The D & X abortion ban bill is scheduled to be on the House floor first thing Wednesday morning, and will probably go to the Rules Committee Tuesday evening.
The amendments are only superficial and do nothing to protect the health of the woman. Following this vote, the legislation, H.R. 1122, the so-called partial birth abortion ban, will be sent to the President. President Clinton is poised to veto the bill; this has to take place within ten days of the House's vote on the Senate-added amendments. Following the veto, the bill will return to both the House and the Senate for a final vote on whether to sustain or override the veto. Because we are within only five votes of sustaining the veto, it is possible that we can win this one! We need to make sure that all 136 members of the House who opposed the ban do not change their position, we are strongly urging our activists to call these members and ask them to hold steady. After the veto, abortion rights supporters will receive further information on who to contact to help us gain those additional five votes. So stay tuned...and thanks for all your help.
A QUICK SUMMARY:
H.R. 1122 is clearly unconstitutional and is a direct attack on Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court in Wade held that a woman has a constitutional right to choose whether or not to have an abortion and the Court affirmed that right as late as 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In those cases, Supreme Court said that before viability, abortion cannot be banned. After viability, the government can prohibit abortion except when necessary to protect a woman's life or health.
H.R. 1122 would prohibit a medical procedure known as intact dilation and evacuation (intact D & E, sometimes called D & X) both before and after viability. The bill makes no exception to preserve the health of the woman when certain pre-existing conditions or complications of pregnancy pose a threat. Under H.R. 1122, physicians could be fined and jailed for performing this procedure; relatives could also sue the doctor for performing the procedure. Many provisions of the bill are vague and unclear, including the term "partial birth abortion" which is not a precise medical term.
The amendments adopted by the Senate were proposed by the American Medical Association (AMA) and are only superficial. The adopted changes specify that a physician's action must be "deliberate and intentional" before liability will be imposed and allowing for a hearing before a State Medical Board on whether a physician's conduct was necessary to save the woman whose life was endangered by a physical disorder, illness or injury. The result of this hearing would be admissable in any prosecution of the doctor but would not prevent prosecution. In an historical move which was the first time that the medical organization has backed criminal prosecution for a medical procedure, the AMA House of Delegates voted in June to formally oppose use of the intact D & E procedure. At the same time, the legislation is opposed by a number of medical groups including by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), representing 37,000 physicians, who condemned the proposed act by saying "the intervention of legislative bodies into medical decision-making is inappropriate, ill advised, and dangerous."
TAKE ACTION:
Your actions can make a difference on this critically important issue, so please take just a few minutes to do the following:
1) If your representative's name appears on the list below, please call, fax, or e-mail their office immediately. The main number for Congress is (202) 224-3121; links to address, phone, fax, and e-mail addresses are http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ .
2) Here is your message: Thank you for your past support of women's reproductive rights and for voting against H.R. 1122, the so-called Partial Birth Abortion ban bill. Please continue to oppose this terrible legislation which will endanger the health of hundreds of women each year and is an unwarranted political invasion of safe medical practice. The Senate-added amendments do nothing to truly protect women and do very little to protect physicians as well. H.R. 1122 remains vague and unconstitutional.
Neil Abercrombie (D-1st
HI)
Gary L. Ackerman (D-5th NY)
Thomas H. Allen (D-1st ME)
Robert E. Andrews (D-1st NJ)
John E. Baldacci (D-2nd ME)
Xavier Becerra (D-30th CA)
Ken Bentsen (D-25th TX)
Howard L. Berman (D-26th CA)
Sanford Bishop (D-2nd GA)
Rod.R. Blagojevich (D-5th IL)
Earl Blumenauer (D-3rd OR)
Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-23rd NY)
Rick Boucher (D-9th VA)
George E. Brown, Jr. (D-42nd
CA)
Corrine Brown (D-3rd FL)
Sherrod Brown (D-13th OH)
Tom Campbell (R-15th CA)
Walter H. Capps (D-22nd
CA)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-3rd
MD)
Julia M. Carson (D-10th)
William Clay (D-1st MO)
Eva Clayton (D-1st NC)
James Clyburn (D-6th SC)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-14th MI)
William J. Coyne (D-14th PA)
Elijah Cummings (D-7th MD)
Danny Davis (D-7th IL)
Peter A. DeFazio (D-4th
OR)
Diana L. DeGette (D-1st CO)
William Delahunt (D-10th
MA)
Rosa DeLauro (D-3rd CT)
Ronald V. Dellums (D-9th CA)
Peter Deutsch (D-20th FL)
Norman D. Dicks (D-6th WA)
Calvin Dooley (D-20th CA)
Chet Edwards (D-11th TX)
Eliot Engel (D-17th NY)
Anna Eshoo (D-14th CA)
Lane Evans (D-17th IL)
Vic Fazio (D-3rd
CA)
Bob Filner (D-50th CA)
Harold E. Ford, Jr. (D-9th TN)
Barney Frank (D-4th MA)
Martin Frost (D-24th TX)
furseor1@hr.house.gov
Sam Gejdenson (D-2nd CT)
Benjamin A. Gilman (R-20th NY)
Henry B. Gonzalez (D-20th TX)
Gene Green(D-29th TX)
Jim Greenwood (R-8th PA)
Luis Gutierrez (D-4th IL)
Jane Harman (D-36th CA)
Alcee Hastings (D-23rd FL)
Earl Hilliard (D-7th AL)
Maurice Hinchey (D-26th NY)
Darlene Hooley (D-5th OR)
Steve Horn (R-38th CA)
Steny H. Hoyer ( D-5th MD)
Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd IL)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-30th TX)
Joseph P. Kennedy(D-8th MA)
Barbara B. Kennelly (D-1st CT)
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-15th MI)
Jim Kolbe (R-5th AZ)
Tom Lantos (D-12th CA)
Sander M. Levin (D-12th MI)
John Lewis (D-5th GA)
Zoe Lofgren (D-16th CA)
Nita M. Lowey (D-18th NY)
Bill Luther (D-6th MN)
Carolyn Maloney
(D-14th NY)
Edward J. Markey (D-7th MA)
Robert T. Matsui (D-5th CA)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-4th NY)
Karen McCarthy (D-5th MO)
Jim McDermott (D-7th WA)
James P. McGovern (D-3rd
MA)
Cynthia McKinney (D-4th GA)
Marty Meehan (D-5th MA)
Carrie Meek (D-17th FL)
Robert Menendez (D-13th NJ)
Juanita Millender-McDonald
(D-37th CA)
George Miller (D-7th
CA)
Patsy Mink (D-2nd HI)
Constance A. Morella (R-8th
MD)
Jerrold Nadler (D-8th NY)
John W. Olver (D-1st MA)
Major R. Owens (D-11th NY)
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-6th NJ)
Ed Pastor (D-2nd AZ)
Donald M. Payne (D-10th NJ)
Nancy Pelosi (D-8th CA)
Owen B. Pickett (D-2nd VA)
David E. Price (D-4th NC)
Charles B. Rangel (D-15th NY)
Lynn Rivers (D-13th MI)
Steven R. Rothman (D-9th
NJ)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-33rd CA)
Bobby Rush (D-1st IL)
Martin Olav Sabo (D-5th MN)
Loretta L. Sanchez (D-46th
CA)
Bernard Sanders (I-At Large
VT)
Thomas C. Sawyer (D-14th OH)
Charles E. Schumer (D-9th NY)
Robert C. Scott (D-3rd VA)
Jose Serrano (D-16th NY)
Brad Sherman (D-24th CA)
David E. Skaggs (D-2nd
CO)
Loiuse McIntosh Slaughter
(D-28th NY)
Adam Smith (D-9th WA)
Vic Snyder (D-2nd
AR)
Debbie Stabenow (D-8th
MI)
Fortney Stark (D-13th CA)
Louis Stokes (D-11th OH)
Ellen Tauscher (D-10th
CA)
Bennie Thompson (D-2nd MS)
Karen Thurman (D-5th FL)
John F. Tierney (D-6th MA)
Esteban Edward Torres (D-34th CA)
Edolphus Towns (D-10th NY)
Nydia Velazquez (D-12th NY)
Bruce F. Vento (D-4th MN)
Maxine Waters (D-35th CA)
Melvin Watt (D-12th NC)
Henry A. Waxman (D-29th CA)
Robert I. Wexler (D-19th
FL)
Robert E. Wise (D-2nd WV)
Lynn Woolsey (D-6th CA)
Albert Wynn (D-4th MD)
Sidney Yates (D-9th IL)
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