Pete Domenici: “some time ago, the Congress passed a ban on the procedure known as the partial-birth abortion. The President vetoed the…”

“some time ago, the Congress passed a ban on the procedure known as the partial-birth abortion. The President vetoed the bill on the grounds that it would threaten the lives and health of American women. This, despite clear language in the bill allowing the procedure when the life of the mother was in danger. Many voted against the ban because they thought the data showed that the partial-birth procedure was used sparingly, when no other procedure would suffice, and almost exclusively when the child was severely malformed or the life of the mother was in danger. We heard that this procedure was used only in the most crucial and desperate situations, and should therefore be allowed to continue. Since the veto, however, we have acquired much more data, and much more accurate data. What we are finding is that this procedure is vastly more common than once thought--in fact, hundreds and perhaps thousands are performed each year. In New Jersey alone, at least 1,500 of these are done each year. The vast majority of these procedures are done electively, on normal fetuses--they are not performed to protect the life of the mother or because the fetus is profoundly disabled. The doctors performing this procedure report that only a minuscule amount of these procedures are done for medical reasons--i.e. fetal malformation or concerns about a threat to the mother. A group of physicians who state emphatically that the partial-birth procedure is never medically necessary.…”