ABQjournal: Bush’s Abortion Ban Targets Pro-Choice
By Giovanna H. Rossi
Executive Director, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico
With the simple stroke of his pen last week, President Bush became the first president in American history to threaten doctors with jail terms for giving women sound medical advice.
The so-called ”Partial-Birth Abortion” Ban Act of 2003 signed Wednesday substitutes the ideology of anti-choice politicians for the judgment of medical professionals. In signing this deceptive legislation, President Bush has moved one step closer to ending a women’s freedom to choose.
Contrary to many claims, this bill bans a range of abortion procedures, used as early as the start of the second trimester of pregnancy. It makes pregnant women with health risks vulnerable, providing no exception for cases where a woman’s health or future fertility is jeopardized.
In fact, this federal ban will pre-empt the New Mexico ban that lawmakers passed and Gov. Gary Johnson signed in 2000. While pro-choice New Mexicans do not favor any bans at all, at least the New Mexico law was narrowly defined to exclude most procedures, and included exceptions for the health and life of the mother.
The New Mexico law banned procedures that are not even used here in New Mexico. The new federal ban could be interpreted to prohibit abortions in New Mexico as early as 12 or 13 weeks.
The most respected health organizations in the country, the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Women’s Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Public Health Association do not support this ban. Many of these doctors know firsthand that this bill will violate their Hippocratic oaths to protect the health and safety of their patients.
The American public is not fooled. A solid majority of Americans opposes these bans. According to a recent ABC News poll, 61 percent of Americans oppose a ban on procedures without a health exception.
Since this legislation’s introduction eight years ago, anti-choice lawmakers have plainly stated that it is one step toward their ultimate goal— eliminating the right to choose entirely. A well known anti-choice leader, Randall Terry of the infamous Operation Rescue recently admitted the bill is “a political scam and a public relations goldmine.”
Their mission is clear: to get this bill to the Supreme Court once President Bush has added new anti-choice justices, and to use it to significantly weaken the protection of the right to choose.
Come April 25, a historic number of pro-choice New Mexicans will take to the streets of our nation’s capital along with a million other Americans to speak out against these devious plans, and sound a wake-up call to our fellow citizens that their rights are in jeopardy.