 
description of the procedure--which I might add did not cover the 
procedure these women had and did not cover all the procedures banned by 
the law--but the emo-


[[Page 567]]

tional power was so great that my plea just to take a decent account of 
these hundreds of families every year that are in this position fell on 
deaf ears. And therefore, I had no choice but to veto the bill. I vetoed 
it just a few minutes ago before I met with these families.
    I will say again, if the Congress really wants to act out of a 
sincere concern that some of these things are done, which are wrong, in 
casual ways, then if they will meet my standards to protect these 
families, they could pass a bill that I would sign tomorrow.
    But these people have no business being made into political pawns. 
As I said, and as they said, they never had a choice. This affects 
staunchly pro-life families as well as people that are pro-choice. They 
never had a choice. And I cannot in good conscience see their lives 
damaged and their potential to build good, strong families damaged.
    We need more families in America like these folks. We need more 
parents in America like these folks. They are what America needs more 
of. And just because they happen to be in a tiny minority to bear a 
unique burden that God imposes on just a few people every year, we can't 
forget our obligation to protect their lives, their children, and their 
families' future.
    That is what this veto is all about. And let me say again how 
profoundly grateful I am to them for coming here today and having the 
courage to tell their stories to the American people.
    Thank you. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 5:22 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House.