NEWS STORY: Thousands urge Clinton to ban late-term abortion procedure

c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Thousands of cheering anti-abortion activists, rallying here Monday on the 23rd anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, condemned President Clinton for his stance on abortion and urged him to approve a proposed legislative ban on a controversial procedure. The annual march, held on the Ellipse in sight […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-Thousands of cheering anti-abortion activists, rallying here Monday on the 23rd anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, condemned President Clinton for his stance on abortion and urged him to approve a proposed legislative ban on a controversial procedure.

The annual march, held on the Ellipse in sight of the White House, drew about 60,000 people from across the nation, according to the U.S. Park Police.


In numerous speeches to the sign-waving throng, Republican members of Congress condemned Clinton for his plans to veto a proposal, passed by the House and Senate, to ban an infrequent late-term procedure known as the”partial-birth”abortion.

Slight differences between the House and Senate versions must undergo reconciliation before the measure reaches Clinton’s desk.

The bills deal with a medical procedure called”intact dilation and evacuation”that involves partially extracting a fetus, feet first, and then collapsing the skull in the birth canal by suctioning out the brain.”This has less to do with whether you are pro-choice or pro-life than it has to do with whether you are civilized or not,”said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.”Civilized people just don’t do things like the partial-birth abortion.” Marchers, including parents with children, waved signs that read”Stop All Abortion!”and”We Vote Pro-Life”as they cheered on the politicians.

Bartlett received loud applause when he called for the removal of Clinton-the”biggest pro-abortion president in history”-from the White House.

Rep. Linda Smith, R-Wash., joined other members of Congress in calling for abortion to be a key issue in the upcoming presidential election.”We have to tell this president you acknowledge the humanity of these babies or we’re going to get somebody else,”she said.

A White House spokeswoman said Clinton remains resolute about his plans to veto the proposed ban on the controversial abortion procedure.”The president is planning to veto this bill because it does not provide an exception for consideration of the health of the mother,”said White House assistant press secretary Kathy McKiernan.”The president has consistently opposed late-term abortions except to protect the life and health of the mother.” Both the House and Senate versions of the proposed legislation include an exception concerning the life of the mother but do not include an exception for the mother’s health, which ban supporters say can be interpreted broadly.

In remarks shortly after the rally, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Clinton hopes the marchers will”respect his right to have his opinion”about abortion.”The president supports a constitutional guarantee of a woman’s right to choose and he simultaneously believes that legal abortion should be rare and should be safe. … But he respects the right of others in good moral conscience to have dissimilar views,”McCurry added.”He hopes, however, that the discussion of these issues can occur in an environment in which reason and good judgment prevail, as opposed to intimidations, threats and violence.” Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, said even if Clinton vetoes the bill, discussion about the measure has ended the”23-year cover-up of abortion methods.”The violence … is being exposed,”Latham said.”America can no longer live in denial of the truth.” Other speakers also decried abortion, but in more general terms.


Rep. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., compared abortion to the atrocities in Bosnia.”Is genocide 2,000 miles away worse than mass homicide right here at home?,”he asked.”I don’t think so. … Every day, 4,000 unborn babies that have never had a chance to hug a teddy bear are being slaughtered in this nation.” Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life, said all abortions are”equally as heinous”as the”partial-birth”procedure.”The answer is not to just stop partial-birth killings, but all of the killings,”she said.

She urged marchers to support the Right to Life Act of 1995 proposed by Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., a presidential candidate. The measure is aimed at protecting the fetus from the time of fertilization.

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Marchers came from a variety of states and religious backgrounds.

John Protopapas, national director of Orthodox Christians for Life, said his group supports national anti-abortion efforts while working to make people in his faith community more active in the movement.”Those that are really serious about the faith have taken a pro-life, active stance,”he said.”Usually, the nominal believers are the ones that are waffling.” But one abortion-rights supporter, who stayed away from the march, said that many devout believers back abortion rights.”The anti-choice movement has succeeded in falsely claiming that to be religious you must be anti-choice, which simply is not the case,”said Jay Heavner, spokesman for the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

He noted that his organization-which includes 38 groups with ties to the Christian and Jewish faiths-opposes the proposed”partial-birth”abortion ban.”The doctor must be able to decide if a late-term abortion is needed,”said Heavner.”By eliminating one procedure, it puts the woman’s health and future child-bearing at risk.”

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