Dan Coats: “I would like to respond, also, to the Senator from California, who indicated that one of the reasons why she opposes the…”

“I would like to respond, also, to the Senator from California, who indicated that one of the reasons why she opposes the Coats amendment is that we will not have medical personnel adequately trained to perform abortions if necessary. I would like to state for the record that an ACGME member--the certifying body--ACGME member submitted testimony to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee that the D&C procedures that are taught to every ob-gyn and procedures used in cases of miscarriages and those of induced abortion require similar experience. Numerous ob-gyn's have indicated to us--and I have a pile of letters here from them, indicating so, and I will be happy to submit those for the Record--that an OB-GYN who is trained, as they must be trained, to perform D&C procedures in the case of spontaneous abortions, are more than adequately prepared, should the need arise, to perform an induced abortion. In short, a resident needs not to have performed an abortion on a live, unborn child, to have mastered the procedure to protect the health of the mother if necessary.”