Refuse & Resist! Opposes the Banning of Late Term Abortion
Current efforts by Congress and state legislatures to ban late term abortions seriously threaten future access to abortion. These efforts are a central part of the reactionary agenda, promoting the control of over women's lives as part of the "family values" package. The heart of the issue is not "life", but whether women are going to be able to possess freedom to decide for themselves what they are going to do in their lives. Over the last two years, anti-choicers have focused their attention on outlawing a certain type of procedure sometimes used in late abortions called "intact dilation and extraction" or "D&X". For purely political reasons, anti-choicers made up their own name for this procedure, calling it "partial birth abortion". They say it's infanticide, or killing a baby, and have used inflammatory language and misleading pictures of full-term fetuses to confuse people and threaten women, as well as their doctors.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a bill carrying a prison term of up to 2 years and severe fines for doctors who use the procedure. Last year Clinton vetoed the same law, but this time around has talked "compromise" if the ban allows an exception for the health of the woman. Similar bills have been introduced in most state legislatures; 11 states have passed them. South Carolina's proposed law would carry a homicide conviction and life in prison; Georgia has penalties for any who "assist" the doctor; others allow a woman's family member or the fetus' father to sue doctors.
Banning this procedure would be a huge step forward for the anti-choice movement, bringing them closer to their ultimate goalóthe outlawing of all abortion and the enforcement of mandatory motherhood. There has been debate over how many "intact dilation & extraction" procedures are done each year. Frankly, it doesn't matter how many are done, since the real target of this law is not just the small number of abortions performed with this procedure but ALL later term abortion, and the very right of women to decide when and if they will bear children. By labeling doctors "baby killers", the anti-abortion movement has created a climate where doctors have been stalked and killed for simply carrying out their medical duty. Now they are trying to enshrine "abortion = murder" as law, and set a precedent for increasing restrictions on access to abortion.
Until May 19, no major medical organization had supported the ban. Then, on the eve of the Senate vote on the ban, the American Medical Association announced support for a new version of the bill which more specifically defined the procedure being banned, and allowed an "out" for doctors charged with breaking the ban to have other doctors review their conduct. While the AMA is the most influential medical group, it has never taken a strong stand for the rights of women to abortion, and in this cowardly stance has given no importance to women's needs. The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists still opposes the ban on the basis that Congress should not ban any safe medical procedure.
Over one million abortions are performed each year in the U.S., making it the most common surgery. 90% of these are done during the first 13 weeks, or first trimester of pregnancy. Most of the other 10% of abortions are done during the early 2nd trimester, before 20 weeks, when a variety of safe techniques are used. Less than .04% are done during the 3rd trimester (26-39 weeks), when they are performed to protect the health or life of the mother, or because the fetus cannot survive.
Later term (2nd and 3rd trimester) abortions are somewhat more complicated than earlier ones, although overall abortion is 9 times safer than childbirth. The cervix must be gradually opened, (dilation), and the fetus removed (evacuation). The procedure that would be banned is called "intact dilation & extraction". It involves removing fluid from the fetus' head so that it can be taken out intact through the cervix. Some doctors use this procedure in cases where it's safer for the woman than inducing labor, and to preserve her ability to deliver a healthy baby in a future pregnancy. This procedure is one of several used in the 2nd trimester (when the fetus is still completely unable to survive apart from the woman's body) and 3rd trimesters.
Sometimes, women really do not know they're pregnant until they're past 12 weeks, or they deny it, even to themselves, for fear of consequences and disapproval. Young women, especially in today's anti-choice atmosphere, may not have the information about reproductive options. Women under 18 may be forced to deal with restrictive parental involvement laws, which are on the books in 38 states. They may be victims of incest or rape. Many women don't have the money for an abortion right away, and are forced to wait until they can get enough money together. Most states do not pay for a woman on Medicaid to have an abortion, because the federal government doesn't pay for it. Women living in rural areas (94% of non-urban counties have no abortion provider) don't have easy access. Some of the most wrenching testimony in hearings on the ban has been from women who have wanted the pregnancies they were carrying, but found out in the 3rd trimester that the fetuses were severely deformed, or that they could die from continuing the pregnancy.
The anti-choicers have portrayed women as having late term abortions out of "selfish convenience" or because they "suddenly can't get into a prom dress". But having an abortion takes determined, considered effort. Women have many obstacles to overcome in dealing with an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, many of them caused by the anti-abortion movement. At any time, a decision to continue that pregnancy should be the woman's decision; otherwise who will decide? The government? Or a social institution? Whatever one's personal position on abortion, a woman should never be forced to continue a pregnancy against her will.
We must remain firm in principle that the government should not be allowed to put criminal penalties on doctors for providing safe and absolutely necessary medical services, and stand firmly against further efforts to force women to continue unwanted pregnancies. Women must be able to make their own decisions without coercion. Entering into and initiating more debate on this issue can help more people understand why motherhood should not be forced on women at any time.
Refuse & Resist! has a ten point program for abortion rights which contains things everyone can do as individuals and together. Simply put, we must speak, organize, and act locally and on a national level against those who want to force women to continue pregnancies when they choose not to. And we must defend, protect, and support those courageous abortion providers who make choice possible.
Reproductive Rights Task Force,
a working group of Refuse & Resist!
To find out more about us, Refuse & Resist! and/or to obtain a copy of our ten point program as well as membership information:
email us at refuse@calux.com
phone us at 212-713-5657
write us at 305 Madison Avenue Suite 1166, New York NY 10165
rev. 5-20-97
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