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So few . . .
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No abortion procedure is more likely to arouse
widespread opposition than is a late-term one pioneered by Dr. Martin Haskell.
The procedure is called in medicine "intact dilation and extraction" but
opponents in politics often refer to it as "partial birth abortion." Efforts
to outlaw the procedure were popular in Congress and with the public in
early 1996. Over three-quarters of the public favored a ban on it and margins
in Congress on a bill to outlaw it fell short of a veto-proof majority
only in the Senate. However, President Clinton vetoed the bill in April
of 1996, citing the importance of this procedure for a few hundred women
annually whose fetuses developed tragic abnormalities in the early to middle
stages of pregnancy. This justification became the standard one, having
been offered again and again in debate by members of Congress from both
houses and by leading advocates of abortion rights.
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That many! |
In medical practice, however, the facts were
quite different. From the very beginning in 1991-92, as Dr. Haskell reported
to the AMA, the procedure was used later, more frequently, and much more
for purely "elective" reasons [AMNews, March 3, 1997] than the standard
political account indicates. Since the procedure is not taught in any American
medical school, those who do it are few and are generally in close contact
with one another. The New York Times surveyed them in March 1997
and found that annual frequency was in the thousands. A single New Jersey
clinic reported doing over 1200 in 1996 [Weekly Standard, March
17, 1997, p. 9] while a Nebraska clinic performed over 5,000 during the
same period. According to Dr. Haskell, over 80% were elective abortions
on healthy fetuses that were at or beyond the mid-point of pregnancy. [AMNews,
March 3, 1997]
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"I lied . . . ." |
The glaring discrepancy between political accounts
by advocates and medical accounts by surgeons was publicized by Ron Fitzsimmons,
executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, in
an interview with ABC’s Ted Koppel and again on NBC’s "Meet the Press."
[New York Times, March 3, 1997] Fitzsimmons told American Medical
News staff writers that "I had lied through my teeth" when reciting
the standard account given by abortion rights advocates in 1996. Fitzsimmons
urged these advocates to make a fresh start in the 1997 replay of same
fight in Congress. "The pro-choice movement has lost a lot of credibility
during this debate, not just with the general public, but with our pro-choice
friends in Congress…. Even the White House is now questioning the accuracy
of some of the information given it on this issue." [AMNews, March
3, 1997]
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| To Admit a lie or not? | Abortion rights advocates were unmoved by Fitzsimmons’s
appeal. Leaders from the largest advocacy groups stood in solid opposition
to any admission or apology. As reported by the New York Times,
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