Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THE BOSTON GLOBE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
After a two-hour debate illustrated with explicit pictures and descriptions of the late-term abortion procedure, in which the fetus is delivered feet first and the brain is suctioned out, the House voted 288-139 in favor of the ban.
All of Virginia's Republican representatives voted for the ban, as did Democrats James Moran of Alexandria, L.F. Payne of Nelson County and Norman Sisisky of Petersburg. Democrats Rick Boucher of Abingdon, Owen Pickett of Virginia Beach and Robert C. Scott of Newport News voted against the ban.
Kathryn Kolbert, vice president of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, which supports abortion rights, called the vote ``unconscionable, unprecedented and unconstitutional.'' She also said since the bill imposes a ban that would force physicians to compromise their patients' health, ``it strikes at the heart of Roe vs. Wade,'' the Supreme Court ruling that guarantees abortion rights.
But Rep. Henry Hyde, a Republican from Illinois and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he wanted to know why no one was worried about the babies' rights.
``When a woman and her doctor decide her pregnancy is inconvenient or inopportune, where does the tiny little struggling baby turn for due process of the law?'' asked Hyde, a longtime opponent of abortion.
Under the bill, doctors who perform the procedure would face fines and imprisonment lasting no more than two years. The doctor also could face civil lawsuits by the father or the maternal grandparents if the mother is under age 18.
The bill stipulates that doctors could defend themselves by saying this type of abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother, and no other procedure would save the woman's life, according to the bill.
Lawmakers on opposite sides of the issue disagreed Wednesday on almost everything, including what to call the procedure. Antiabortion activists referred to it as a ``partial-birth abortion.'' Abortion rights proponents said that is not a medical term, referring to it instead as a ``D and E'' or ``dilation and evacuation.''
They also said this type of abortion is used only rarely when the mother's life is in danger because of severe abnormalities with the fetus. Antiabortion lawmakers, however, said many women choose to abort late in the pregnancy for nonmedical reasons. Rep. Andrea Seastrand, a Republican from California, called the method ``the ultimate in child abuse.''
``Partial-birth abortions are not about saving the life of the mother,'' she said. ``Most are done for purely elective reasons.''
Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, a Connecticut Republican married to an obstetrician-gynecologist, angrily said she is appalled at the flipness with which some lawmakers said the pregnant woman could have the fetus removed by Caesarean section instead.
``Women die every year of the complications of Caesarean sections,'' she said.
``Why? Why would you ask your daughter to shoulder this small but real risk of death unnecessarily and for a fetus with no potential for life?''
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, said Wednesday that he believes there are enough votes to approve the same bill in the Senate.
The National Abortion Federation estimates about 450 abortions a year are performed using the procedure. Only two doctors regularly perform these types of abortions, which usually occur in the second and third trimester. About 90 percent of all abortions are performed in the first trimester.
by CNB