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Editor:
I write this letter as an encouragement for all registered voters to write to our senators and representatives urging them to override President Clinton's veto of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. A partial-birth abortion can occur at any time during a woman's pregnancy, and is an indefensible procedure that should be banned. During this procedure, the unborn baby is turned to a breech position and is partially delivered, all except for his or her head. The baby's feet and legs are kicking, and his/her little fingers are clenched up in a fist. At this point, a pair of scissors is shoved into the back of the baby's head into his skull, and is then opened up to make the hole bigger. Then, a tube sucks out the baby's brain's and the baby's body goes lifeless.
A bill went before Congress to ban these abortions, and President Clinton vetoed it saying that 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 protect her against serious injury to her health." Had he researched, he would have found that this type of abortion is never necessary. Even Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former surgeon general of the United States, has said that " ... partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a mother's health or future fertility."
Those who attempt to defend this procedure say that partial-birth abortions are only used in cases that threaten the life or health of the mother. However, Dr. Martin Haskell, author of a paper for the National Abortion Federation said, "in my particular case, probably 20 percent (of the instances of the procedure) are for genetic reasons. And the other 80 percent are purely elective." The National Abortion Federation claims that only 450 to 500 of these types of abortions occur nationally in one year. However, in the state of New Jersey alone, more than 1,500 partial-birth abortions were performed in one year.
Senator Jon Kyl stated in the proceeding and debates of the 104th Congress, Second Session on Sept. 26, 1996, that " ... If a doctor performing a partial-birth abortion happened to allow the child to completely clear the mother's body, it would have the same protections under our Constitution that any other human being would have. The difference between life and death here is literally a matter of inches."
Please write to our representatives urging them to override President Clinton's veto. These, and all abortions, are wrong. While there may not be a whole lot we can do to prevent a "normal" abortion, we can certainly do something to prevent the cruel, inhumane practice of sucking out a baby's brain to ease the stress of raising a child.
Barbara M. Lefler
undeclared sophomore
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