Charles T. Canady: “the legislation which the President has again vetoed seeks to ban the procedure known as partial-birth abortion. The…”

“the legislation which the President has again vetoed seeks to ban the procedure known as partial-birth abortion. The procedure is performed several thousand times each year, primarily in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy, on healthy babies of healthy mothers. To the victims of partial-birth abortion, this is no rhetorical campaign statement, as some have said. Instead, it is a means, partial-birth abortion is a means to a brutal death. According to the American Medical Association, which supports H.R. 1122, partial-birth abortion is not an accepted medical practice. Hundreds of obstetricians and gynecologists and fetal maternal specialists, along with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop have come forward to unequivocally state that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect the mother's health or her future fertility. In fact, the procedure can significantly threaten a mother's health or ability to carry future children to term. In conclusion, the health exception sought by the President would be both unnecessary and dangerous. We want to enact a meaningful ban on partial-birth abortions that will protect innocent babies from a brutal death. That is exactly what the bill does. No changes in the bill are necessary.”