NEWS STORY: Confession fuels renewal of late-term abortion debate

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ In an article to be published next week, prominent abortion rights supporter Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admits he”lied”when he said the controversial late-term procedure known as”partial-birth”abortion was rare and only performed in”the most extreme”cases. Fitzsimmons’ confession, which began to be widely […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ In an article to be published next week, prominent abortion rights supporter Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admits he”lied”when he said the controversial late-term procedure known as”partial-birth”abortion was rare and only performed in”the most extreme”cases.

Fitzsimmons’ confession, which began to be widely publicized Wednesday (Feb. 26), has added new fuel to the already contentious congressional and public debate over the year-long effort to ban the procedure.


In the March 3 edition of American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association, Fitzsimmons calls on the abortion rights movement to stop”spins”and”half-truths”in the debate over the procedure.”The pro-choice movement has lost a lost of credibility during this debate, not just with the general public, but with our pro-choice friends in Congress,”Fitzsimmons said.”Even the White House is now questioning the accuracy of some of the information given to it on this issue.” Last year, President Clinton vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have outlawed the procedure, known medically as an”intact dilation and evacuation,”and that involves partially extracting a fetus, feet first, and then collapsing the skull in the birth canal by suctioning out the brain.”The president said that the procedure described is very disturbing and he doesn’t support its use on an elective basis,”White House spokeswoman Pat Lewis told RNS in an interview last month. However, she added that Clinton believed the procedure was sometimes medically necessary to save a woman’s life or preserve her ability to bear children.

Fitzsimmons said that based on conversations with doctors who perform abortions, he knows the procedure is being done”for the most part”on healthy fetuses and healthy mothers.”The abortion rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so, probably, does everyone else,”he said.

In an interview with The New York Times, Fitzsimmons said he”lied through my teeth”about the subject during a November 1995 appearance on”Nightline”because he was worried the truth would damage the abortion cause.

Now, he said, he believes the best strategy for abortion rights supporters is to”tell (Congress and the public) the truth, let them vote and move on.” Many anti-abortion groups who have long accused the media of being biased in favor of abortion said the article bolsters their argument. “This shows that the collective leadership of the abortion lobby … have all deliberately mislead the American public about the nature of partial-birth abortion, and the media has adopted that misinformation and reported it as fact,”said National Right to Life spokeswoman Maureen Malloy Ferguson.”We hope that these revelations cause the American public to take a second look at partial-birth abortions,”she said.

Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, said Fitzsimmons’ comments highlight the need for more monitoring and regulation of the abortion industry.”The real story here is how the abortion industry acts as its own policeman and hides the true nature of abortion,”said Hamrick.”Despite their claims that they want safe abortions, the abortion industry has fought tooth and nail every effort to have abortion treated like any other surgical procedure or to have abortion facilities regulated like other out-patient medical facilities.” Supporters of legal abortion, however, argued that Fitzsimmons’ article and interview only served to further confuse the debate on abortion and the controversial late-term procedure.

Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion Rights Action League, told a news conference that 99 percent of the estimated 1.3 million abortions in the United States each year are performed before a woman is 20 weeks pregnant _ before the fetus is considered viable, which usually occurs between 23 and 28 weeks _ and only .0004 percent of abortions are performed in the last trimester.

She said that under current Supreme Court rulings, states can outlaw abortions after viability except in cases of life and health.”There is no known evidence that these laws have been broken”through the use of the procedure, she said.”Confusion around this issue has arisen because abortions are not generally reported by the specific method used,”said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood of America.”But the issue is not and never has been the numbers,”she said.”The issue is, will women be able to receive the best, most medically appropriate care when faced with the difficult decision of terminating late in pregnancy.” Vicki Saporta, head of the National Abortion Federation, the medical association of abortion providers, said her organization will continue to fight to keep the procedure legal.”Congress should not interfere in the practice of medicine with pre- or post-viability procedure bans,”she said.”A doctor needs to determine which procedure to use based on individual patient’s circumstances.” Debate over a new effort to ban the procedure is likely to begin soon in the new Congress.”Hopefully this year’s debate will be far more enlightened as to the facts, and lawmakers and the public will learn that the vast majority of partial-birth abortion are performed on healthy mothers, carrying healthy babies, mostly in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy,”said Malloy Ferguson of the National Right to Life.


MJP END RNS

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