To the Editor:
I was disheartened to read your editorial supporting the ban on "partial-birth" abortion. I would like to think that this is due to misinformation on this controversial procedure. The ban on "partial-birth" abortion is an invasive and overtly political bill that exceeds the government's authority by compromising the ability of a patient and her doctor to determine what is best, potentially endangering the patient's health.
One must question why Congress voted to ban the procedure known as "partial-birth" abortion when no such medical procedure exists. In fact, the phrase is a politicized term, invented by the anti-choice hardliners. As Dr. Warren Hern, an abortion provider, points out: "No physician expert on late abortion has ever testified in person before a congressional committee. No peer-reviewed articles or case reports have ever been published describing anything such as partial-birth abortion [and] there have been no descriptions of its complication rates."
The Dartmouth editorial board quotes Dr. Koop, who deems "partial-birth" abortion "medically unnecessary." Dr. Koop is not a trained gynecologist or obstetrician and is thus not the most reliable source on this issue. By contrast, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has declared the ban to be "inappropriate, ill advised and dangerous." Additionally, the editorial board is at odds with the Supreme Court, which, along with 20 state and federal courts rejecting similar provisions, declared that a ban on the procedure would have "tragic health consequences."
While there is little doubt that this bill will ultimately be struck down by the Supreme Court for its failure to provide a Roe v. Wade-mandated exception for the health of the mother, it is shortsighted of The Dartmouth Editorial Board to declare that this ban will not "lead down a 'slippery slope' toward increasingly restrictive anti-abortion legislation." As Laura Murphy, the Director of the ACLU Washington National Office, points out: "This ban will prohibit safe abortion procedures used well before fetal viability, including the procedure used for the overwhelming majority of abortions after the first trimester."
Ultimately, the decision to terminate pregnancy is private and should be left to physicians and patients. The framers of the Constitution recognized a right to privacy, provided a safeguard against its infringement in the Fourteenth Amendment, and would never intended to have it compromised by overly-zealous and misinformed legislators. As young and well-educated Americans, we are best poised to oppose this over-reaching of governmental power and to inform others about the fallacies and propaganda inherent in the bill banning "partial-birth" abortion. It is a sad day when we fall victim to inflammatory language at the expense of protecting the privacy and well-being of over one-half of our fellow constituents.
