Mike Levin: “H.R. 1122 would seek to ban a particular medical procedure, the intact D&X procedure. I believe we cross a dangerous…”

“H.R. 1122 would seek to ban a particular medical procedure, the intact D&X procedure. I believe we cross a dangerous threshold when we seek to legislate which particular medical procedures may be used, and which may not be used, by physicians. Dedicated doctors and nurses, through official statements of their associations, urge us not to adopt H.R. 1122, and not to politicize this issue. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an organization representing 38,000 physicians whose lives are dedicated to bringing babies into the world and keeping them and their mothers safe, issued a policy statement on January 12, 1997, relative to the bill before us which states that: An intact D&X may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman, and only the doctor, in consultation with the patient, based upon the woman's particular circumstances can make this decision. The potential exists that legislation prohibiting specified medical practices, such as intact D&X, may outlaw techniques that are critical to the lives and health of American women. The intervention of legislative bodies into medical decision making is inappropriate, ill advised and dangerous.”