"Abortion Facts." By James D. Agresti. Just Facts, September 24, 2008. Revised 1/17/13. http://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp

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» This research contains detailed facts about abortion. For basic facts, click here.   » Click on the footnote numbers for meticulous documentation of each fact.   » Quick Click to: • Science • Politics and Taxpayer Funding • Women's Health • Media • Parental Consent & Notification • Partial-Birth • Constitution & Law • Live Births

Introductory Notes

A major aspect of the debate over abortion concerns the use of terminology. In keeping with Just Facts' Standards of Credibility, this research uses language that is clear and precise. Thus, phrases such as "pro-life" and "pro-choice" are replaced by words that articulate specific positions.

Perhaps the largest point of contention involving terminology is the label applied to what or who is being aborted. Those who think abortion should be generally illegal often use the terms "unborn child" and "unborn baby." According to Webster's College Dictionary and Black's Medical Dictionary, the word "child" can apply prior to birth,[1] [2] but both of these sources employ the word "baby" only from the point of birth onwards.[3] [4] In contrast, those who think abortion should be generally legal often use the word "fetus," a clinical term derived from a Latin word meaning "offspring" or "newly delivered."[5] As explained by Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, a fetus is

Hence, when referring to humans, the words "fetus" and "fetal" are applicable from nine weeks after fertilization until birth.[7] [8] Yet, numerous major news organizations have misapplied these terms to both before and after this period.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Although journalism guidelines disparage the use of medical jargon,[15] [16] [17] journalists selectively employ it in their coverage of this issue. For instance, despite the widespread usage of "fetus," journalists commonly employ the term "mother" to refer to a pregnant woman, and rarely, if ever, the more specific and clinical term "gravida."[18] [19] Conversely, when the topic is not abortion, press outlets sometimes shun the term "fetus" and use "baby" or "child" in its place.[20] [21] [22]

In accord with the common journalism standard to "never use … a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent,"[23] the term utilized by Just Facts to describe the object of an abortion is "preborn human." This conveys reality in everyday language and is consistent with medical usage. For example, the embryology textbook Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects states:

Likewise, another embryology textbook bears the title Human Life Before Birth, and phrases such as "human in utero" and "human females ... in utero" appear in creditable medical texts.[25] [26] [27] Also, it would be scientifically inconsistent to assert that a child born at 24 weeks after fertilization is a human while one in the womb at 32 weeks is not.

Note that unless otherwise stated, the word "abortion" is used here in the sense of an induced abortion; not a spontaneous one, which is also called a miscarriage.[28]

 

Science

* The average length of a full-term pregnancy is 38 weeks. Obstetricians normally use a figure of 40 weeks, but this is actually the time between the first day of the last menstrual period and childbirth. On average, the first day of the last menstrual period occurs 2 weeks before fertilization.[29] [30] [31]

* Following are facts about human development. They are organized according to the number of weeks since fertilization. Weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP) are shown in parentheses.

Fertilization (2 weeks after LMP):

Fertilization normally takes place within one day of intercourse but can occur up to six days later.[32] [33] At fertilization, the genetic composition of a preborn human is formed.[34] This genetic information determines gender, eye color, hair color, facial features, and influences characteristics such as intelligence and personality.[35]

Genetically speaking, with the exception of identical twins,[36] [37] once a woman conceives a preborn human, the odds against her conceiving the same one again are greater than 10⁶⁰⁰ to one.[38] [39] (For comparison, there are roughly 10⁸⁰ atoms in the known universe.[40])

3 Weeks after Fertilization (5 weeks after LMP):

The eyes and spinal cord are visible and the developing brain has two lobes.[41] [42]

4 Weeks after Fertilization (6 weeks after LMP):

The heart is beating and a circulatory system is in place.[43] The portion of the brain associated with consciousness (the cerebrum) and internal organs such as the lungs are beginning to develop and can be identified.[44]

7 Weeks after Fertilization (9 weeks after LMP):

Muscles and nerves begin working together. When the upper lip is tickled, the arms move backwards.[45] The cerebrum has divided into hemispheres.[46]

[47]

9 Weeks after Fertilization (11 weeks after LMP):

More than 90% of the body structures found in a full-grown human are present. The medical classification changes from an embryo to a fetus. This dividing line was chosen by embryologists because from this point forward, most development involves growth in existing body structures instead of the formation of new ones.[48] [49] The preborn human moves body parts without any outside stimulation.[50]

10 Weeks after Fertilization (12 weeks after LMP):

All parts of the brain and spinal cord are formed. The heart pumps blood to every part of the body.[51] The whole body is sensitive to touch except for portions of the head. The preborn human makes facial expressions.[52]

11 Weeks after Fertilization (13 weeks after LMP):

[53]

12 Weeks after Fertilization (14 weeks after LMP):

Electrical signals from the nervous system are measurable. After an abortion, efforts to suckle will sometimes be observed.[54] [55]

13 Weeks after Fertilization (15 weeks after LMP):

[56]

14 Weeks after Fertilization (16 weeks after LMP):

The preborn human makes coordinated movements of the arms and legs.[57]

16 Weeks after Fertilization (18 weeks after LMP):

The preborn human makes eye movements.[58]

[59]

18 Weeks after Fertilization (20 weeks after LMP):

The portion of the brain responsible for functions such as reasoning and memory (the cerebral cortex) has the same number of nerve cells as a full-grown adult.[60] [61]

[62]

20 Weeks after Fertilization (22 weeks after LMP):

The preborn human sleeps, awakes and can hear sounds.[63]

[64]

[65]

Up through approximately this point in time, according to the Supreme Court's rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a pregnant woman can abort at will. (More details in the section on Constitution and Law.)

24 Weeks after Fertilization (26 weeks after LMP):

The blink-startle reflex and taste buds are functional. The preborn human will swallow more amniotic fluid if a sweetener is added to it.[66] [67] The grip is strong enough to hold onto an object that is moving up and down.[68] If born and given specialized care, the survival rate is more than 80%.[69]

28 Weeks after Fertilization (30 weeks after LMP):

If exposed to an 85 decibel noise while sleeping (about as loud as a blender), preborn humans exhibit the "motor behaviors that accompany the crying state."[70] [71] Premature infants born at this time are more sensitive to pain than infants who are born at 38 weeks, and infants who are born at 38 weeks are more sensitive to pain than infants at 3-12 months after birth.[72] [73]

If born and given specialized care, the survival rate is more than 95%.[74]

32 Weeks after Fertilization (34 weeks after LMP):

(Premature infant – 3 days after birth)

38 Weeks after Fertilization (40 weeks after LMP):

Average point in time when humans are born. At birth, the medical classification changes from a fetus to a neonate.[75] [76]

At any point prior to birth, according to the Supreme Court's rulings in Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a pregnant woman can abort to preserve her "health." One example from Roe v. Wade of what may be considered harmful to a mother's health is the work of caring for a child. (More details in the section on Constitution and Law.)

 

Politics and Taxpayer Funding

└ Party platforms

* The Democratic Party platform states that abortion should be generally legal, supports the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, and supports the use of taxpayer funding to perform abortions. The platform also states that the Democratic Party

* The Republican Party platform states that abortion should be generally illegal and supports a Constitutional Amendment that would assure preborn humans the right to life. It opposes "using public revenues to promote or perform abortion" and states:

* Since 1989, several Democrats including Jim Oberstar of Minnesota have sponsored at least 11 resolutions proposing a Constitutional Amendment that would guarantee preborn humans the right to life, all of them containing an exception to protect the life of the mother.[79]

* Since 1989, several Republicans including Ann Emerson of Missouri have sponsored at least 23 resolutions proposing a Constitutional Amendment that would guarantee preborn humans the right to life, all of them containing an exception to protect the life of the mother. Six of these resolutions also include exceptions for cases of rape and incest.[80]

* The National Right to Life Political Action Committee has endorsed Mitt Romney for President and stated that Barack Obama has an "abysmal record on life."[81]

* The Political Action Committee of NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League) has endorsed Barack Obama for President and stated that "a Mitt Romney victory in November would be disastrous for women."[82]

* At a Democratic Candidates "Compassion Forum" held in April 2008, Barack Obama was asked, "Do you personally believe that life begins at conception, and if not, when does it begin?" Obama replied in part:

* Several months later in an interview, Obama was asked, "At what point does a baby get human rights?" He responded in part:

* Barack Obama has voiced support for Roe v. Wade and stated that this would be reflected in his appointments to the Supreme Court.[85] [86] [87] He has also stated that he supports a ban on late term abortions but only with an exception for the "health" of the mother.[88]

* In a July 2008 interview, Obama was asked to clarify his position on late-term abortions, and he stated:

* A few days later, a reporter asked for clarification of these remarks, and Obama responded that late-term abortion bans must have an exception for "serious clinical mental health diseases," but this does not mean that "if a woman just doesn't feel good then that is an exception. That's never been the case." He also stated:

* The Roe v. Wade verdict provides several examples of what may constitute a risk the health of the mother. These include the "stigma of unwed motherhood" and the "distress" "associated with the unwanted child." Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which were issued by the Supreme Court on the same day with the order that they "are to be read together," mandate that abortion be legal up until the point of birth if any one physician willing to perform an abortion says it is necessary to preserve a mother's health.[91] [92] (More details in the section on Constitution and Law.)

* Speaking before a Planned Parenthood national conference in July 2007, Obama stated: "I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional Law. … On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."[93] [94] When asked what he do to "ensure access to abortion" and make certain his judicial nominees are "true to the core tenets of Roe v. Wade," he stated:

_______

* The Freedom of Choice Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in April 2007 by 13 Democrats including Barbara Boxer (California), Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey) and Max Baucus (Montana).[96] One month later, Barack Obama signed on as a cosponsor.[97] Its stated objective is to "protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy...." It would invalidate "every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice" that interferes with the termination of any "pregnancy prior to viability" and any pregnancy "after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman."[98]

* On the same day this bill was introduced in the Senate, a bill with the same name and parallel verbiage was introduced in the House of Representatives.[99] It gained 109 sponsors (108 Democrats and one Republican) but was not voted upon.[100] [101] [102] The Senate bill gained 20 sponsors (19 Democrats and one Independent) but was not voted upon.[103] [104]

* In 1994, while running for the U.S. Senate, Mitt Romney was asked:

He responded in part:

* In 2002, while announcing his candidacy for governor of Massachusetts, Romney stated, "On a personal basis, I don't favor abortion. However, as governor of the commonwealth, I will protect the right of a woman to choose under the laws of the country and the laws of the commonwealth."[106]

* As the governor of Massachusetts during 2005, Romney vetoed a bill to expand access to the ''morning-after pill" on the grounds that it would "terminate a living embryo after conception." Regarding this decision, he wrote that his

* In 2006, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Romney about his "change of heart on the issue of abortion." Romney replied that

The exchange continued:

* The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."[110] (More details in the section on Constitution and Law.)

* In 2011, Romney wrote:

* The President of the United States appoints judges to the Supreme Court. These appointments must be approved by a majority of the Senate.[112] Senate rules allow for a "filibuster," in which a vote to approve a judge can be blocked unless 60 of the Senate's 100 members agree to let it take place.[113] [114]

* Once seated, federal judges serve for life unless they voluntarily resign or are removed through impeachment, which requires a majority vote of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate.[115]

* For more implications relating to the appointment and approval of judges, see the section on Constitution and Law.

* In June 2008, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee stated that the Democratic Party "believes that we ought to significantly reduce the number of abortions in this country." A reporter asked Dean how he could reconcile this assertion with the party's support for taxpayer funding of abortions. Dean replied it is "total nonsense" that public funding of abortions increases the abortion rate.[116]

* According to the Guttmacher Institute, an organization whose "Guiding Principles" includes support for legalized abortion:

* The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) supports the use of taxpayer funding to perform abortions. In making its case for this position, the ACLU poses the following rhetorical question:

And answers:

* The ACLU is opposed to taxpayer funded school choice programs. One of their arguments for this stance is:

Women's Health

 

└ Deaths from legal and illegal abortions

* The website of Planned Parenthood states:

* No sources are cited for the statements above. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, whose death statistics from legal abortions have been accepted and used by Planned Parenthood,[121] [122] [123] in the year before Roe v. Wade (1972), there were 39 deaths from illegal abortions. In the year after Roe v. Wade (1974), there were 26 deaths from legal abortions.[124]

* The following three graphs were constructed to discern an effect of Roe v. Wade on the collective rate of legal and illegal abortion-related deaths:

[125]

* In 1988, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that the coding system used to classify pregnancy-related deaths "precludes a determination of the real causes of maternal death."[126] Hence, the graph below was constructed to show the incidence of all pregnancy-related deaths.

[127]

* In 1988, the CDC reported that the coding system used to classify deaths in general is inadequate because only a single code is assigned to each death, but "several factors may contribute to a death."[128] Hence, the graph below was constructed to show the death rate from all causes for women of reproductive age.

[129]

* A fact sheet published by Planned Parenthood states that

* "Christiansen & Collins, 2006" contains no information about the risk of death associated with abortion or childbirth. It contains figures for the risk of death "once a woman has become pregnant" as compared to the number of live childbirths in the U.S. These figures are not broken down to show abortion or childbirth-related deaths.[131]

* Citing data from the CDC, a previous version of the same Planned Parenthood fact sheet states that the "risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion."[132] [133] [134]

* The CDC has reported the following information about the data it provides for pregnancy-related deaths:

• Codes placed by individual doctors on death certificates are the "core source" of identifying pregnancy-related deaths. (2001)[135] (2005)[136]

• No "single source of information captures all pregnancy-related deaths" because of inadequate physician training and knowledge in filling out death certificates, medical records that "fail to indicate that the events leading to death began with pregnancy," and "medical and autopsy records that cannot be located or are not available for review." (2001)[137]

• "Death certificates alone may not provide adequate information on the sequence of events that led to death. Ultimately a single code is assigned to classify the underlying cause of death. Often, however, several factors may contribute to a death; therefore, the death cannot be adequately described with a unidimensional code." (1988)[138]

• The second most common method of identifying pregnancy-associated deaths is "computerized linking of deaths among women of reproductive age with birth certificates and fetal death certificates." (2005)[139] In four cases in which this has been done, the number of pregnancy-related fatalities identified increased by 30%, 68%, 129% and 153%. (2001)[140]

• One state out of 50 provides information that can be used to link abortion data to computerized death records. (2001)[141]

• The "coding system used by national vital statistics and states to describe maternal deaths... precludes a determination of the real causes of maternal death." (1988)[142]

• "In most cases, the state is the level at which pregnancy-related deaths are reviewed...." (2001)[143]

• States are not required to report their abortion data to the CDC and privacy agreements with certain states require "strict confidentiality" on abortion-related fatality data. (2008)[144] [145]

* A 2002 national survey of physicians found that 98% think the reporting of medical practice errors is obstructed due to fear of lawsuits.[146]

* From 1989 through 1992, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reported zero abortion-related deaths in the state of Maryland.[147] [148] [149] [150]

* During 1989 in the state of Maryland:

• Erica Kae Richardson (16 years-old) was admitted to an emergency room on March 1st with a punctured uterus from an abortion carried out earlier that day at a clinic in Laurel, Maryland. She died shortly after midnight on March 2nd.[151] [152] [153] [154]

• Paramedics arrived at an abortion clinic in Suitland, Maryland on July 12th to find Debra M. Gray (34 years-old) in cardiac arrest after being administered anesthesia without the presence of an anesthesiologist. She was taken to a hospital and died three days later.[155]

• Paramedics arrived at an abortion clinic in Suitland, Maryland on September 10th to find Susanne Renee Logan (32 years-old) in cardiac arrest with an oxygen mask placed upside down on her face. It was found that she had been given anesthesia without the presence of an anesthesiologist, and when she reacted to it, was given another drug not indicated to mitigate the effects of the anesthesia. The paramedics resuscitated Ms. Logan, she stayed in a coma for four months, and was generally paralyzed until her death in 1992.[156] [157] [158]

• Gladys Estanislao, a 28-year-old college student, was found lifeless on a bathroom floor 17 days after undergoing an abortion procedure at a clinic in Bethesda, Maryland. Her autopsy revealed that the pregnancy was not in her womb but in her fallopian tube, which caused it to rupture and resulted in her death.[159] [160] [161] This condition, called an ectopic pregnancy, is screened by a blood test or ultrasound, has a mortality rate of 1 in 2,000, and is typically diagnosed on the first visit to a gynecologist.[162] [163] [164]

* In 1987, the New York City Commissioner of Health wrote a letter to abortion clinics warning them to be careful about using too much anesthesia. The letter stated:

* For the same time period, the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health reported a total of 42 legal abortion-related deaths in the United States.[166]

* If both of these numbers are accurate, it would mean that 71% of the legal abortion-related deaths in the United States occurred in one city where about 3% of the population lived.[167]

* An "Abortion Services" page on Planned Parenthood's website states:

* A 2007 paper in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine cites 59 studies that exhibit a statistically significant association between abortion and the risk of premature births in subsequent pregnancies. In five of the largest and more recent of these studies, all found increases in premature births before 32 weeks gestation in women who had an abortion. All of these studies also found that this risk escalated when more than one abortion was performed.[169] Children born before 32 weeks gestation are at increased risks for early death, cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and other health complications.[170]

* The website of Planned Parenthood states:

* A different page on the website of Planned Parenthood states:

* Another page on the website of Planned Parenthood states:

* The country of Finland has socialized medicine and keeps detailed health records of its citizens.[175] A search of these records over the years 1987-1994 found that 1,347 women of reproductive age (15-49 years old) committed suicide. A 1996 study of this data found that women who had an abortion were about 5.9 times more likely to commit suicide in the year following this event than women who delivered a child:

[176]

* The State of California pays the costs of childbirths and abortions for low income women. A study of 173,279 California women who had a state funded childbirth or abortion in 1989 found that 53 of them committed suicide within eight years of their childbirth or abortion. A 2002 study of this data found that women who had an abortion were about 2.5 times more likely to commit suicide in the eight years following this event than women who delivered a child:

[177]

* In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported:

* The California study cited above controlled for mental disorders by eliminating those women who had been treated for a psychiatric problem in the year prior to their childbirth or abortion. When this was done, it was found that women who had an abortion were about 3.3 times more likely to commit suicide in the eight years following this event than women who delivered a child:

[179]

 

Media

└ Terminology

* In October 2001, The Society of Professional Journalists, "the nation's most broad-based journalism organization,"[180] adopted "Diversity Guidelines" reaffirming "their commitment" to use "language that is informative and not inflammatory." These guidelines state that it is "misleading" to use "word combinations" such as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim extremist" "because they link whole religions to criminal activity." The same document states:

* In April of 2007 at a Republican "Unity Dinner" in Iowa, John McCain stated:

* At the same event, Mike Huckabee stated:

* In a New York Times article about this event, reporter Adam Nagourney wrote that John McCain and Mike Huckabee "presented themselves as lifelong opponents of abortion rights." Four times in this article, Nagourney characterized the speakers as opponents of abortion rights and never as supporters of rights for the unborn.[184]

* Media phraseology:

[192]

* Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary defines "partial-birth abortion" as follows:

* Official policy of the American Medical Association:

* The American Medical Association's Manual of Style states:

* On the television show NOW with Bill Moyers, PBS journalist Brenda Breslauer stated:

* The book English for Journalists states that medical literature is a "common source" of jargon and:

* A 2005 house editorial in the Chicago Tribune uses the term "intact dilation and extraction" to identify "certain late-term abortions." It does not contain the term "partial-birth" and provides no description of the procedure.[198]

* The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage states:

* Roe v. Wade and its accompanying ruling, Doe v. Bolton, mandate that abortion be legal up until the point of birth if any one physician willing to perform an abortion says it is necessary to preserve a mother's health.[201] [202]

* In January 2002, the Gallup polling organization reported:

* Since this time, the Associated Press, Quinnipiac University, the Pew Research Center, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal, and Harris Poll have all conducted polls in which they characterized Roe v. Wade as making abortion legal in the first "three months of pregnancy."[204]

* In three articles published by the Associated Press in 2007 and 2008, it is asserted that the United States "permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy."[205] Media outlets that carried one or more of these stories include ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Fox News, Yahoo News, AOL News, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and more than 50 other local, state, national and international publications.[206]

* In July 2000, Nina Totenberg, National Public Radio's "award-winning legal affairs correspondent" stated:

* In an October 2003 house editorial, the Washington Post stated that

* None of the news items cited above mention that "health," as defined by Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, can include circumstances such as the "stigma of unwed motherhood" and the "distress" "associated with the unwanted child."[210] [211] (More details in the section on Constitution and Law.)

* In 1987, Republican President Ronald Reagan asked his Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, to prepare a "comprehensive report" concerning "the health effects of abortion on women."[212]

* In 1989, Koop wrote a letter to Reagan stating that he and the staff people in several Public Health Agencies reviewed almost 250 studies and found that each had flaws which prevented them from drawing "scientifically sound conclusions."[213]

* That evening, Peter Jennings of ABC News reported:

Dan Rather of CBS News reported:

Tom Brokaw of NBC News reported:

* Koop's letter did not state what Jennings, Rather, or Brokaw said it did. It stated:

* In 1985, the Los Angeles Times polled 3,165 newspaper reporters and editors working at 621 newspapers. It found that approximately 85% were in favor of abortion being generally legal. The same poll found that 51% of the general public were in favor of abortion being generally legal.[215]

* In December 2001, Hal Bruno, the former political director of ABC News, was asked what percentage of people at ABC News were "pro-choice." He replied:

* Below are the results of a Gallup poll conducted 6 months before the interview:

[217]

* A Zogby poll conducted about a year before the interview asked people if they agreed with the following statements:

[218]

 * In the same interview, Bruno stated:

* Four months prior to the interview, Gallup conducted a poll which found:

• 46% of Americans consider themselves to be pro-choice.

• 46% of Americans consider themselves to be pro-life.[220]

 

Parental Consent & Notification

└ State laws

* As of June 1, 2012:

• 26 states have a law in effect that requires parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.[221]

• 2 states have a parental consent law that is blocked by a court order or ruling.[222]

• 11 states have a law in effect that requires parental notification for a minor to have an abortion.[223]

• 4 states have a parental notification law that is blocked by a court order or ruling.[224]

• 7 states have no laws requiring parental consent or notification for abortions.[225]

* In the state of Washington, it is against the law to apply a tattoo to anyone under the age of 18.[226]

* In the state of New Jersey, it is against the law to engage in a body piercing of anyone under the age of 18 without written consent from his or her parent or legal guardian.[227]

* In the state of California, it is against the law for anyone under the age of 18 to use a tanning machine.[228]

* In Washington, New Jersey, and California, it is legal for a girl of any age to get an abortion without her parent's consent or knowledge.[229]

* Five Gallup polls conducted from 1992 through 2011 found that 69-74% of Americans favor "a law requiring women under 18 to get parental consent for any abortion." Opposition to this view ranged from 23-28%.[230]

* A 2005 CBS poll found 80% support for requiring that "at least one parent be told before a girl under 18 years of age could have an abortion." Opposition to this view was 17%.[231]

* A 2009 Pew poll found 76% support for "requiring that women under the age of 18 get the consent of at least one parent before they are allowed to have an abortion." Opposition to this view was 19%.[232]

* In 1996, Barack Obama's Illinois Senate campaign completed a candidate questionnaire and then resubmitted it with amended answers on the following day. In response to the question, "Do you support parental consent/notification for minors seeking abortions?" the answers were:

* When these questionnaires were published by Politico.com during the 2008 Presidential contest, Obama's campaign asserted that a staffer filled them out and some of the responses did not and do not reflect Obama's views.[235] [236]

* An investigation by Politico found that one of the questionnaires contains written notes that appear to be in Obama's hand, and the other questionnaire has a cover sheet indicating that Obama supplied the answers in a face-to-face interview at the house of a board member of the organization that issued the questionnaire. The board member has confirmed that Obama personally sat for this interview. In response to these revelations, Obama's presidential campaign wrote:

* On a 2001 vote in the Illinois Senate for a parental notification bill, Barack Obama voted "Present."[240] [241]

* Illinois Senate rules state that "a majority of those elected" (30 Senators) must vote in favor of a bill for it to pass. Thus, a vote of "Present" has the same result as a vote of "No."[242]

* With regard to Obama voting "Present" on this and other abortion-related bills, Pam Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council stated:

* In response to a 2004 candidate questionnaire that asked, "Do you support parental … notification or consent to obtain an abortion?" Barack Obama's U.S. Senate campaign answered:

* The 2001 parental notification bill on which Obama voted "Present" had bypass provisions for "sexual abuse," "neglect," "physical abuse," and cases where notification "would not be in the best interests of the minor."[246] [247]

* In response to a 2007 candidate questionnaire asking if minors should "be required to seek their parents" consent before having an abortion, Barack Obama's presidential campaign did not explicitly answer the question and stated that

* As of 2008, all of the 35 states with a parental consent or notification law in effect has a bypass provision that permits exceptions in various circumstances such as when notifying a parent not be in a "minor's best interests." This is also the case with a Congressional bill that Obama filibustered. Six of the seven states with a parental consent or notification law blocked by a court order or ruling have similar bypass provisions. The one exception is New Mexico, which has a 1969 law on its books that the state attorney general ruled unenforceable in 1990.[249] [250] [251]

* The Democratic Party Platform makes no explicit reference to parental consent or notification laws.[252] The Republican Party Platform supports parental notification laws and makes no explicit reference to parental consent laws.[253]

* On September 16, 1988, 17-year-old Rebecca Suzanne Bell of Indianapolis, Indiana was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia and suffered a fatal cardiopulmonary arrest that night.[254] During her autopsy, "evidence of recent pregnancy with recent partial abortion" was discovered. The "cause of death" listed on the autopsy report is "Septic Abortion with Pneumonia" and the "manner of death" as "Undetermined."[255] According to Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, a "septic abortion" is a "spontaneous or induced abortion associated with bacterial infection …" and pneumonia is "a disease of the lungs … that is caused especially by infection."[256] [257]

* Indiana had (and has) a parental consent law in effect.[258] [259] According to a receipt from a local Planned Parenthood and Becky's friend Heather Clark, the two of them visited Planned Parenthood, where it was suggested that Becky travel 100 miles to Kentucky to circumvent the Indiana law.[260] [261]

* Heather Clark stated that Becky chose not to tell her parents about the pregnancy because she was recently hospitalized with a drug problem and thought that they would kick her out of the house if they knew she was pregnant.[262] Ms. Clark also stated that after she and Becky went to Planned Parenthood, Becky wavered about having an abortion and considered running away and putting the baby up for adoption.[263] [264]

* The county coroner (who did not perform the autopsy and is now deceased[265]) told Becky's parents that she had died from pneumonia and the source of the infection was an illegal abortion performed with unsterile instruments.[266] [267] [268] Her parents came to blame Becky's death on Indiana's parental consent law.[269] This led to media attention and Becky's parents embarking on a speaking tour of 23 states with an advocacy group to lobby against parental involvement laws.[270] [271] [272]

* Since this time, Becky Bell's case has been cited as an argument against parental consent laws on 60 Minutes,[273] ABC News,[274] CNN's Larry King Live,[275] in the magazines Seventeen, Rolling Stone,[276] Newsweek,[277] an American Civil Liberties Union pamphlet,[278] and an original HBO movie named "Public Law 106: The Becky Bell Story."[279] In the last three years, this argument has been repeated in at least 13 different publications including a legal journal.[280] [281] [282] [283] When a parental notification law was put on the ballot in Oregon in 1990, polls found opposition to it at 22%. After Becky's parents toured the state appearing at rallies and on television and talk shows, the measure was defeated with 52% voting against it.[284]

* Around the time that the Becky's parents appeared on 60 Minutes,[285] James A. Miller, the research director of an organization dedicated to "promot[ing] and defend[ing] the sanctity of life,"[286] corresponded several times with Dr. Jesse Giles, the author of the autopsy report and one of two pathologists who signed it.[287] In an editorial published in the Baltimore Evening Sun and in a press release, Miller wrote that Giles said:

• He used word "abortion" on the autopsy report in the sense of a spontaneous abortion (i.e., miscarriage[288]); not an induced abortion.

• He was "astounded" that 60 Minutes and Becky's parents "would assert that my (autopsy) report proves that there was an instrumented, illegal abortion."

• He did not write the word "septic" on the autopsy report. Another pathologist placed the word "septic" in front of the word "abortion" on the report's cover page.[289] [290]

* When contacted by Just Facts, Dr. Giles refused to answer any questions.[291]

* The other pathologist who signed the autopsy report was Dr. John Pless. He supervised the autopsy, as Dr. Giles was a fellow in training at the time.[292] In a 1990 newspaper article, Dr. Pless is quoted as stating, "I cannot prove she had anything but a spontaneous abortion [i.e., miscarriage]," but that he found evidence of infection in Becky's reproductive system, and thus it seemed probable that an induced abortion was performed.[293]

* The description of the reproductive system in the autopsy report contains no mention of an infection.[294]

* When contacted by Just Facts, Pless confirmed his view as quoted above and stated that the "same micro-organism" that caused the pneumonia "was cultured in the uterus and the lung."[295] When Just Facts pointed out the autopsy report contains a list of "Specimens for Culture" that does not include the uterus,[296] Pless said his memory may be faulty, but "the only possible source of the infection was the uterus" because there "was no upper airway disease - so the only possibility was spread from the uterus."[297] [298]

* When Just Facts informed Dr. Pless that:

• a 2006 paper in the Journal of Medical Microbiology states that the type of bacteria found in Becky's lungs exists in various strains that selectively infect specific body tissues,[299] [300]

• two recent medical texts indicate that the type of pneumonia Becky had is typically preceded (not accompanied) by mild upper airway disease,[301] [302]

• and therefore, the absence of upper airway disease does not indicate that the bacteria did not enter through the upper airway, he responded:

* The HBO movie cited above shows Becky going with a friend to obtain an illegal abortion.[304] [305] All primary sources researched for this case contain no testimony or documentation of such an event. This includes the coroner's report,[306] autopsy report,[307] Becky's mother's written account,[308] and an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in which the reporter quotes Becky's father and her "closest friend" Heather Clark. Ms. Clark, who accompanied Becky to Planned Parenthood, told the reporter that Becky did not have an induced abortion. She also said that when she visited Becky (four days after she had gotten sick and the night before she passed on), Becky asked her to schedule an abortion in Louisville, Kentucky for two days later.[309]

* In March 1989, six months after Becky Bell's death, 16-year-old Erica Kae Richardson of Cheltenham, Maryland was assisted by her aunt in obtaining an abortion without her mother's consent or knowledge. Erica's aunt, a registered nurse, first took her to Washington Hospital Center, which would not perform the abortion because the pregnancy was 19 weeks along. She then took her to the Metropolitan Women's Center in Laurel, where Dr. Gene Crawford carried out the abortion, puncturing her uterus in the process. Erica died several hours later from "rupture of [her] lower uterus and cervix with complications, including hemorrhage into the pelvic cavity surrounding the uterus and air embolism."[322] [323] [324] [325]

* The current Maryland notification law allows abortion providers to bypass notifying a parent if, in their opinion, the minor is "capable of giving informed consent to an abortion." The law also stipulates that abortion providers cannot be prosecuted or sued for failing to notify a girl's parents.[326]

* A 2000 U.S. Department of Justice study of crimes reported to law enforcement agencies in twelve states from 1991-1996, found that the incidence of forcible rape peaked at the ages of 14 and 15.

[327]

* A 1987 survey of U.S. woman aged 18-22, found that of those who had intercourse at 15 years of age or younger, 40% had been forced to have sex against their will or were raped.[328] [329]

* A 2006 U.S. Department of Justice study found that 58% of female forcible rape victims were raped before their 18th birthday.[330]

* Arkansas law requires written consent of a parent (not a step-parent) before an abortion is performed upon a female who is less than 18 years of age.[331] In 2006, a 15-year-old Arkansas girl accused her 41-year-old stepfather of raping her, getting her pregnant, forcing her to have an abortion in Illinois (where there is no parental consent or notification law in effect), and continuing to rape her afterwards.[332] [333] [334] [335]

* The girl's claim that she was taken to an abortion clinic in Granite City, Illinois was corroborated by a photo of her stepfather's car at this facility.[336] He was arrested, charged with a dozen counts of rape and committed suicide before trial.[337] [338]

* In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would have made it illegal to take a minor across state lines to circumvent state laws that require parental involvement in a minor's abortion. It required that abortion providers in states without parental involvement laws give at least 24 hours' notice to a parent before performing an abortion on a minor who resides in another state. This provision included exceptions for parental abuse, neglect, and if the physical health of the minor is endangered.[339] 93% of Republicans voted for it and 71% of Democrats voted against it. (Click for a record of how each Representative voted.)

* After being approved by the House, the bill was sent to the Senate where it was blocked by a filibuster conducted by 37 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 1 Independent. Participants in the filibuster included Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Robert Menendez, and Susan Collins. (Click for a record of how each Senator voted.)

* A sexual relationship between a 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.[340] All states have laws requiring healthcare and other workers who interact with children in a professional capacity to report suspected cases of child abuse, which in 29 states and the District of Columbia, explicitly includes a sexual relationship between a 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl.[341]

* In 2002, Life Dynamics, an organization dedicated to ending legal abortion,[342] phoned more than 800 Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation abortion clinics and offices. In these calls, a woman from Life Dynamics told workers at these facilities that she was 13-years-old, had been impregnated by her 22-year-old boyfriend, and wanted to get an abortion to hide the situation from her parents.[343]

* In more than 90% of the phone calls, the Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation workers did not act to report the matter.[344]

* Some workers encouraged the caller to come in for the abortion and lie about the age of the person who impregnated her.[345]

* Some workers told the caller that they were required to report the situation, but weren't going to do so.[346]

* In states that have parental notification laws, some workers told the caller to find a person who was old enough to impersonate one of her parents and have them sign the required paperwork. In one state that requires a notarized signature from a parent, a worker told the caller that the facility had a notary public who would notarize a fraudulent signature for her.[347]

* After Life Dynamics released the recordings, Planned Parenthood issued the following statement:

* A Connecticut TV station (WTIC – Fox 61) scrutinized the recordings of the phone calls to the abortion clinics in Connecticut. They found that the dial tones recorded on the tapes matched the phone numbers of the facilities, the names of the people on the tapes matched the names of the workers at the facilities, and the content of the conversations matched what was reported by Life Dynamics.[349]

* In briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court regarding a Minnesota parental consent law,[350] the American Psychological Association asserted that the law should be struck down on the grounds that

* In a brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court regarding a death penalty sentence in Missouri for a person who committed a capital murder at the age of 17,[353] the American Psychological Association asserted that crimes committed by minors should never be subject to the death penalty on the grounds that:

Partial-Birth

* A partial-birth abortion, as described in American Medical News (a publication of the American Medical Association[355]), entails

* According to the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, this procedure was typically performed at 20+ weeks (not specified if this is after conception or last menstrual period).[360]

* Preborn human at 20 weeks gestation (22 weeks after last menstrual period):

[361]

* In June 1995, Republican Congressman Charles Canady of Florida sponsored a bill to ban the use of the partial-birth abortion procedure on live preborn humans except if "necessary to save the life of a mother."[362] It was cosponsored by 20 Democrats and 135 Republicans.[363] This bill passed Congress with 90% of Republicans voting for it and 62% of Democrats voting against it. It was vetoed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. A vote to override the veto passed in the House and failed in the Senate by 8 votes.[364] [365]

* In March 1997, Republican Congressman Gerald Solomon of New York sponsored a bill to ban the use of the partial-birth abortion procedure on live preborn humans except if "necessary to save the life of a mother."[366] It passed Congress with 95% of Republicans voting for it and 62% of Democrats voting against it. It was vetoed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. A vote to override the veto passed in the House and failed in the Senate by 3 votes.[367] [368]

* During the period in which these bills were being debated:

• The executive director of the National Abortion Federation told the press that the partial-birth abortion procedure "is not taking place on live fetuses, the way it's being portrayed. The fetal demise has already occurred...."[369]

• Dr. Martin Haskell, who is credited with inventing the procedure,[370] sent a letter to Congress asserting, "Statements that fetuses are not dead until nearly the end of the procedure are not accurate. Death occurs early in the procedure if not before."[371]

• Two years earlier, American Medical News interviewed Dr. Haskell and reported:

• After it was pointed out that this article conflicted with his assertion to Congress,[373] Haskell and the National Abortion Federation wrote letters to Congress stating that he and the other doctor had been "quoted out of context."[374] [375] Consequently, the publication, which had tape-recorded the interviews, released a transcript of the contested quotes. When the interviewer said, "Let's talk first about whether or not the fetus is dead beforehand," Haskell responded:

• Dr. James McMahon, the other doctor interviewed for the American Medical News article, sent a letter to Congress affirming that a preborn human "feels no pain through the entire series of procedures" because the mother is given an anesthetic beforehand, which induces "a medical coma" and "neurological fetal demise."[377]

• Afterwards, the President of the American Academy of Anesthesiologists, the President-Elect of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, the Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital, and an Associate Professor at the Department of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology at Emory University testified before Congress regarding the effects of anesthesia given during partial-birth abortions. A monthly newsletter of the American Academy of Anesthesiologists summarized the hearing as follows:

• The transcript of the interview with Dr. Haskell also revealed that he stated:

• One week after this information was released in a congressional report,[382] the American Civil Liberties Union, National Organization for Women, People For the American Way and 50 other organizations sent a joint letter to Congress stating that partial-birth abortions were "most often performed" in cases "of severe fetal anomalies or a medical condition that threatens the pregnant woman's life or health."[383]

• One month after this, Planned Parenthood issued a press release asserting that partial-birth abortions are performed "only in cases when the woman's life is in danger or in cases of extreme fetal abnormality."[384]

• One week after this, the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers appeared on ABC's Nightline and stated that partial-birth abortions were done only in extreme situations of danger to a woman's life and fetal anomalies.[385] [386] [387]

• Four months after this, the national policy director of Planned Parenthood testified to Congress: "The truth is that the procedure is only used when the woman's life or health is in danger or in cases of extreme fetal anomaly."[388]

• Six months later, two doctors at a New Jersey abortion clinic spoke with a local newspaper under condition of anonymity. They independently stated that their clinic was performing roughly 1,500 partial-birth abortions per year, most of which are elective and not for medical reasons.[389] [390]

• Six months after this, the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers told the New York Times and American Medical News that he "lied through [his] teeth" when he appeared on Nightline because he was afraid that the truth would erode public support for abortion. Disowning his previous statements, he stated that partial-birth abortions are "primarily done on healthy women and healthy fetuses...."[391] [392]

• The same week this information was published, Renee Chelian, president of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers stated:

* In February 2003, Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania sponsored a bill to ban the use of the partial-birth abortion procedure on live preborn humans except if "necessary to save the life of a mother."[394] It was cosponsored by 2 Democrats and 43 Republicans.[395] Congress passed this bill with 95% of Republicans voting for it and 62% of Democrats voting against it. It was then signed into law by Republican President George W. Bush.[396] [397] (Click for a record of how each Congressman voted.)

* This law does not ban late-term abortions; only the partial-birth procedure.[398] It does not prohibit giving a lethal injection to a preborn human and performing a partial-birth abortion afterwards.[399] It does not prohibit dismemberment abortions, in which "the fetal limbs are pulled off the body in utero, sometimes while the fetus is still alive."[400] [401]

* After this law was enacted, several abortion providers challenged it in court.[402] In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in a 5-4 vote.[403] Of the five Supreme Court justices who ruled to uphold the law, Barack Obama voted against the nomination of two of them and identified two of the others as judges he would not have nominated.[404] [405] [406]

* The day after the Supreme Court ruling was issued, 13 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and 57 in the House of Representatives introduced legislation that would overturn the ban on partial-birth abortions.[407] [408] [409] [410] Barack Obama stated that the "first thing" he would do as President is sign this bill into law.[411]

 

Constitution & Law

└ Roe v. Wade

* In March of 1970, a pregnant woman by the name of Norma McCorvey sued the state of Texas to challenge the constitutionality of a state law that prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. McCorvey wanted to keep her identity secret and assumed the fictitious name Jane Roe. The name of the Dallas County district attorney responsible for enforcing the law was Henry Wade. Thus, the case was entitled Roe v. Wade.[412] [413] [414]

* Before the United States Supreme Court, the attorney for Roe argued that the Texas law was unconstitutional because it violated the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments.[415] The Ninth Amendment reads:

The clause of the Fourteenth Amendment relevant to the argument reads:

* In support of this view, the attorney for Roe stated that "liberty to these women would mean liberty from being forced to continue the unwanted pregnancy."[418]

* During oral arguments, one of the judges asked the attorney for Roe if her case was dependent on the assertion that pre-born humans have no Constitutional rights. After some back and forth, the attorney for Roe responded:

After more back and forth, another judge said to Roe's attorney:

The attorney for Roe responded:

At this point, the Chief Justice cut her off and started to ask another question. He then interrupted himself and asked:

The attorney for Roe stated:

* The attorney for the State of Texas argued that preborn humans are protected under the Fifth Amendment.[420] The portion relevant to the argument states:

* During oral arguments, one of the judges contested this viewpoint by asserting that the Fourteenth Amendment defined what the term "person" meant, and that it did not include preborn humans.[422] The relevant clause reads:

* After some back and forth, the judge retreated from this position and said:

* The attorney for the State of Texas responded that the only way to understand what the Constitution means by the word "person" was to go to "the teachings at the time the Constitution was framed." He then quoted from William Blackstone, who is described in Simon & Shuster's New Millennium Encyclopedia as a "British jurist and legal scholar, whose work Commentaries on the Laws of England was used for more than a century as the foundation of all legal education in Great Britain and the U.S."[425] In this work, Blackstone wrote that life is a "right" that

* To further support his position, the attorney for the state of Texas appealed to the Declaration of Independence and started to quote the following sentence from it, but he was cut off by one of judges: [427]

* On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court released its ruling. Seven of the judges ruled in favor of Roe and two of the judges opposed the ruling. The ruling overturned the laws of 30 states that generally prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother.[429]

* The majority ruled these laws unconstitutional on the basis that they violated the Fourteenth Amendment, stating that it protects "the right to privacy," and that this includes "a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy."[430] The relevant portion of the Fourteenth Amendment reads:

* The Fourteenth Amendment does not contain the word "privacy" or any synonym for it.[432] [433] It was adopted in 1868 to address a number of issues relevant to the Civil War, such as ensuring constitutional rights for black people.[434]

* The majority wrote that they were "not in a position to speculate" as to "when life begins" and criticized the State of Texas for "adopting one theory of life," namely, that life begins at conception.[435]

* They also:

• Used the term "potentiality of human life" in reference to preborn humans who are capable of living outside the mother's womb.[436]

• Ruled that preborn humans have no Constitutional rights.[437]

_______

* The majority created rules regarding the types of abortion legislation that states could enact based upon the three trimesters of a typical pregnancy:

• First trimester: States cannot prohibit abortions. They can require that abortions be done by licensed physicians, but other than this, they cannot regulate the manner in which they are performed.[438] In an internal court memo written before the ruling was issued and made public 15 years later, the author of the decision (Justice Harry Blackmun) wrote that the ruling contains "dictum," and this first trimester timeframe is "arbitrary."[439] [440] (Click for full text of letter.)

• Second trimester: States cannot prohibit abortions. They can regulate the manner in which they are performed for the purpose of protecting the mother's health. The ruling cites examples of the types of regulations that are permissible. These include establishing "qualifications [for] the person who is to perform the abortion" and setting rules regarding "the facility in which the procedure is to be performed."[441]

• Third trimester: States can prohibit abortions after "viability" (meaning the point where a preborn human is capable of living outside their mother's womb), but they cannot prohibit abortions "where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."[442] The ruling cites examples of what may be considered harmful to a woman's health. These include the "stigma of unwed motherhood," the work of caring for a child, and the "distress" "associated with the unwanted child."[443] [444]

After listing these examples and others, the majority wrote that this portion of their ruling does not permit abortions "at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason" a woman chooses.[445] They repeated this assertion four times using varying words but listed no example of a circumstance where abortion could be prohibited.[446]

* On the same day that the Supreme Court released Roe v. Wade, it issued another ruling in a case entitled Doe v. Bolton. The same seven judges who ruled in favor of Roe also ruled in favor of Doe, and the same two judges opposed the ruling.[447] The majority wrote that this ruling and Roe v. Wade "are to be read together."[448]

* In this case, the State of Georgia had a law prohibiting abortions unless the pregnancy would "seriously and permanently" injure the health of the mother.[449] A lower court struck down this law and the majority of the Supreme Court agreed. The ruling stated that abortion laws with exceptions for the health of the mother must allow for factors such as emotional health, psychological health, familial concerns, and the woman's age.[450]

* The Georgia law also required that the doctor who would perform the abortion, two other doctors, and a committee of the medical staff at the hospital where the abortion was to be done needed to agree that the abortion was necessary to preserve the health of the mother.[451] The lower court upheld this law and the Supreme Court struck it down. The majority ruled that only the doctor who would perform the abortion needs to determine that the abortion was necessary to preserve the health of the mother. Any abortion provider could make this decision based solely on their "best clinical judgment."[452]

* Dr. Warren Hern is a late-term abortion practitioner, author of "the nation's most widely used textbook on abortion standards and procedures," a participant in crafting "the first version of the National Abortion Federation Program Standards for Abortion Services," and "one of the experts in late abortion sought out by the national media...."[453] [454] In May 1997, he stated:

* In 1992, the Supreme Court decided a case entitled Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In this case, the majority reaffirmed the central element of Roe v. Wade, but did away with the "rigid trimester framework."[457]

* As in Roe v. Wade, the majority ruled that states cannot prohibit abortions prior to viability, and laws that prohibit abortion after viability must include an exception for the "health of the mother."[458] (With regard to viability, as of 2007, the youngest premature baby to survive was born at 21 weeks and 6 days gestation.[459])

* Contrary to Roe v. Wade, the majority ruled that states could enact laws that regulated abortion throughout pregnancy, as long as they did not create a substantial obstacle to obtaining an abortion. An example of what would be acceptable is a law requiring that doctors provide women with certain information before they perform abortions.[460]

 

Live Births

* A 2007 British study found that 3.2% of preborn humans aborted on the basis of diagnoses for conditions such as Down's Syndrome, heart defects, and kidney problems, survived for a median time of 80 minutes after birth, 36% of them for an hour or less, 6% for six hours or more.[461]

* The Encyclopedia of Human Biology states:

* In 2003, a child was born in Britain at 24 weeks gestation following three abortion procedures. As of 2005, he is healthy and is the "first long-term abortion survivor" to be born this prematurely.[463] [464]

* In 2007, twin brothers Ieuan and Gabriel Jones were born at 31 weeks gestation. Eleven weeks before this, it was found that Gabriel was underweight and his heart three times normal size. Doctors thought he would die and suggested an abortion to protect the life of his twin. An attempt was made to sever his umbilical cord, but doctors were unable to cut through it. Subsequently, the mother's placenta was cut in half to isolate the twins from one another. The boys were delivered via caesarian section, and as of November 2007, were seven months old and both healthy.[465] (Click for photos.)

* In 2007, Finely Crampton was born three weeks premature after an attempted abortion at 8 weeks. His mother previously gave birth to two boys with kidney disorders, one of whom died after 20 minutes, and another who has one kidney. She was on the birth control pill when she became pregnant and decided to abort because she "couldn't cope with the anguish of losing another baby." At 19 weeks, she discovered the abortion was not successful and decided to carry to term. As of June 2008, Finley is 6 months old, "has minor kidney damage," and is "expected to lead a normal life."[466] (Click for photo.)

* Gianna Jessen was born in 1977 after surviving an abortion at seven-and-a-half months gestation.[467] [468] She has cerebral palsy as a result of the procedure but has run marathons and traveled "the world to campaign against abortion."[469] [470]

* In July 2000, two registered nurses who worked in the labor and delivery unit of Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois testified before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee. Both described instances at the hospital in which they had personally seen babies who were born alive after an abortion and left to die without any care or comfort provided.[471] [472] A spokesman for the hospital's parent corporation estimated that 10-20% of the abortions it performs on preborn humans with genetic defects result in live births for short periods of time.[473]

* In 2001 and 2002, identical bills were introduced in the Illinois legislature with three paragraphs of operative text stating that anyone "born alive at any stage of development" is considered a "person" under Illinois state law including those born as a result of "abortion."[474] [475] Barack Obama, as an Illinois state senator, voted against both of these bills.[476] [477]

* In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a voice vote, the U.S. Senate passed by unanimous consent, and President Bush signed a bill stating that anyone "born alive at any stage of development" is considered a "person" under federal law including those born as a result of "abortion."[478] [479] [480] This bill contained the same operative language as the Illinois bill except for the following paragraph.

Federal bill:

Illinois Bill:

* At a debate in October 2004, Barack Obama was criticized for voting against the Illinois bills and replied:

* In 2003, an amendment was proposed to an Illinois bill to make the operative language the same as the federal bill that Obama said he would have voted for.[482] [483] The amendment was referred to a committee chaired by Obama, where it was unanimously passed. The bill was then voted down by Obama and five other Democrats on the committee.[484] [485] [486] [487]

 

Footnotes

[1] Entry: "child." Webster's College Dictionary. Simon & Schuster, 1999. Definition 1a: "an unborn or recently born person."

[2] Entry: "Fetus." Black's Medical Dictionary. Edited by Dr. Harvey Marcovich. 41st edition. Scarecrow Press, 2006. Pages 269-270. Page 269: "The name given to the unborn child after the eighth week of development."

[3] Entry: "baby." Webster's College Dictionary. Simon & Schuster, 1999. Definition 1a: "an extremely young child; especially: infant."

[4] Entry: "Neonatal Intensive Care." Black's Medical Dictionary. Edited by Dr. Harvey Marcovich. 41st edition. Scarecrow Press, 2006.

Page 487: "The provision of a dedicated unit with special facilities, including one-to-one nursing and appropriate technology, for caring for premature and seriously ill newborn babies."

[5] Entry: "fetus." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Encyclopζdia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, 2004.

The etymology of this word is: "Middle English, from Latin, act of bearing young, offspring; akin to Latin fetus newly delivered, fruitful— more at feminine."

[6] Entry: "fetus." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 29th edition. W. B. Saunders Company, 2000. Page 661.

[7] Entry: "fetal." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 29th edition. W. B. Saunders Company, 2000.

Page 661: "of or pertaining to a fetus; pertaining to in utero development after the embryonic period."

[8] Textbook: Langman's Medical Embryology. By T. W. Sadler. Ninth edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.

Page 117: "The period from the beginning of the ninth week to birth is known as the fetal period."

[9] For example, in April of 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act." This bill would make it a crime for someone to harm a "child in utero." (It does not apply to any situation relating to an abortion with the consent of the mother.) The bill defines a child in utero as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." In their coverage of this vote, CNN, Reuters, the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, USA Today, MSNBC, and CBS all used the word "fetus" or "fetal" as a blanket phrase for humans at any stage prior to birth. As shown by Black's Medical Dictionary and Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, their application of this term is inaccurate.

[10] Commentary: "Where's the Baby? The AP misses the point." By Kathryn Jean Lopez. National Review, March 13, 2002. http://www.nationalreview.com/...

NOTE: This column criticizes the Associated Press for misapplying the word "fetus" to humans who are born alive after an abortion. As shown by Black's Medical Dictionary and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, their application of this term is inaccurate. The same applies to the next example.

[11] Article: "Obama's View on Abortion May Divide Catholics." By John M. Broder. New York Times, August 6, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/us/politics/07catholics.html

"Republicans are gearing up campaigns to depict Mr. Obama as a radical on the question of abortion, because as a state senator in Illinois he opposed a ban on the killing of fetuses born alive."

[12] Press Release: "RCOG Statement on the article 'One baby in 30 left alive after medical termination' (London Daily Mail, 20 April 2007)." Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, April 20, 2007. http://www.rcog.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1925

"If the fetus has had a lethal injection, it will normally die. However, there are some instances when there are signs of life at birth. All babies must be treated with dignity and respect. Palliative care should be provided till the baby dies where relevant."

NOTE: Observe that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists utilizes the word "baby" after the point of birth.

[13] "Commentary: "Fetus or baby?" By Christine Chinlund. Boston Globe, February 17, 2003. http://www.boston.com/

"Some pretty impartial sources, from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to Webster's Dictionary, say that any unborn child is considered a fetus."

NOTE: Later in the column, the author quotes the following definition of "fetus" from Webster's, which does not support the assertion she made: "An unborn offspring, especially in its later stages and specifically in humans, from about the eighth week after conception until birth." The author did not attempt to substantiate the claim about the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Just Facts could find no such information on their website.

[14] Press Release: "States May Provide SCHIP Coverage for Prenatal Care." United States Department of Health and Human Services, September 27, 2002. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20020927a.html

"The final regulation, which will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, October 2, allows states to file a state plan amendment to use existing SCHIP funding for coverage for children from conception to birth and up to age 19."

NOTE: As the quote above explains, the regulation is applicable from the point of conception onwards, yet the following three articles use the word "fetus" to describe the beneficiaries.

a) Article: "HHS Proposes Insurance for Fetuses; Opponents Call It a Ploy to Pave Way for Ban on Abortion." By Alan Cooperman & Amy Goldstein. Washington Post, February 1, 2002. Page A-01.

b) Article: " 'Unborn child' coverage moves ahead: Abortion rights advocates oppose the new regulation." By Catherine Berger. CNN, September 27, 2002. http://archives.cnn.com/...

"The regulation allows states to expand eligibility to cover a fetus under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) without having to receive a waiver from HHS."

c) Article: "Government Gives Fetuses 'Unborn Child' Status." Fox News (with contribution from the Associated Press), February 1, 2002. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,44448,00.html

[15] Book: English for Journalists. By Wynford Hicks. Second edition. Routledge, 1998.

Page 73: "Jargon is specialized vocabulary, familiar to the members of a group, trade or profession. If you write for a newspaper or general magazine you should try to translate jargon into ordinary English whenever you can. … A common source of jargon is scientific, medical, government and legal handouts."

[16] Book: The New Oxford Guide to Writing. By Thomas S. Kane. Oxford University Press, 1988.

Page 199: "Jargon is technical language misused. Technical language, the precise diction demanded by any specialized trade or profession, is necessary when experts communicate with one another. It becomes jargon when it is applied outside the limits of technical discourse."

[17] Book: The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage. Edited by Andrea J. Sutcliffe. Stonesong Press/Harper Collins, 1994.

Page 586: "When writing for a specialized audience—one familiar with the topic or field—a writer must use jargon; it is the common idiom. When writing for a lay audience or the general public, a writer should use jargon only when necessary and define it carefully. Where plain English serves equally well, it should be used instead."

[18] Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. W.B. Saunders Company, 2000. 29th edition.

Page 770: "gravida … a pregnant woman"

[19] For example, the following searches were performed on July 9, 2008:

Organization	Search results for			Notes
	"fetus"	"abortion" AND "mother" AND "fetus"	"gravida"
New York Times	3,229	615	1*	1981-current
Washington Post	3,225	632	0	1987-current
ABC	> 500	53†	1‡	all available
NBC	2,830	477	0	all available

* Gravida is the title of a publication of the Westchester Women's Poetry Collective.

† The website of ABC News does not have "AND" search capability, and so the search was performed through Google Advanced Search.

‡ The article is not written in English.

[20] Article: "Parents of slain pregnant woman forgive suspect." By Dan Nephin. Associated Press. July 25, 2008. http://news.yahoo.com

"The parents of a slain pregnant woman said Friday they have forgiven the suspect charged with killing their daughter and cutting her baby out of the womb."

[21] Article: "Passenger Shot, Her Fetus Dies As Men Clash On T." By Michael S. Rosenwald. Boston Globe, February 6, 2003. http://www.boston.com/

NOTE: In February 2003, the Boston Globe published an article about a pregnant woman who was shot on a subway in the abdomen, entitling it: "Passenger shot, her fetus dies as men clash on T." Readers of the Globe sent letters objecting to the use of the word "fetus" in this context because they felt the clinical language was dehumanizing. The paper's ombudsman responded, stating that the Boston Globe was "technically correct and wrong at the same time."

[22] Article: "Baby saved as heroes lift bus off crushed mom." Associated Press, August 15, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26209074/

"Dozens of strangers converged from all directions to lift a 5-ton bus off the body of a pregnant woman — a heroic effort that managed to save the life of her child but was too late for her."

[23] Book: Writing for Journalists. By Wynford Hicks, Sally Adams & Harriet Gilbert. Routledge, 1999. Page 125:

"This emphasis on plainness and simplicity has been repeated by those who lay down the law about journalistic style. The Economist Pocket Style Book, first published in the 1980s, quotes George Orwell's 'six elementary rules' from his famous essay, 'Politics and the English Language', written in 1946. … 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent."

[24] Textbook: Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. By Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud. W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. Fifth edition. Page 500.

[25] Textbook: Human Life Before Birth. By Frank J. Dye. Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.

[26] Textbook: Pediatric Toxicology: Diagnosis and Management of the Poisoned Child. By Timothy B. Erickson, William R. Ahrens, Steven E. Aks, Carl R. Baum, Louis J. Ling. McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Page 46: "The categories of human in utero exposure consist of maternal drugs of abuse, maternal environmental exposure, and maternal prescription drug use."

[27] Textbook: Review of Medical Physiology. By William F. Ganong. 22nd edition. McGraw Hill, 2005.

Page 259: "Exposure of human females to androgen in utero does not change the cyclic pattern…."

[28] Entry: "abortion." American Heritage Dictionary of Science. Edited by Robert K. Barnhart. Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

Page 2: "a   birth that occurs before the embryo or fetus develops enough to live on its own, usually during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy (spontaneous abortion) … SYN: miscarriage."

[29] Textbook: Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. By Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud. W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. Fifth edition.

Page 109: "The expected date of delivery (EDD) of a fetus is 266 days, or 38 weeks, after fertilization; that is, 280 days, or 40 weeks, after LNMP (Table 7-1)."

[30] Book: Color Atlas of Life Before Birth. By Marjorie A. England. Year Book Medical Publishers, 1983.

Page 12: "Most clinicians do not know the fertilization date; the only date available to them is the first day of the last menstrual period. They use this date to define a menstrual age stretching from time 0, which is usually 14 days before fertilization…."

[31] Book: How Life Begins. By Christopher Vaughn. Random House 1996.

Page 8: "In other words, most obstetricians figures are based on a forty-week pregnancy when you're actually pregnant for only thirty-eight weeks."

[32] Book: Color Atlas of Physiology. By Agamemnon Despopoulos & Stefan Silbernagl. Fifth edition. Thieme, 2003.

Page 308: "Fertilization usually takes place on the first day after intercourse...."

[33] Textbook: Langman's Medical Embryology. By T. W. Sadler. Ninth edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.

Page 122: "The oocyte is normally fertilized within 12 hours of ovulation. However, sperm deposited in the reproductive tract up to 6 days prior to ovulation can survive to fertilize oocytes. Thus, most pregnancies occur when sexual intercourse occurs within a 6-day period that ends on the day of ovulation."

[34] Book: Psychological Development and Early Childhood. By John Oates, Clare Wood & Andrew Grayson. Blackwell, 2005.

Page 217 states that a "genotype" is: "The complete set of genes present in an individual. The genotype is determined at fertilization when genetic information from the egg and sperm is combined."

[35] Book: Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. By the Mayo Clinic. Collins, 2004.

Page 45 (section on fertilization): "This genetic material will determine your baby's sex, eye color, hair color, body size, facial features and – at least to some extent – intelligence and personality. … Your baby's sex is determined at the moment he or she is conceived."

[36] Book: Genetic Destinies. By Peter Little. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Page 34: "Identical twins have exactly the same DNA and it so follows that any feature that is defined by gene differences should be identical between them."

[37] Note that even though identical twins have the same genes, they vary in certain biological respects because of epigenetic differences. This is explained in the paper: "The marks, mechanisms and memory of epigenetic states in mammals." By Vardhman K. Rakyan & others. Biochemical Journal, May 15, 2001. http://www.biochemj.org/bj/356/0001/3560001.pdf

Page 1: "These modifications interfere with the DNA–protein interactions that facilitate transcription, resulting in transcriptional silencing of the epigenetically modified allele. Epigenetic modifications can, therefore, cause phenotypic variation in the absence of genetic differences."

[38] Teaching guide: "Human Genetic Variation." By BSCS and Videodiscovery under a contract from the National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, 1999. http://science.education.nih.gov/...

Page 7: "The human genome comprises about 3 Χ 109 base pairs of DNA, and the extent of human genetic variation is such that no two humans, save identical twins, ever have been or will be genetically identical."

[39] Calculation performed with information and data from the following sources:

a) Book: The Developing Human: Clinically Orientated Embryology. By Keith L. Moore & T. V. N. Persaud. Seventh edition. Saunders, 2003. Page 16: Human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoa) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a singe cell – a zygote." Page 33: The zygote is genetically unique because half of its chromosomes come from the mother and half from the father. The zygote contains a new combination of chromosomes that is different from that in the cells of either of the parents. This mechanism forms the basis of biparental inheritance and variation of the human species."

b) Book: Population and Evolutionary Genetics: A Primer. By Francisco J. Ayala. Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company, 1982. Page 53: "Considerable genetic variation exists in most natural populations. … Consider humans with a 6.7% heterozygosity detectable by electrophoresis. If we assume there are 30,000 structural gene loci in a human being, which may be an underestimate, a person will be heterozygous at 30,000 X 0.067 = 2010 loci. Such an individual can theoretically produce 2²⁰¹⁰ ≈ 10⁶⁰⁵ different kinds of gametes [reproductive cells]."

c) Book: Human Reproductive Biology. By Richard E. Jones & Kristen H. Lopez. Third edition. Academic Press, 2006. Page 46 states that women living in developed countries experience about 450 ovulation cycles in a lifetime.

CALCULATION: 10⁶⁰⁵ possible genetically unique reproductive cells per woman / 450 ovulation cycles = 2.2X10⁶⁰². This figure only accounts for the genetic variation of the female. Therefore, the odds against a woman conceiving the same preborn human twice (with or without the same mate) are actually much higher than this.

[40] Determined with data from the following sources:

a) Textbook: Foundations of Modern Cosmology. By John F. Hawley & Katherine A. Holcomb. Oxford University Press, 1998. Page 454: "There are perhaps 10⁸⁰ baryons in our visible universe, and about 10⁹ photons per baryon."

b) Book: The Inflationary Universe. By Alan Guth. Helix Books, 1997. Page 108: "Since we believe that the observed universe has a baryon number of 10⁷⁸, the conservation of baryon number would imply that it always had a baryon number of 10⁷⁸."

c) Book: Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained By Its Most Brilliant Teacher. Addison-Wesley, 1995. This book is comprised of six chapters taken from the book Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman. Page 85: "There are a number of strange particles, a neutron and a proton are examples, which are called baryons."

d) Article: "Atom." World Book Encyclopedia, 2007 Deluxe Edition. "Tiny as atoms are, they consist of even more minute particles. The three basic types are protons, neutrons, and electrons. Each atom has a definite number of these subatomic particles."

NOTE: As shown above, all atoms contain at least one baryon, and thus 10⁸⁰ represents a rough maximum for the number of atoms in the visible universe.

[41] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition.

Page 35 states that in the third week, "the brain has two lobes," and "the early spinal cord is bordered by the future vertebrae and muscle segments." A picture shows the brain lobes and spinal cord.

[42] Book: Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Medicine and Surgery. Churchill Livingstone, 1995.

Page 329 states that at 19-21 days, "The cranial half of the groove, representing developing brain, begins to develop cephalic flexure, optic primordia become visible...."

[43] College textbook: Biology: Investigating Life on Earth. By Vernon L. Avila. Second edition. Jones and Bartlett, 1995.

Page 693: "First, the embryo has its own circulatory system, complete with a heart that started beating only 24 days after conception...."

[44] Book: Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Medicine and Surgery. Churchill Livingstone, 1995.

Page 329 states that at 21-27 days, "primary cerebral vesicles appear. … Rudimentary limb buds appear and the heart tubes fuse into a common loop in which contractile activity commences. The primordia of the thyroid gland, lungs, liver, pancreas, and mesonephric tubules are all identifiable."

[45] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition. Pages 52-53:

"In the sixth and seventh weeks, nerves and muscles work together for the first time. If the area of the lips, the first to become sensitive to touch, is gently stroked, the baby, who then is still an embryo, responds by bending the upper body to one side and making a quick backward motion with the arms. This is called a "total pattern" response because it involves most of the body rather than the approximate local part."

NOTE: The details above are documented by photos. Page 52 notes, "All of the photographs in this book that show the movement of the baby are taken from" films made by Davenport Hooker at the University of Pittsburgh.

[46] Book: Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Medicine and Surgery. Churchill Livingstone, 1995.

Page 329 states that in the 6th and 7th weeks, "The pontine flexure, cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum are developing."

[47] Seven weeks after fertilization. Intrauterine picture taken under the direction of Professor Andrzej Skawina of Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Antoni Marsinek of the Czerwiakowski Gynecological and Obstetrics Hospital (Krakow, Poland); Photographers: Andrzej Zachwieja and Jan Walczewski. Copyright: Life Issues.

NOTE: A number of different photographers have published intrauterine photos. I asked several such individuals if I could reproduce their pictures, and Life Issues was the only one that gave permission. The pictures from Life Issues look similar to those taken by the other photographers.

[48] Book: Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Medicine and Surgery. Churchill Livingstone, 1995.

Page 95: "When mammalian embryos reach a certain size, growth rather than morphogenesis occurs. The embryo is referred to as a fetus; this occurs at 56-57 postovulatory days in humans when the onset of bone marrow formation in the humerus can be seen (Streeter 1949); at this stage more than 90% of the named structures of the adult body have appeared."

[49] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition.

Page 48: "The appearance of the first bone cells marks the end of the embryonic period. This criterion was chosen by embryologists because the beginning bone formation coincides with the essential completion of the body."

[50] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition.

Pages 52-53: "By the beginning of this third month the baby moves spontaneously, without being touched, for the first time."

[51] Article: "Fetus." By Frank D. Allan in the Encyclopedia of Human Biology. Academic Press, 1997. Volume 3.

Page 955 states that in the tenth week, "Division of the heart into chambers is complete, and a definitive vascular system carries blood to and from all parts of the body. … All components of the brain and spinal cord are formed, and nerves link the stem of the brain and the spinal cord to all tissues and organs of the body."

[52] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition.

Pages 53-54: "In the ninth and tenth weeks, if the baby's forehead is touched, he may turn his head away and pucker up his brow and frown. … [T]he entire body becomes sensitive to touch with a notable exception: the sides, back and top of the head."

[53] Eleven weeks after fertilization. Intrauterine picture taken under the direction of Professor Andrzej Skawina of Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Antoni Marsinek of the Czerwiakowski Gynecological and Obstetrics Hospital (Krakow, Poland); Photographers: Andrzej Zachwieja and Jan Walczewski. Copyright: Life Issues.

NOTE: A number of different photographers have published intrauterine photos. I asked several such individuals if I could reproduce their pictures, and Life Issues was the only one that gave permission. The pictures from Life Issues look similar to those taken by the other photographers.

[54] Article: "Fetus." By Frank D. Allan in the Encyclopedia of Human Biology. Academic Press, 1997. Volume 3.

Page 962 states that in the third month, "Electrical activity of the nervous system is discernible.... Attempts to suckle have been seen in utero and in aborted fetuses of 3 months."

[55] Textbook: Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications. By Ricki Lewis. Third edition. McGraw Hill, 1998.

Page 56: "By week 12, the fetus sucks its thumb, kicks, makes fists and faces, and has the beginnings of baby teeth."

[56] Ultrasound taken on November 25, 1997. Gestational age (GA) is 14 weeks and 4 days counted from the LMP. This falls under the category of 15 weeks after LMP and 13 weeks after fertilization.

[57] Textbook: Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. By Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud. W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. Fifth edition.

Page 106: "Limb movements, which occur at the end of the embryonic period (8 weeks), become coordinated by the 14th week, but are too slight to be felt by the mother."

[58] Book: Embryology: Board Review Series. By Ronald W. Dudek & James D. Fix. Second edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1998.

Page 246 states that in weeks 13-16, "Eye movements begin."

[59] Sixteen weeks after fertilization. Intrauterine picture taken under the direction of Professor Andrzej Skawina of Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Antoni Marsinek of the Czerwiakowski Gynecological and Obstetrics Hospital (Krakow, Poland); Photographers: Andrzej Zachwieja and Jan Walczewski. Copyright: Life Issues.

NOTE: A number of different photographers have published intrauterine photos. I asked several such individuals if I could reproduce their pictures, and Life Issues was the only one that gave permission. The pictures from Life Issues look similar to those taken by the other photographers.

[60] Paper: "Pain and its Effects in the Human Neonate and Fetus." By K.J.S. Anand & P.R. Hickey. New England Journal of Medicine, November 19, 1987.

Page 1322 states that "by 20 weeks each cortex has a full complement of 109 neurons."

NOTE: This article uses the obstetric method of counting from the last menstrual period as evidenced by the chart on page 1322, which uses a gestation of 40 weeks for pregnancy. Two weeks must be subtracted to provide the actual time since fertilization.

[61] Article: "Brain." New Millennium Encyclopedia. Simon and Shuster, 1999.

"The cerebrum is the largest part of the human brain, making up approximately 85 percent of the brain's weight; its large surface area (cortex) and intricate development account for the superior intelligence of humans, compared with other animals. … A large part of the human cortex, the frontal area, is used for awareness, intelligence, and memory."

[62] Ultrasound taken on December 24, 1997. Gestational age (GA) is 19 weeks and 4 days counted from the last menstrual period. This falls under the category of 20 weeks after LMP and 18 weeks after fertilization.

[63] Article: "Fetus." American Medical Association Complete Medical Encyclopedia. Edited by Jerrold B. Leikin & Martin S. Lipsky. Random House, 2003.

Page 558: "At 20 weeks, the fetus … now sleeps and wakes and hears sounds."

[64] Twenty weeks after fertilization. Intrauterine picture taken under the direction of Professor Andrzej Skawina of Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Antoni Marsinek of the Czerwiakowski Gynecological and Obstetrics Hospital (Krakow, Poland); Photographers: Andrzej Zachwieja and Jan Walczewski. Copyright: Life Issues.

NOTE: A number of different photographers have published intrauterine photos. I asked several such individuals if I could reproduce their pictures, and Life Issues was the only one that gave permission. The pictures from Life Issues look similar to those taken by the other photographers.

[65] Ultrasound taken on May 31, 1999. Gestational age (GA) is 21 weeks and 5 days counted from the last menstrual period. This falls under the category of 22 weeks after LMP and 20 weeks after fertilization.

[66] Book: Embryology: Board Review Series. By Ronald W. Dudek & James D. Fix. Second edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1998.

Page 247 states that in weeks 21-24: "Blink-startle reflex is demonstrable on vibroacoustic stimulation of mother's abdomen."

[67] Entry: "Fetus." Encyclopedia of Human Biology. Academic Press, 1997. Volume 3. By Frank D. Allan.

Page 962: "Taste buds are functional at 6 months, and the modality for sweetness is well differentiated. Increased "drinking" of the amniotic fluid is effected when sweet substances are introduced."

[68] Book: The First Nine Months of Life. By Geraldine Lux Flanagan. Simon & Shuster, 1962. Second edition.

Page 71: "In the fifth and sixth months the grip becomes strong. This baby is holding a rod and moves his arm up and down as the rod is moved."

NOTE: The statement above is documented with a photo.

Page 52: "All of the photographs in this book that show the movement of the baby are taken from" films made by Davenport Hooker at the University of Pittsburgh.

[69] Paper: "Very Low Birth Weight Outcomes of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network, January 1995 Through December 1996." By James A. Lemons et al., including Avroy A. Fanaroff. Pediatrics, January 2001. http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/107/1/e1

NOTE: Figure 3 is a bar graph of "Mortality before discharge by gestational age as estimated by best obstetrical estimate...." The term "obstetrical estimate" implies that the weeks are counted from LMP. To confirm, I wrote Dr. Fanaroff, and he replied: "We do not try to get to the issue of day of conception hence when we refer to gestational age we are always going back to the Last Menstrual Period." The graph indicates that the mortality rate at a gestational age (LMP) of 26 weeks is less than 20%. Hence, the survival rate at 24 weeks after fertilization is more than 80%.

[70] Paper: "Fetal homologue of infant crying." By J L Gingras and others. Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition, April 27, 2005. Pages F415-F418. http://adc.bmj.com/

Page F415: "[I]n a stable state (quiet or active sleep), the fetus was challenged with … [vibroacoustic stimulation]. [This] … was provided by an artificial larynx (model 5c; Western Electric) that emits fundamental tones of about 100 Hz and 95 dB and was mechanically altered to provide exactly 0.5 second of stimulation. … The physiological intrauterine noise intensity has been reported to be about 85 dB.5"

Page F418: "The behaviors were seen in all gestational ages studied, indicating that the behavior occurs as early as 28 weeks gestation, and possibly earlier."

[71] Advisory: "Hearing Conservation Program." University Health Services, University of Cincinnati, Revised June 11, 1999. http://ehs.uc.edu/Advisories/Advisory_33_0.PDF

Noise Source	Decibels
Lawn mower, food blender	90

[72] Paper: "Pain and its Effects in the Human Neonate and Fetus." By K.J.S. Anand & P.R. Hickey. New England Journal of Medicine, November 19, 1987. Page 1325:

Most recently the motor responses of 124 healthy full-term neonates to a pinprick in the leg were reported to be flexion and adduction of the upper and lower limbs associated with grimacing, crying, or both, and these responses were subsequently quantified. Similar responses have also been documented in very premature neonates, and in a recent study, Fitzgerald et al. found that premature neonates (<30 weeks) not only had lower thresholds for a flexor response but also had increased sensitization after repeated stimulation.

Page 1325: "In other studies of the cry response to painful procedures, neonates were found to be more sensitive to pain than older infants (those 3 to 12 months old)...."

NOTE: This article uses the obstetric method of counting from the last menstrual period, as evidenced by the chart on page 1322, which uses a gestation of 40 weeks for pregnancy. Two weeks must be subtracted to provide the actual time since fertilization.

[73] Paper: "Symptom Management: Acute Pain, Chapter 3 - Pain in Preverbal Children." United States National Institutes of Health, Publication Number 94-2421. June 1994. http://www.nih.gov/

Page 2 cites one possible reason why younger humans are more sensitive to pain: "Serotonin (5HT) is a biogenic amine transmitter that serves an important role in pain modulation. … Serotonin levels in the young infants are low and may limit the effectiveness of the endogenous pain control mechanisms (Fitzgerald 1991b)."

[74] Paper: "Very Low Birth Weight Outcomes of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network, January 1995 Through December 1996." By James A. Lemons et al., including Avroy A. Fanaroff. Pediatrics, January 2001. http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/107/1/e1

NOTE: Figure 3 is a bar graph of "Mortality before discharge by gestational age as estimated by best obstetrical estimate...." The term "obstetrical estimate" implies that the weeks are counted from LMP. To confirm, I wrote Dr. Fanaroff, and he replied: "We do not try to get to the issue of day of conception hence when we refer to gestational age we are always going back to the Last Menstrual Period." The graph indicates that the mortality rate at a gestational age (LMP) of 30 weeks is a little less than 5%. Hence, the survival rate at 28 weeks after fertilization is more than 95%.

[75] Textbook: Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. By Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud. W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. Fifth edition.

Page 109: "The expected date of delivery (EDD) of a fetus is 266 days, or 38 weeks, after fertilization; that is, 280 days, or 40 weeks, after LNMP (Table 7-1)."

[76] Entry: "neonate." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 29th edition. W. B. Saunders Company, 2000. Page 1184: "a newborn infant."

[77] 2008 Democratic Party Platform: "Renewing America's Promise." Democratic National Committee, August 25, 2008. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=78283

The section entitled "Choice" states:

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

The Democratic Party also strongly supports access to comprehensive affordable family planning services and age-appropriate sex education which empower people to make informed choices and live healthy lives. We also recognize that such health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.

The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.

[78] 2008 Republican Platform. Republican National Convention, August 26, 2008. http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf

[79] Search performed on May 27, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Bill texts from the 101st to 110th Congresses searched for "amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life." Sample result:

H. J. RES. 23

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 4, 1995

Mr. VOLKMER [Harold L. Volkmer (Democrat – Missouri)] introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

Article—

SECTION 1. With respect to the right to life, the word `person' as used in this article and in the fifth and fourteenth articles of amendment to the Constitution of the United States applies to all human beings irrespective of age, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every state of their biological development.

SECTION 2. No unborn person shall be deprived of life by any person: Provided, however, That nothing in this article shall prohibit a law permitting only those medical procedures required to prevent the death of the mother.

SECTION 3. The Congress and the several States shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

SECTION 4. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, within ten years of the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

[80] Search performed on May 27, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Bill texts from the 101st to 110th Congresses searched for "amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life." Sample result:

H. J. RES. 9

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 7, 2003

Mrs. EMERSON [Jo Ann Emerson (Republican -Missouri)] introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid only when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of final passage of this joint resolution:

Article—

SECTION 1. With respect to the right to life, the word `person' as used in this article and in the fifth and fourteenth articles of amendment applies to all human beings irrespective of age, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every state of their biological development.

SECTION 2. No unborn person shall be deprived of life by any person: Provided, however, That nothing in this article shall prohibit a law permitting only those medical procedures required to prevent the death of the mother of an unborn person: Provided further, That nothing in this article shall limit the liberty of a mother with respect to the unborn offspring of the mother conceived as a result of rape or incest.

SECTION 3. The Congress and the several States shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

[81] "Statement by Carol Tobias. National Right to Life President, National Press Club." National Right to Life Political Action Committee, April 12, 2012. http://nrlc.org/press_releases_new/041212StatementCarolTobias.pdf

National Right to Life is proud and honored to endorse Governor Mitt Romney for President of the United States.

On pro-life issues, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama provide a stark contrast. As the country's most pro-abortion president, Barack Obama has pursued a radical pro-abortion agenda. It is now time for pro-life Americans to unite behind Mitt Romney. For the sake of unborn children, the disabled, and the elderly, we must win.

Let's review President Obama's abysmal record on life. …

[82] Press release: "NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC Endorses President Obama For Re-election." NARAL Pro-Choice America, May 15, 2012. http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/...

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, released the following statement today, announcing that her organization's political action committee has endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election. …

NARAL Pro-Choice America is committed to the re-election of President Obama because a Mitt Romney victory in November would be disastrous for women. Romney's attacks on women's health include vetoing legislation as Governor of Massachusetts that would ensure timely access to emergency contraception for survivors of rape and vowing to defund family health centers. Romney has even said he thinks Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act should be overturned—two of the most critical advances in women's health in generations.

[83] Transcript of "Democratic Candidates Compassion Forum at Messiah College." CNN, April 13, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0YxdV3J4Jw

Moderator: "Senator, do you personally believe that life begins at conception, and if not, when does it begin?"

Obama: "You know, I, I, um – this is something that I have not, ah, I think come to a firm resolution on. Ah, I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when, ah, the soul stirs? Ah, so I don't presume to, to know the answer to that question. Ah, what I know, ah, as I've said before, is, is that, ah, there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that, ah, that has a moral weight to it that, ah, we take into consideration when we're having these debates. …"

[84] Article: "Barack Obama, John McCain discuss faith, issues at Saddleback Church forum." By Maeve Reston and Seema Mehta. Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2008. http://www.latimes.com/...

[85] "Obama Statement on 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Decision." January 22, 2008. http://www.barackobama.com/...

Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it's never been more important to protect a woman's right to choose. Last year, the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, and in doing so undermined an important principle of Roe v. Wade: that we must always protect women's health. With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a women's fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade. The next president may be asked to nominate that Supreme Court justice. That is what is at stake in this election. …

This anniversary reminds us that it's not enough to protect the gains of the past – we have to build a future that's filled with hope and possibility for all Americans.

[86] Speech: "Barack Obama before Planned Parenthood Action Fund." July 17, 2007. Transcribed by Laura Echevarria. http://lauraetch.googlepages.com/...

"I have worked on these issues for decades now. I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional Law. … On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."

[87] Press Release: "On Anniversary Of Roe, Clinton Announces Agenda For Reproductive Health Care. Hillary for President, January 22, 2008. http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5404

"When I'm President, I will appoint judges to our courts who understand that Roe v. Wade isn't just binding legal precedent, it is the touchstone of our reproductive freedom, the embodiment of our most fundamental rights, and no one - no judge, no governor, no Senator, no President - has the right to take it away."

[88] Article: "Q&A: Barack Obama." Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen. Christianity Today, January 23, 2008. http://www.christianitytoday.com/...

Ultimately, women are in the best position to make a decision at the end of the day about these issues. With significant constraints. For example, I think we can legitimately say — the state can legitimately say — that we are prohibiting late-term abortions as long as there's an exception for the mother's health. Those provisions that I voted against typically didn't have those exceptions, which raises profound questions where you might have a mother at great risk.

[89] "Interview with Barack Obama." By Cameron Strang. Conducted on July 1, 2008. Relevant Magazine. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life_article.php?id=7591

[90] Blog: "Obama revisits abortion." By Jan Crawford Greenburg. ABC News, July 05, 2008. http://blogs.abcnews.com/legalities/2008/07/obama-revisits.html

[91] Ruling: Roe v. Wade. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 113. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Burger, Brennan, Douglas, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas, Stewart. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section XI:

For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.

Section VIII:

Specific and direct harm medically diagnosable even in early pregnancy may be involved. Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and her responsible physician necessarily will consider in consultation.

Section XI:

In Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, procedural requirements contained in one of the modern abortion statutes are considered. That opinion and this one, of course, are to be read together.

[92] Ruling: Doe v. Bolton. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 179. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section IV:

C. … the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. …

D. The appellants next argue that the District Court should have declared unconstitutional three procedural demands of the Georgia statute: … (2) that the procedure be approved by the hospital staff abortion committee; and (3) that the performing physician's judgment be confirmed by the independent examinations of the patient by two other licensed physicians. …

We conclude that the interposition of the hospital abortion committee is unduly restrictive of the patient's rights and needs that, at this point, have already been medically delineated and substantiated by her personal physician. …

There remains, however, the required confirmation by two Georgia-licensed physicians in addition to the recommendation of the pregnant woman's own consultant (making under the statute, a total of six physicians involved, including the three on the hospital's abortion committee). We conclude that this provision, too, must fall.

The statute's emphasis, as has been repetitively noted, is on the attending physician's "best clinical judgment that an abortion is necessary." That should be sufficient. The reasons for the presence of the confirmation step in the statute are perhaps apparent, but they are insufficient to withstand constitutional challenge. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment.

[93] Article: "Obama Abortion Dodges Blessed by Planned Parenthood." By Teddy Davis. ABC News, July 17, 2007. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/obama-abortion-.html

"Speaking to ABC News as Obama was preparing to … [address] Planned Parenthood's national conference in Washington, D.C...."

[94] Speech: "Barack Obama before Planned Parenthood Action Fund." July 17, 2007. Transcribed by Laura Echevarria. http://lauraetch.googlepages.com/...

[95] Speech: "Barack Obama before Planned Parenthood Action Fund." July 17, 2007. Transcribed by Laura Echevarria. http://lauraetch.googlepages.com/...

[96] Bill S.1173: "Freedom of Choice Act." Introduced in the United States Senate, April 19, 2007. http://thomas.loc.gov/

"To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes."

NOTE: Introduced by Barbara Boxer (D-California) for herself, Patty Murray (D-Washington), Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Diane Feinstein (D-California), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), Max Baucus (D-Montana), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington).

[97] Congressional Record S6017. United States Senate, May 11, 2007. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

"At the request of Mrs. BOXER, the name of the Senator from Illinois (Mr. OBAMA) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1173, a bill to protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes."

[98] Bill S.1173: "Freedom of Choice Act." Introduced in the United States Senate, April 19, 2007. http://thomas.loc.gov/

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED. …

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not-

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose—

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information. …

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.

[99] House Resolution 1964 IH: "Freedom of Choice Act." Introduced in U.S. House of Representatives, April 19, 2007. http://thomas.loc.gov/

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. …

(9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme Court recently upheld the first-ever Federal ban on abortion, which has no exception to protect a woman's health. The majority decision in Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America permits the government to interfere with a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy and effectively overturns a core tenet of Roe v. Wade by abandoning more than 30 years of protection for women's health. …

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not—

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose—

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information. …

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.

NOTE: Introduced by Jerrold Nadler (New York), 56 other Democrats, and one Republican who has since withdrawn his sponsorship.

[100] Web page: "Cosponsors: H.R. 1964 - Freedom of Choice Act (House of Representatives)." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed June 28, 2012 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

NOTE: The bill was sponsored by Jerrold Nadler and originally gained 109 cosponsors, but one of these (Republican Jon C. Porter of Nevada) withdrew 4 days later. The party of each sponsor is identified in the next note. The only Republican among them is Christopher Shays of Connecticut.

[101] Web page: "H.R. 1964: Freedom of Choice Act." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed June 28, 2012 at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1964

[102] Web page: "Bill Summary & Status, All Congressional Actions, S.1173: Freedom of Choice Act." Library of Congress. Accessed June 28, 2012 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

"ALL ACTIONS: 4/19/2007: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 5/4/2007: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties."

[103] Web page: "Cosponsors: S.1173: Freedom of Choice Act (Senate)." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed June 28, 2012 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara (CA) …

Cosponsors (19) … Max Baucus, Max (MT), Jeff Bingaman (NM), Sherrod Brown (OH), Maria Cantwell (WA), Benjamin Cardin (MD), Hillary Clinton (NY), Diane Feinstein (CA), John Kerry (MA), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Joseph Lieberman (CT), Robert Menendez (NJ), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Patty Murray (WA), Barack Obama (IL), Bernie Sanders (VT), Charles Schumer (NY), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Jon Tester (MT), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI).

[104] Web page: "Bill Summary & Status, All Congressional Actions, S.1173: Freedom of Choice Act." Library of Congress. Accessed June 28, 2012 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

"ALL ACTIONS: 4/19/2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary."

[105] Article: "THE 1994 CAMPAIGN; Excerpt From Debate By Kennedy And Romney." New York Times, October 26, 1994. http://www.nytimes.com/...

[106] Article: "Romney enters Massachusetts gubernatorial race." Associated Press, March 19, 2002. http://www.boston.com/news/daily/19/romney_race.htm

"On a personal basis, I don't favor abortion," he said. "However, as governor of the commonwealth, I will protect the right of a woman to choose under the laws of the country and the laws of the commonwealth."

[107] Article: "Romney vetoes law on pill, takes aim at Roe v. Wade." By Scott S. Greenberger. Boston Globe, July 26, 2005. http://www.boston.com/...

Romney outlines his abortion position in an opinion article today in The Boston Globe, a day after he vetoed a bill that would expand access to the so-called "morning after" pill, a high dose of hormones that women can take to prevent pregnancy up to five days after sex. …

The bill that Romney vetoed would allow trained pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill without a prescription and would require hospitals to offer it to rape victims. It almost certainly will become law despite Romney's rejection; both the House and Senate approved it by veto-proof margins, and legislative leaders said they plan to override his veto.

[108] Commentary: "Why I vetoed contraception bill." By Mitt Romney. Boston Globe, July 26, 2005. http://www.boston.com/...

"I have spoken with medical professionals to determine whether the drug contemplated under the bill would simply prevent conception or whether it would also terminate a living embryo after conception. Once it became clear that the latter was the case, my decision was straightforward."

[109] "Mitt Romney: The Complete Interview." ABC News, Feb. 18, 2007. http://abcnews.go.com/...

[110] Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified July 9, 1868. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#AmendmentX

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

NOTE: For information about the Fourteenth Amendment and its purposes, listen to "Constricting the Bill of Rights" on Just Facts Radio.

[111] Commentary: "My Pro-Life Pledge." By Mitt Romney. National Review, June 18, 2011. http://www.nationalreview.com/...

[112] Constitution of the United States. Signed September 17, 1787. Enacted June 21, 1788. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp

Article 2, Clause 2, Section 2: "[The President] with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court...."

[113] Report: "Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate." By Richard S. Beth & Stanley Bach. Congressional Research Service, Updated March 28, 2003. http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30360.pdf

Summary (page 2 in pdf):

The filibuster is widely viewed as one of the Senate's most characteristic procedural features. Filibustering includes any use of dilatory or obstructive tactics to block a measure by preventing it from coming to a vote. The possibility of filibusters exists because Senate rules place few limits on Senators' rights and opportunities in the legislative process. …

Senate Rule XXII, however, known as the "cloture rule," enables Senators to end a filibuster on any debatable matter the Senate is considering. Sixteen Senators initiate this process by presenting a motion to end the debate. The Senate does not vote on this cloture motion until the second day after the motion is made. Then it usually requires the votes of at least three-fifths of all Senators (normally 60 votes) to invoke cloture. Invoking cloture on a proposal to amend the Senate's standing rules requires the support of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting.

Page CRS-10:

Invoking cloture usually requires a three-fifths vote of the entire Senate—"three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn." If there are no vacancies, therefore, 60 Senators must vote to invoke cloture. In contrast, most other votes require only a simple majority (that is, 51%) of the Senators present and voting, assuming that those Senators constitute a quorum. In the case of a cloture vote, the key is the number of Senators voting for cloture, not the number voting against. Failing to vote on a cloture motion has the same effect as voting against the motion: it deprives the motion of one of the 60 votes needed to agree to it.

There is an important exception to the three-fifths requirement to invoke cloture. Under Rule XXII, an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting is required to invoke cloture on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules. This exception has its origin in the recent history of the cloture rule. Before 1975, two-thirds of the Senators present and voting (a quorum being present) was required for cloture on all matters. In early 1975, at the beginning of the 94th Congress, Senators sought to amend the rule to make it somewhat easier to invoke cloture. However, some Senators feared that if this effort succeeded, that would only make it easier to amend the rule again, making cloture still easier to invoke. As a compromise, the Senate agreed to move from a maximum of 67 votes (two-thirds of the Senators present and voting) to a minimum of 60 votes (three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn) on all matters except future rules changes, including changes in the cloture rule itself.¹¹

[114] "Standing Rules of the Senate: Rule XXII: Precedence Of Motions." Accessed June 20, 2008. http://rules.senate.gov/senaterules/rule22.php

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:

"Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?" And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn -- except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting -- then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.

Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the same, and it shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be proposed after the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless it had been submitted in writing to the Journal Clerk by 1 o'clock p.m. on the day following the filing of the cloture motion if an amendment in the first degree, and unless it had been so submitted at least one hour prior to the beginning of the cloture vote if an amendment in the second degree. No dilatory motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment not germane shall be in order. Points of order, including questions of relevancy, and appeals from the decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate.

After no more than thirty hours of consideration of the measure, motion, or other matter on which cloture has been invoked, the Senate shall proceed, without any further debate on any question, to vote on the final disposition thereof to the exclusion of all amendments not then actually pending before the Senate at that time and to the exclusion of all motions, except a motion to table, or to reconsider and one quorum call on demand to establish the presence of a quorum (and motions required to establish a quorum) immediately before the final vote begins. The thirty hours may be increased by the adoption of a motion, decided without debate, by a three-fifths affirmative vote of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, and any such time thus agreed upon shall be equally divided between and controlled by the Majority and Minority Leaders or their designees. However, only one motion to extend time, specified above, may be made in any one calendar day.

[115] Constitution of the United States. Signed September 17, 1787. Enacted June 21, 1788. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp

Article III, Section 1: "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour...."

Article II, Section 4: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article I, Section 2, Clause 5: "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."

Article I, Section 3, Clause 6: "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. … And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present."

[116] Article: "Howard Dean's Abortion Contortions." By John McCormack. Weekly Standard, June 12, 2008. http://www.weeklystandard.com/...

NOTE: This article provided the roadmap to the related facts detailed in the footnote below.

[117] Article: "Rights Without Access: Revisiting Public Funding of Abortion for Poor Women." By Heather Boonstra and Adam Sonfield. Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, April 2000. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/03/2/gr030208.html

A 1994-1995 AGI [Alan Guttmacher Institute] survey of abortion patients found that in states where Medicaid pays for abortions, women covered by Medicaid have an abortion rate 3.9 times that of women who are not covered, while in states that do not permit Medicaid funding for abortions, Medicaid recipients are only 1.6 times as likely as nonrecipients to have abortions. In explaining this finding, the researchers state that while other factors also may be at play, "the magnitude of the difference indicates that Medicaid coverage of abortion has an important effect on the ability of poor women to end unwanted pregnancies." Meanwhile, a study published by the Journal of Health Economics in 1999 considered the effects of interruptions in abortion funding in North Carolina (which paid for abortion until 1995). In five instances between 1978 and 1993, the state's abortion fund was depleted before the end of the fiscal year. During those times when funding was not available, the researchers found, more than one in three women (37%) who would have obtained an abortion if the state had paid for it instead carried the pregnancy to term.

[118] Web page: "Public Funding for Abortion." ACLU, July 21, 2004. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.aclu.org/...

[119] Web page: "Oppose Taxpayer Subsidies for Religious Schools." ACLU, March 19, 2003. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.aclu.org/religion/vouchers/16160res20030319.html

[120] Web page: "Five Ways to Prevent Abortion (And One Way That Won't)." Planned Parenthood, January 1, 2004. Updated 9/22/06. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

[121] Fact Sheet: "Abortion after the First Trimester." Planned Parenthood. Accessed October 2002 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

"Presently the death rate from abortion at all stages of gestation is 0.6 per 100,000 procedures (Paul et al., 1999)."

NOTE: "Paul et al., 1999" is a secondary source that cites the CDC. See next note.

[122] Book: A Clinician's Guide to Medical and Surgical Abortion. By Maureen Paul & others. Churchill Livingstone, 1999. Page 19:

"In the United States mortality [from abortion] was (per 100,000) 2.6 during the period 1972-1976, 0.9 in 1977-1981, 0.7 in 1982-1986, and 0.6 in 1987-1991 (based on deaths reported by the CDC and number of abortions from AGI)."

NOTE: This corresponds to the figure for subsequent years quoted in the next footnote.

[123] Document: "Abortion Surveillance Fact Sheet." National Center for Chronic

Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control. Updated June 7, 2002. http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs020606b.htm

"The case-fatality rate for known legal induced abortion for 1993 to 1997 was 0.6 deaths per 100,000 legal abortions."

[124] Report: "Abortion Surveillance -- United States, 1996." By Lisa M. Koonin and others. Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control, July 30, 1999. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss4804a1.htm

Table 19.

NOTE: The data in this source and the sources cited in the next note come from different divisions of the CDC and are at variance with one another due to methodological dissimilarities. It was necessary to use data from both divisions because the data from this source only goes back to 1972, and the sources in the next note do not isolate legal vs. illegal abortion-related deaths.

[125] Constructed with data from the following sources:

a) Report: "Table 290F. Deaths For Approximately 64 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1950-59." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx1950_59.pdf

Page 169 (in pdf).

b) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 60 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1960-67." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/dx196067.pdf

Page 169 (in pdf).

c) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 69 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1968-78." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx196878.pdf

Page 358 (in pdf).

d) Report: "Resident population by age, color, and sex: United States, 1950-1959." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. Mailed to Just Facts from the aforementioned agency, August 7, 2008.

e) Report: "Population by age groups, race, and sex for 1960-97." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/pop6097.pdf

Pages 19, 21 (in pdf).

[126] Report: "Maternal Mortality Surveillance, United States, 1980-1985." By Lisa M. Koonin & others. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 1, 1988. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001754.htm

Finally, the coding system used by national vital statistics and states to describe maternal deaths includes a combination of outcomes of pregnancy (e.g. ectopic pregnancy, abortion), immediate causes of death (e.g., hemorrhage), and underlying obstetrical conditions that contribute to death (e.g., obstructed labor). This system of classification precludes a determination of the real causes of maternal death. To develop strategies to prevent maternal deaths, public health personnel need to know the immediate cause of death as well as the underlying conditions that led to death.

[127] Constructed with data from the following sources:

a) Report: "Table 290F. Deaths For Approximately 64 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1950-59." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx1950_59.pdf

Page 167 (in pdf).

b) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 60 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1960-67." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/dx196067.pdf

Page 167 (in pdf).

c) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 69 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1968-78." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx196878.pdf

Page 363 (in pdf).

d) Report: "Resident population by age, color, and sex: United States, 1950-1959." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mailed to Just Facts from the aforementioned agency, August 7, 2008.

e) Report: "Population by age groups, race, and sex for 1960-97." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/pop6097.pdf

Pages 19, 21 (in pdf).

[128] Report: "Maternal Mortality Surveillance, United States, 1980-1985." By Lisa M. Koonin & others. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 1, 1988. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001754.htm

"Death certificates alone may not provide adequate information on the sequence of events that led to death. Ultimately a single code is assigned to classify the underlying cause of death. Often, however, several factors may contribute to a death; therefore, the death cannot be adequately described with a unidimensional code."

[129] Constructed with data from the following sources:

a) Report: "Table 290F. Deaths For Approximately 64 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1950-59." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx1950_59.pdf

Pages 1, 43, 199, 208 (in pdf).

b) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 60 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1960-67." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/dx196067.pdf

Pages 1, 40, 200, 210 (in pdf).

c) Report: "Table 290A. Deaths For 69 Selected Causes, By 10-Year Age Groups, Race, And Sex: United States, 1968-78." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/dx196878.pdf

Pages 2, 73, 406, 422 (in pdf).

d) Report: "Resident population by age, color, and sex: United States, 1950-1959." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mailed to Just Facts from the aforementioned agency, August 7, 2008.

e) Report: "Population by age groups, race, and sex for 1960-97." National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/pop6097.pdf

Pages 19, 21 (in pdf).

[130] "Fact Sheet: Abortion After the First Trimester in the United States." Lead author: John Mugge. Revised by Deborah Golub. Planned Parenthood, 2004. Current as of May 2007. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

Page 3:

The risk of death from medication abortion through 63 days' gestation is about one per 100,000 procedures (Grimes, 2005). The risk of death with surgical abortion is about one per 1,000,000 through 63 days' gestation (Bartlett et al., 2004). The risk of death from miscarriage is about one per 100,000 (Saraiya et al., 1999). But the risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with all abortion (Christiansen & Collins, 2006).

[131] "Pregnancy-Associated Deaths: A 15-Year Retrospective Study and Overall Review of Maternal Pathophysiology." By Lydia R. Christiansen & Kim A. Collins. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, March 2006. Pages 11-19. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16501342

Page 11:

Pregnancy-related death is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death. In the year 2000, a collaborative effort involving World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and UNFPA estimated 660 maternal deaths in the United States. This averages 11 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births reported.

Page 13: "The risk of death from complications of pregnancy decreased approximately 99% during the 20th century, from approximately 850 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1900 to 7.5 in 1982.⁴"

Page 18: "It is evident that homicides, suicides, and accidents account for a large proportion of pregnancy-related deaths."

NOTE: The figures from "Christiansen & Collins, 2006" cannot be used as a comparator for the others studies cited by Planned Parenthood in the note above (i.e., Grimes, Bartlett) because these studies are limited by gestational age and do not apply to "all abortion."

[132] Fact Sheet: "Abortion after the First Trimester." Planned Parenthood. Accessed October 2002 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org

"Presently the death rate from abortion at all stages of gestation is 0.6 per 100,000 procedures (Paul et al., 1999). The risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion (AGI, 1998)."

NOTE: "Paul et al., 1999" and "AGI, 1998" are secondary sources that cite the CDC. See the next two footnotes.

[133] Book: A Clinician's Guide to Medical and Surgical Abortion. By Maureen Paul & others. Churchill Livingstone, 1999. Page 19:

"In the United States mortality [from abortion] was (per 100,000) 2.6 during the period 1972-1976, 0.9 in 1977-1981, 0.7 in 1982-1986, and 0.6 in 1987-1991 (based on deaths reported by the CDC and number of abortions from AGI)."

[134] Web page: "Facts in Brief \Induced Abortion." Guttmacher Institute. Accessed October 2002 at http://www.agi-usa.org/

The risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion. …

The data in this fact sheet are the most current available. Most are from research conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and/or published in its peer-reviewed journals. An additional source is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NOTE: The url at which this source was previously located contains a newer version of this web page that does not make the claim that "risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion." [Web page: "Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States." Guttmacher Institute, July 2008. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html]

[135] Report: "Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths: From Identification and Review to Action." By Cynthia Berg and others. Division of Reproductive Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001. http://www.cdc.gov/...

Page 14:

Sources of pregnancy-related deaths are listed below in order of simplicity and convenience:

• Death certificate cause-of-death codes—the core source for finding cases.

• Manual review of death certificates.

• Pregnancy check boxes on death certificates.

• Computerized linkages of vital records.

• Other computerized data sources.

• Obstetricians, other clinicians, and groups.

• The news media.

• Autopsy and medical records.

[136] Correspondence: "Chang and Berg Respond To Horon." By Jeani Chang & Cynthia J. Berg. American Journal of Public Health, November 2005. Pages 1879-1880. http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/95/11/1879-a

"We have no choice but to rely on the methods used by each reporting area to determine whether a death (including a death because of homicide) is pregnancy-associated. As stated in our discussion, the cause of death on death certificates is the most common way of ascertaining pregnancy-associated deaths."

[137] Report: "Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths: From Identification and Review to Action." By Cynthia Berg and others. Division of Reproductive Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001. http://www.cdc.gov/...

Page 13:

Currently, no single source of information captures all pregnancy-related deaths, despite all deaths and essentially all live births in the United States being registered by Vital Statistics. Several reasons account for this failure:

• Lack of physician training in, or knowledge about, how to fill out a death certificate.

• ICD coding rules that make the cause-of-death code on a death certificate fall outside the range of conditions considered to be pregnancy-related (in ICD-9, those codes are 630–676; in ICD-10, chapter O).

• Reliance on death certificate data to estimate cause of death.

• Medical records that fail to indicate that the events leading to death began with pregnancy, especially if the death occurred during the postpartum period.

• Medical and autopsy records that cannot be located or are not available for review.

[138] Report: "Maternal Mortality Surveillance, United States, 1980-1985." By Lisa M. Koonin & others. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 1, 1988. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001754.htm

[139] Correspondence: "Chang and Berg Respond To Horon." By Jeani Chang & Cynthia J. Berg. American Journal of Public Health, November 2005. Pages 1879-1880. http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/95/11/1879-a

We have no choice but to rely on the methods used by each reporting area to determine whether a death (including a death because of homicide) is pregnancy-associated. As stated in our discussion, the cause of death on death certificates is the most common way of ascertaining pregnancy-associated deaths. Next is computerized linking of deaths among women of reproductive age with birth certificates and fetal death certificates; we believe this system is used in about half the reporting areas.

[140] Report: "Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths: From Identification and Review to Action." By Cynthia Berg and others. Division of Reproductive Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001. http://www.cdc.gov/...

Page 18:

Linking vital records

Death certificates for reproductive-aged women who die can be linked with certificates of reportable pregnancy outcomes (live births and fetal deaths) that occurred during the preceding year. Although many states require that induced abortions be reported, only one includes on its records identifying data that could be used to link those records with other computerized records. Linking data sets is being done in an increasing number of states, and published reports indicate that such links can increase case ascertainment by 36%† to 153% (Table 3, Box 3). However, linking vital records cannot ensure that all pregnancy-related deaths will be identified, since only about two-thirds to three-quarters of pregnancy-related deaths are associated with either a live birth or a fetal death. Excluded from linkages would be deaths associated with ectopic pregnancies, induced and some spontaneous abortions, gestational trophoblastic disease, and undelivered pregnancies.

NOTE: † This figure of 36% is in error. The figure should be 30%, as per Table 3 on page 19, which is the cited source (see below).

[141] Report: "Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths: From Identification and Review to Action." By Cynthia Berg and others. Division of Reproductive Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001. http://www.cdc.gov/...

Page 18:

Linking vital records

Death certificates for reproductive-aged women who die can be linked with certificates of reportable pregnancy outcomes (live births and fetal deaths) that occurred during the preceding year. Although many states require that induced abortions be reported, only one includes on its records identifying data that could be used to link those records with other computerized records.

[142] Report: "Maternal Mortality Surveillance, United States, 1980-1985." By Lisa M. Koonin & others. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 1, 1988. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001754.htm

Finally, the coding system used by national vital statistics and states to describe maternal deaths includes a combination of outcomes of pregnancy (e.g. ectopic pregnancy, abortion), immediate causes of death (e.g., hemorrhage), and underlying obstetrical conditions that contribute to death (e.g., obstructed labor). This system of classification precludes a determination of the real causes of maternal death. To develop strategies to prevent maternal deaths, public health personnel need to know the immediate cause of death as well as the underlying conditions that led to death.

[143] Report: "Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths: From Identification and Review to Action." By Cynthia Berg and others. Division of Reproductive Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001. http://www.cdc.gov/...

Page 25:

Maternal mortality review committees

In most cases, the state is the level at which pregnancy-related deaths are reviewed, although the process can occur in some very large cities and counties. The legislation that enables maternal mortality review and the review committee's place within the governmental organization vary widely from state to state.

[144] Web page: "CDC's Abortion Surveillance System: FAQs." Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control. Updated January 22, 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Data_Stats/Abortion.htm

Are states required to report their abortion statistics to CDC?

No, states and areas voluntarily report data to CDC for report preparation. CDC's Division of Reproductive Health prepares surveillance reports as data becomes available. There is no national requirement for data submission or reporting. …

Can I obtain a public use dataset for my own analysis?

No public use dataset is available. To obtain data for this surveillance system, CDC assures states and areas that we will maintain strict confidentiality of data provided to us.

[145] Phone call to the Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control, July 1, 2008. Just Facts requested a state-by-state breakdown of the data in Table 19 of "Abortion Surveillance --- United States, 2004," which shows abortion-related fatalities for 1972-2003. The CDC would not release this data on the grounds that it would violate their privacy agreements with certain states.

[146] Paper: "Physician and Public Opinions on Quality of Health Care and the Problem of Medical Errors." By Andrew R. Robinson and others. Archives of Internal Medicine, October 28, 2002. Pages 2186-2190. http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/162/19/2186

Page 2186: "Uniformly, physicians believed that fear of medical malpractice is a barrier to reporting of errors and that greater legal safeguards are necessary for a mandatory reporting system to be successful."

Page 2189, Table 4: "Medical malpractice litigation is a barrier to the reporting of medical errors."

NOTE: 98.4% of physicians in the national sample agreed with this statement.

[147] Report: "Vital Statistics of the United States, 1989. Volume II – Mortality, Part A." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1993. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/mort89_2a.pdf

Page 13 (in pdf):

SYMBOLS USED IN TABLES

Data not available               ---

Category not applicable      . . .

Quantity zero                      —

Page 262 (page 277 in pdf): "Table 1-25. Deaths From 282 Selected Causes, by Race — United States and Each State: 1989."

Cause of death	Maryland (all races)
Legally induced abortion	—

NOTE: Abortion-related mortality data provided by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics is at variance with that provided by CDC's Division of Reproductive Health due to methodological dissimilarities. The National Center for Health Statistics is only cited here because the Division of Reproductive Health does not break down their national data on a state-by states basis. In July 2008, Just Facts filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the CDC for this data and is awaiting a response.

[148] Report: "Vital Statistics of the United States, 1990. Volume II – Mortality, Part A." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/mort90_2a.pdf

Page 262 (page 278 in pdf): "Table 1-25. Deaths From 282 Selected Causes, by Race — United States and Each State: 1990.

Cause of death	Maryland (all races)
Legally induced abortion	—

[149] Report: "Vital Statistics of the United States, 1991. Volume II – Mortality, Part A." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1996. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/mort91_2a.pdf

Page 262 (page 278 in pdf): "Table 1-25. Deaths From 282 Selected Causes, by Race — United States and Each State: 1990."

Cause of death	Maryland (all races)
Legally induced abortion	—

[150] Report: "Vital Statistics of the United States, 1992. Volume II – Mortality, Part B." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1996. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/mort92_2b.pdf

Page 320 (Page 327 in pdf): Table 8-6: "Deaths From 72 Selected Causes, by 10-Year Age Groups, Race, and Sex."

Maryland, Cause of death: Pregnancy with abortive outcome	Female (total of all age groups)
White	—
All other	—
Black	—

[151] Autopsy number 89-593: "Erica Richardson." By Julia C. Goodin & others. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland, June 28, 1989. Autopsy performed on March 3, 1989.

Page 1: "DESCRIPTION OF INJURY … Close examination of the anterior portion of the uterus showed a large irregular perforation of the anterior lower uterine wall which extended into a portion of the cervix."

Page 5: "OPINION: This, 16 year old black female, ERICA RICHARDSON, died from rupture of lower uterus and cervix with complications, including hemorrhage into the pelvic cavity surrounding the uterus and air embolism (air escaping into the vasculature and heart). According to police reports, the deceased was known to have been pregnant and this is consistent with autopsy findings. However, she had undergone and evacuation [abortion] procedure which resulted in perforation of the uterus."

[152] Article: "Teen's death after abortion brings suit." By Larry Perl. Prince George's Journal Weekly, May 30-31, 1990.

The malpractice suit claims that on the evening of March 1, 1989, Dr. Gene Crawford punctured 16-year-old Erica Kae Richardson's uterus and cervix — then left her "bleeding to death" on an operating table in his Laurel office for four hours, without monitoring vital signs.

At 10:45 p.m., Crawford carried Richardson to her aunt's car and told the aunt to "take [her] home and out her to bed," the suit states. … The aunt, deciding that her niece needed "emergency treatment," drove to Bowie Health Center [], where Richardson was rushed into the emergency room at 11 p.m., in respiratory arrest, and died shortly after midnight the suit states. …

Richardson's mother … referred questions to the attorneys. … Donald McLaughlin said Richardson's aunt, Denise Crarey, helped Richardson get an abortion without telling Richardson's mother. McLaughlin added that though Crarey and Richardson's mother are sisters, they have "a very strained relationship." Crarey, a registered nurse, took Richardson first to Washington Hospital Center, which wouldn't perform the abortion because Richardson was too far along in her pregnancy, McLaughlin said.

[153] Article: "Mother is suing doctor: Daughter died after abortion." By Melanie Mader. Laurel Leader, June 29, 1990. Pages A1, 3.

Page 3: "Richardson-Smith was unaware that her daughter was having an abortion until the Bowie medical center called her, McLaughlin said."

[154] Press release: "Human Life International Claims Maryland Health Department 'Ignores, Covers-Up' Abortion Deaths." PR Newswire, November 21, 1991.

"Erica Richardson, 16, died March 2, 1989, just hours after an abortion was performed upon her by Dr. Gene O. Crawford at his Metropolitan Women's Center, 9811 Mallard Dr., Laurel, Md."

[155] Article: "2 Tragedies Raise Doubts About Suitland Clinic; Abortion Patient, Left Paralyzed, Files Suit." By Retha Hill. Washington Post, August 13, 1990. Page A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/

[156] Article: "2 Tragedies Raise Doubts About Suitland Clinic; Abortion Patient, Left Paralyzed, Files Suit." By Retha Hill. Washington Post, August 13, 1990. Page A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/

[157] Article: "Botched-abortion victim dies in Baltimore." Washington Times, December 2, 1992.

"Susanne Logan, the Forestville woman who was paralyzed in a botched 1989 abortion at a Suitland clinic, died in Baltimore yesterday of complications from pneumonia, just three weeks after she won a multimillion-dollar settlement in her case."

[158] Article: "Pneumonia-Diseases. By Robert Baird. American Chronicle, March 2, 2008. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/53715

[Pneumonia] is often the final complication of some other debilitating disorder, and this is why many people who get pneumonia die. Any one whose resistance is already low is very susceptible to pneumonia, so for people who are dying of heart failure, cancer, stroke or chronic bronchitis, the actual cause of death is often pneumonia. In anyone who is semi­conscious or paralyzed, infection of the lungs is extremely likely. This is because under such conditions the normal coughing reflex that keeps the lungs clear of mucus and stagnant fluid is reduced, or even absent.

[159] Book: Victims of Choice. By Kevin Sherlock. Brennyman Books, 1996. Page 134:

"Gladyss Estanislao. This 28-year-old married Filipina woman, a legal secretary who lived in Prince George's County, died May 12, 1989, 17 days after Alan Ross reportedly performed a vacuum abortion on her at the Wisconsin Avenue Women's Health Care Center in Bethesda. Ross reportedly failed to diagnose Gladyss was ectopically pregnant, and then he reportedly botched the abortion."

NOTE: The sources cited are Ms. Estanislao's death certificate and a 12/5/91 article in The Wanderer. Note the discrepancy with the source below regarding the type of abortion procedure.

[160] Article: "Sudden Death due to Rupture of Ectopic Pregnancy Concurrent With Therapeutic Abortion." By Ling Li & John E. Smialek. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, July 1993. Pages 698-700.

Page 698: "In 1989, a case of sudden death secondary to EP [ectopic pregnancy] was investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland, Baltimore."

Page 699:

In 1989, a 28-year-old female college student was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor near her classroom. … the subject was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Further investigation revealed that the woman had been seen at a clinic for a missed abortion 17 days before her death and underwent a dilation and curettage [abortion procedure]. No surgical specimen was sent to the laboratory for pathologic examination before she left the clinic. …

… A 0.3 cm rupture site was located on the lateral surface [of the left fallopian tube], surrounded by hemorrhagic tissue.

[161] Editorial: "Ectopic Pregnancy in Association With Induced Abortion: Message for the Pathologist." By Jane W. Hardman & others. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, July 1993. Pages 696-697.

Page 696: "Admittedly, in each of these cases there was a failure on the part of clinicians to recognize the clinical signs of ectopic pregnancy and to follow up with the patients accordingly."

Page 697: "In summary, recommendations that are already in place, had they been followed in the cases reported by Drs Li and Smialek, should have prevented the deaths of three young women."

[162] Article: "Pregnancy." Contributor: Lynn J. Romrell (Ph.D., Associate Dean for Education and Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Florida College of Medicine). World Book Encyclopedia, 2007 Deluxe Edition.

"An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants itself outside the uterus, usually inside the fallopian tube, the tube through which the egg passes on its way from the ovary to the uterus. The developing baby cannot survive in an ectopic pregnancy. The pregnancy may be fatal to the mother if untreated."

[163] Book: Essentials of Medical Ultrasound: A Practical Introduction to the Principles, Techniques and Biomedical Applications. Edited by Michael H. Repacholi and Deirdre A. Benwell. Humana Press, 1982. Chapter 5: "Clinical Applications of Diagnostic Ultrasound. By Edward A. Lyons.

Page 176: "An important diagnosis to make it that of an ectopic pregnancy. If the pregnancy test is positive and the uterus is empty, one may be able to visualize [via ultrasound] a mass in the tube. In that instance the diagnosis of ectopic is almost 100% certain."

[164] Textbook: Ultrasound and the Fallopian Tube. Edited by Ilan E. Timor-Tritsch & Asim Kurjak. Parthenon Publishing Group, 1996. Chapter 5: "Conservative management of ectopic pregnancy based on color Doppler studies." By F. Bonilla Musoles & others. Page 29:

One of the explicit advantages of the modern pregnancy tests … is that they can be employed in the emergency room or in the office of the gynecologist. This definitely presents an advantage since, in applying this pregnancy test followed by an office ultrasound examination of the pelvis, a fast and almost always reliable diagnosis of the presence or absence of an abnormal or normal intrauterine pregnancy can be made. In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, the chances of making the diagnosis during the first visit to the gynecologist's office or the emergency room are high.

Page 51: "Even with techniques currently available, ectopic pregnancy … results in death for one of every 2000 women affected. The incidence of ectopic pregnancies varies between 0.5 and 1% of all pregnancies."

Page 52: "In most published reports about ectopic pregnancies, the diagnosis is established by [a specialized blood test] in patients with a positive pregnancy test in whom an intrauterine [in the uterus] gestational sac, with or without recognizable embryonic structures, cannot be seen by ultrasound examination."

[165] Book: Victims of Choice. By Kevin Sherlock. Brennyman Books, 1996. Pages 166-7 contain a photocopy of this letter. It is from Stephen C. Joseph, New York City's Commissioner of Health, and is dated June 5, 1987.

[166] Report: "Abortion Surveillance -- United States, 1996." By Lisa M. Koonin and others. Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control, July 30, 1999. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss4804a1.htm

Data extracted from Table 19:

Year	Legal abortion-related deaths
1981	8
1982	11
1983	11
1984	12
Total	42

[167] Calculated with data from:

a) "City of New York & Boroughs: Population & Population Density from 1790." Demographia. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.demographia.com/dm-nyc.htm

The population of New York City (all five boroughs; not just Manhattan) in 1980 was 7,072,000.

b) Web page: "Historical National Population Estimates: July 1, 1900 to July 1, 1999." U.S. Census Bureau, April 11, 2000. Revised June 28, 2000. http://www.census.gov/popest/archives/1990s/popclockest.txt

The population in the USA in 1980 was 227,224,681.

CALCULATIONS:

7,072,000 people in New York City / 227,224,681 people in the U.S. = 3.1%.

30 legal abortion-related deaths in New York City / 42 legal abortion-related deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control = 71.4%.

[168] Web page: "Abortion Services." Planned Parenthood of Nassau County. Accessed June 28, 2008 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

[169] Paper: "Cost consequences of induced abortion as an attributable risk for preterm birth and impact on informed consent." By Byron C. Calhoun, Elizabeth Shadigian & Brent Rooney. Journal of Reproductive Medicine, October 2007. Pages 929-937. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17977168?dopt=Abstract

Page 930: "Fifty-nine studies were reviewed for preterm birth and links to abortion.... From this review, we selected 5 of the most recent, representative studies with an association between induced abortion and preterm birth as detailed examples of the 59 studies published in Appendix B...."

Pages 930-931:

Five large, recent, international studies have shown an association of prior abortions to preterm delivery^3,6-9 (Table IV), and 50 studies over the last 50 years have shown a statistically significant association (Appendix B). All of the studies found a statistically significant increase in preterm births before 32 weeks for women undergoing at least 1 first-trimester abortion, with the ORs [odds ratios] ranging from 1.3 to 2.5.^3,6-9 Women undergoing [two or more] abortions had an even larger risk of preterm birth, with ORs ranging from 1.8 to 5.2.^3,6-9.

[170] Fact Sheet: "Preterm Birth." March Of Dimes, February 2007. http://www.marchofdimes.com/

Premature birth is a serious health problem. Premature babies are at increased risk for newborn health complications, as well as lasting disabilities, such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, lung and gastrointestinal problems, vision and hearing loss, and even death. Many premature babies require care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which has specialized medical staff and equipment that can deal with the multiple problems faced by premature infants. …

All premature babies are at risk for health problems, but those born before about 32 weeks of gestation face the highest risk.

[171] Web page: "Ask Dr. Cullins: Is having an abortion emotionally and psychologically dangerous?" Planned Parenthood, August 6, 2004. Updated 1/23/07. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

[172] Web page: "Abortion Services: Risks and Side Effects." Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Updated September 21, 2007. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

[173] For another page that says essentially the same thing: "Abortion Procedures." Planned Parenthood, February 8, 2008. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

"Serious, long-term emotional problems after abortion are about as uncommon as they are after giving birth."

[174] Web page: "Pregnant, Now What?" By Jon Knowles. Planned Parenthood, January 1, 1993. Revised 5/15/07 by Jennifer Johnsen. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/...

[175] Article: "Abortion Is Four Times Deadlier Than Childbirth: New Studies Unmask High Maternal Death Rates From Abortion." By David C. Reardon. Post-Abortion Review, April-June 2000. http://www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V8/n2/finland.html

"Since Finland has socialized medical care, these records are very accurate and complete."

[176] Paper: "Suicides after Pregnancy in Finland, 1987-94: Register Linkage Study." By Mika Gissler, Elina Hemminki, & Jouko Lonnqvist. British Medical Journal, December 7, 1996. http://bmj.com/

Information on suicides in women of reproductive age was linked with the Finnish birth, abortion, and hospital discharge registers to find out how many women who committed suicide had had a completed pregnancy during her last year of life. … There were 73 suicides associated with pregnancy, representing 5.4% of all suicides in women in this age group. The mean annual suicide rate was 11.3 per 100 000. The suicide rate associated with birth was significantly lower (5.9) and the rates associated with miscarriage (18.1) and induced abortion (34.7) were significantly higher than in the population.

[177] Study: "Deaths Associated With Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women." By David C. Reardon and others. Southern Medical Journal, August 2002. Pages 834-841. http://www.afterabortion.org/...

Page 837, Table 2.

[178] Article: "Changing abortion's pronoun." By Stephanie Simon. Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2008. http://www.latimes.com/...

[179] Study: "Deaths Associated With Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women." By David C. Reardon and others. Southern Medical Journal, August 2002. Pages 834-841. http://www.afterabortion.org/...

Page 838, Table 3.

[180] Web page: "About the Society." Society of Professional Journalists. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.spj.org/aboutspj.asp

"The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior."

[181] Web page: "Diversity Guidelines." Society of Professional Journalists, October 6, 2001. http://www.spj.org/divguidelines.asp

On Oct. 6, 2001 at its National Convention in Seattle, the Society of Professional Journalists passed a resolution urging members and fellow journalists to take steps against racial profiling in their coverage of the war on terrorism and to reaffirm their commitment to:

— Use language that is informative and not inflammatory....

When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacist, radical anti-abortionists and other groups with a history of such activity. …

Avoid using word combinations such as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim extremist" that are misleading because they link whole religions to criminal activity.

[182] Transcript: "Senator John McCain at the Republican Party of Iowa, Abraham Lincoln Unity Dinner." Democracy in Action, George Washington University, April 14, 2007. http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/ia0407/mccain041407spt.html

America stands for an ideal that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I know what it's like to live without those rights and I have an obligation to advocate them where ever they are denied. In Bosnia or in Burma in Cuba or in the Middle East and in our own country when we fail to respect the inherent dignity of all human life, born or unborn, and that's why for 24 years, without changing, without wavering, I have a steadfast and strong advocacy and voting record in support of the rights of the unborn.

[183] Transcript: "Former Governor Mike Huckabee at the Republican Party of Iowa, Abraham Lincoln Unity Dinner." Democracy in Action, George Washington University, April 14, 2007. http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/ia0407/huck041407spt.html

"I'm not late in declaring that I believe life begins at conception and that we ought to protect human life and that's one of the reasons that I am a Republican today, because it was the only party that gave people like me a voice and a choice."

[184] Article: G.O.P. Candidates Lay Into Democrats, Not One Another." By Adam Nagourney. New York Times, April 15, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/...

[185] Note that most all of the people described by the media as "opponents of abortion rights" are not unilaterally opposed to abortion. Nearly all think that abortion should be legal when there is a threat to the life of the mother, and some think there should be exceptions for rape and incest.† This also true of the examples that follow. The people cited are not unilaterally opposed to the "rights" in question, but think that other "rights" should take precedence. The same applies to people who think that a preborn human's "right to life" should take precedence over other "rights."

NOTE: † Since 1989, various Republicans have sponsored at least 23 resolutions proposing a Constitutional Amendment that would guarantee preborn humans the right to life, all of them containing an exception to protect the life of the mother. Six of these resolutions also include exceptions for cases of rape or incest. [Search performed on May 27, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Bill texts from the 101st to 110th Congresses searched for: 'amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right to life'.]

[186] a) Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment2

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."

b) House Editorial: "Lock and Load." New York Times, June 27, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/...

"Even if there were a constitutional right to possess guns for nonmilitary uses, constitutional rights are not absolute."

[187] a) Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment5

"[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

b) House editorial: "The Limits of Property Rights." New York Times, June 24, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/...

"The Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that the economically troubled city of New London, Conn., can use its power of eminent domain to spur development was a welcome vindication of cities' ability to act in the public interest. It also is a setback to the "property rights" movement, which is trying to block government from imposing reasonable zoning and environmental regulations."

[188] a) Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment9

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

b) Article: "Parents protest gay-themed school plays." By Ellen Sorokin. Washington Times, February 21, 2002.

"A group of parents is suing a public school district in Novato, Calif., for allowing their elementary school-age children to see pro-homosexual plays at school without any prior notice or parental consent."

[189] a) Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment5

"No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."

b) Ruling: Korematsu v. United States. U.S. Supreme Court, December 18, 1944. Case 323 U.S. 214. Decided 6-3. Majority: Black, Douglas, Reed, Rutledge, Stone. Concurring: Frankfurter. Dissenting: Roberts, Murphy, Jackson. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

It is said that we are dealing here with the case of imprisonment of a citizen in a concentration camp solely because of his ancestry, without evidence or inquiry concerning his loyalty and good disposition towards the United States. Our task would be simple, our duty clear, were this a case involving the imprisonment of a loyal citizen in a concentration camp because of racial prejudice. Regardless of the true nature of the assembly and relocation centers-and we deem it unjustifiable to call them concentration camps with all the ugly connotations that term implies-we are dealing specifically with nothing but an exclusion order. To cast this case into outlines of racial prejudice, without reference to the real military dangers which were presented, merely confuses the issue. Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire, because the properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast and felt constrained to take proper security measures, because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily, and finally, because Congress, reposing its confidence in this time of war in our military leaders-as inevitably it must-determined that they should have the power to do just this. There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some, the military authorities considered that the need for action was great, and time was short. We cannot-by availing ourselves of the calm perspective of hindsight-now say that at that time these actions were unjustified.

[190] a) Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment10

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

b) Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified February 7, 1795. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment11

"The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State."

c) Article: "High court voids states' immunity." By Frank J. Murray. Washington Times, May 28, 2003.

"The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a Nevada social worker may sue the state for firing him in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, a decision that raised the first barrier to states' broad 11th Amendment immunity against private lawsuits."

[191] a) First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Ratified December 15, 1791. http://justfacts.com/constitution.asp#Amendment1

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

b) Virginia Law, § 22.1-203: "Daily observance of one minute of silence." State of Virginia. Accessed July 2008 at http://law.justia.com/virginia/codes/toc2201000/22.1-203.html

In order that the right of every pupil to the free exercise of religion be guaranteed within the schools and that the freedom of each individual pupil be subject to the least possible pressure from the Commonwealth either to engage in, or to refrain from, religious observation on school grounds, the school board of each school division shall establish the daily observance of one minute of silence in each classroom of the division.

During such one-minute period of silence, the teacher responsible for each classroom shall take care that all pupils remain seated and silent and make no distracting display to the end that each pupil may, in the exercise of his or her individual choice, meditate, pray, or engage in any other silent activity which does not interfere with, distract, or impede other pupils in the like exercise of individual choice.

c) Article: "Supreme Court upholds minute of silence in schools." Associated Press, October 30, 2001.

"The Supreme Court turned away a challenge to Virginia's mandatory minute of silence in schools on Monday, declining to take a closer look at the silent prayer issue it last examined 16 years ago."

[192] Just Facts searched the New York Times and Washington Post on July 11, 2008 and the Associated Press on August 16th through LexisNexis. Note that some articles contain the quoted phrases more than once, and thus, the numbers cited may represent an undercount. The Washington Post archive does not contain articles published in the previous 14 days. Searches for "opponent(s) of states' rights" were also performed for the spelling variant "opponent(s) of states rights."

[193] Entry: "abortion, partial-birth." Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Edited by Ida G. Dox & others. Fourth edition. Parthenon Publishing Group, 2002. Page 2:

"partial-birth a. (PBA) Common term for termination of a late pregnancy with a breech presentation. Labor is induced by conventional methods; the cervix is widely dilated and delivery is expedited by evacuation the cranial contents with a suction catheter, then compressing the cranium."

[194] Policy H-5.982: "Late-Term Pregnancy Termination Techniques." American Medical Association. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.ama-assn.org/...

[195] Book: AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. Tenth edition. Oxford University Press, 2007. Page 295.

[196] Transcript: NOW with Bill Moyers. PBS, May 16, 2003. http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript220_full.html

[197] Book: English for Journalists. By Wynford Hicks. Second edition. Routledge, 1998.

Page 73: "Jargon is specialized vocabulary, familiar to the members of a group, trade or profession. If you write for a newspaper or general magazine you should try to translate jargon into ordinary English whenever you can. … A common source of jargon is scientific, medical, government and legal handouts."

[198] Editorial: "Abortion and the court." Chicago Tribune, July 13, 2005. Section C, Page 26.

"There is a chance of reversal, though, on certain late-term abortions. Five years ago, by a 5-4 vote, the court struck down a Nebraska law banning this procedure, also known as intact dilation and extraction, concluding that the measure imposed an undue burden on the right to abortion."

[199] Book: The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage. Edited by Andrea J. Sutcliffe. Stonesong Press/Harper Collins, 1994. Page 586.

[200] Book: The New Oxford Guide to Writing. By Thomas S. Kane. Oxford University Press, 1988.

Page 199: "Jargon is technical language misused. Technical language, the precise diction demanded by any specialized trade or profession, is necessary when experts communicate with one another. It becomes jargon when it is applied outside the limits of technical discourse."

[201] Ruling: Roe v. Wade. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 113. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Burger, Brennan, Douglas, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas, Stewart. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section VIII:

Specific and direct harm medically diagnosable even in early pregnancy may be involved. Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and her responsible physician necessarily will consider in consultation.

Section XI: "In Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, procedural requirements contained in one of the modern abortion statutes are considered. That opinion and this one, of course, are to be read together."

Section XI: "For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."

[202] Ruling: Doe v. Bolton. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 179. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section IV:

C. … the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. …

D. The appellants next argue that the District Court should have declared unconstitutional three procedural demands of the Georgia statute: … (2) that the procedure be approved by the hospital staff abortion committee; and (3) that the performing physician's judgment be confirmed by the independent examinations of the patient by two other licensed physicians. …

We conclude that the interposition of the hospital abortion committee is unduly restrictive of the patient's rights and needs that, at this point, have already been medically delineated and substantiated by her personal physician. …

There remains, however, the required confirmation by two Georgia-licensed physicians in addition to the recommendation of the pregnant woman's own consultant (making under the statute, a total of six physicians involved, including the three on the hospital's abortion committee). We conclude that this provision, too, must fall.

The statute's emphasis, as has been repetitively noted, is on the attending physician's "best clinical judgment that an abortion is necessary." That should be sufficient. The reasons for the presence of the confirmation step in the statute are perhaps apparent, but they are insufficient to withstand constitutional challenge. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment.

[203] Article: "Public Opinion About Abortion -- An In-Depth Review: The Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Divide." By Lydia Saad. Gallup, January 22, 2002. Page 3. http://www.gallup.com/...

Page 2:

The following chart illustrates the wide range of attitudes toward abortion recorded across a diverse set of questions about the subject. The figures in the chart are based on 146 survey questions asked by 18 different polling organizations over the past five years. …

For the most part, attitudes pertaining to particular aspects of abortion are consistent across differently worded questions. But in a few cases, particularly with respect to Roe v. Wade, the responses vary widely, depending on the information provided in the question.

Page 3:

Most survey questions about Roe v. Wade provide the respondent with information about the case, and these details appear to have a major impact on the answers.

... If Roe v. Wade is presented only as legalizing abortion in the first three months, support for the decision is much higher than if it is characterized as making abortion legal throughout pregnancy or for any reason.

[204] Web page: "Abortion and Birth Control. PollingReport.com. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm

Associated Press-Ipsos (November 2004): "The 1973 Supreme Court ruling called Roe v. Wade made abortion in the first three months of pregnancy legal."

Quinnipiac University (December 2004): "The 1973 Supreme Court ruling called Roe. v. Wade made abortion in the first three months of pregnancy legal. Do you think President Bush should nominate Supreme Court justices who would uphold the Roe. v. Wade decision, or nominate Supreme Court justices who would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision?"

Pew Research Center/Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (November 2006): "In 1973 the Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy."

NBC News/Wall Street Journal (December 2005): "The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy."

Harris Poll (October 2007): "In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that states laws which made it illegal for a woman to have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy were unconstitutional, and that the decision on whether a woman should have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy should be left to the woman and her doctor to decide."

[205] There are other Associated Press articles that used the same verbiage. The three listed below are exemplars:

a) Article: "Vatican Pushing Mexico in Abortion Fight." By Julie Watson. Associated Press, March 23, 2007. http://www.breitbart.com/...

"Most Latin American countries, including Mexico, allow abortion if the woman's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest. In November, Nicaragua bans abortion in all cases. Cuba permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, as does the United States."

b) Article: "Mexicans March to Support Abortion Law." By Carlos Rodriguez. Associated Press, March 30, 2007. http://origin.foxnews.com/...

"Most Latin American countries, including Mexico, allow abortion if the woman's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest. In November, Nicaragua passed a law banning abortion in all cases. Cuba permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, as does the United States."

c) Article: "Mexico's Supreme Court poised to reject appeal of legalized abortion in the capital." By Olga R. Rodriguez. Associated Press, August 27, 2008. http://www.latimes.com/

"Most Latin American countries allow abortion only if the woman's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest. In 2006, Nicaragua banned abortion in all cases. Cuba permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, as does the United States."

[206] Search performed August 27, 2008 via http://www.google.com/. Results include:

 

baltimoresun.com	bellinghamherald.com	boston.com
breitbart.com	cbsnews.com	centredaily.com
chron.com	cleveland.com	cnsnews.com
comcast.net	contracostatimes.com	daytondailynews.com
denverpost.com	duluthnewstribune.com	elpasotimes.com
examiner.com	federalnewsradio.com	fortmilltimes.com
foxnews.com	gjsentinel.com	greenwichtime.com
guardian.co.uk	ibtimes.com	iht.com
inyork.com	journalgazette.net	kansascity.com
khou.com	ktar.com	latimes.com
ledger-enquirer.com	lehighvalleylive.com	madison.com
metrobostonnews.com	miamiherald.com	msnbc.com
my.freeze.com	mymotherlode.com	news.aol.com
news.yahoo.com	newstimes.com	newsvine.com
nola.com	nydailynews.com	nypost.com
ohio.com	onenewsnow.com	oregonlive.com
palmbeachpost.com	philly.com	pressofatlanticcity.com
pr-inside.com	publicopiniononline.com	realclearworld.com
realtime.com	rockymounttelegram.com	sacbee.com
salon.com	sanluisobispo.com	santacruzsentinel.com
sfgate.com	signonsandiego.com	silive.com
southernledger.com	sunherald.com	syracuse.com
thenewstribune.com	twincities.com	usatoday.com
victoriaadvocate.com	washingtonpost.com	washingtontimes.com
wor710.com	wtop.com

[207] Web page: "Nina Totenberg, NPR Biography." National Public Radio. Accessed July 2008 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101289

[208] "CyberAlert." Media Research Center, July 6, 2000. http://www.mediaresearch.org/...

NOTE: This document contains a transcribed excerpt from the July 1, 2000 edition of the show "Inside Washington," which is aired on various PBS stations.

[209] House editorial: "Play Doctor -- and Judge." Washington Post, Oct 27, 2003. Page A18.

"The measure prohibits one form of abortion, performed in the late second trimester or third trimester of pregnancy; it is gruesome, as indeed are all abortions this late in pregnancy. But most states already bar abortions after the point of viability, unless the procedure is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother, and Congress could have done likewise."

[210] Ruling: Roe v. Wade. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 113. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Burger, Brennan, Douglas, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas, Stewart. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section VIII:

Specific and direct harm medically diagnosable even in early pregnancy may be involved. Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and her responsible physician necessarily will consider in consultation.

Section XI: "In Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, procedural requirements contained in one of the modern abortion statutes are considered. That opinion and this one, of course, are to be read together."

Section XI: "For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."

[211] Ruling: Doe v. Bolton. U.S. Supreme Court, January 22, 1973. Case 410 U.S. 179. Decided 7-2. Majority: Blackmun, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Powell. Concurring: Burger, Douglas. Dissenting: White, Rehnquist. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section IV:

C. … the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. …

D. The appellants next argue that the District Court should have declared unconstitutional three procedural demands of the Georgia statute: … (2) that the procedure be approved by the hospital staff abortion committee; and (3) that the performing physician's judgment be confirmed by the independent examinations of the patient by two other licensed physicians. …

We conclude that the interposition of the hospital abortion committee is unduly restrictive of the patient's rights and needs that, at this point, have already been medically delineated and substantiated by her personal physician. …

There remains, however, the required confirmation by two Georgia-licensed physicians in addition to the recommendation of the pregnant woman's own consultant (making under the statute, a total of six physicians involved, including the three on the hospital's abortion committee). We conclude that this provision, too, must fall.

The statute's emphasis, as has been repetitively noted, is on the attending physician's "best clinical judgment that an abortion is necessary." That should be sufficient. The reasons for the presence of the confirmation step in the statute are perhaps apparent, but they are insufficient to withstand constitutional challenge. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment. … If a physician is licensed by the State, he is recognized by the State as capable of exercising acceptable clinical judgment.

[212] Full Text of Letter

[213] Full Text of Letter

[214] "MediaWatch." Media Research Center, February 1989. http://www.mediaresearch.org/mediawatch/1989/watch19890

.asp

Page 3: "Networks Distort Abortion Report: The Real Scoop on Koop."

[215] Article: "The Times Poll Public and Press—Two Viewpoints Series: First of Two Parts." By David Shaw. Los Angeles Times, Aug 11, 1985. http://www.latimes.com/

On the issue of "allowing women to have an abortion" … the newspaper journalists say they favor allowing women to have an abortion-by an almost 6-1 margin... (Readers also approve allowing women to have an abortion, though by a much narrower margin—51% to 42%.) …

… [M]embers of the press (at least the 3,165 newspaper reporters and editors from 621 newspapers interviewed for this story)....

[216] Transcript: "CNN Talkback Live." Hosted by Tucker Carlson. CNN, December 19, 2001. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/19/tl.00.html

[217] Article: "Public Opinion About Abortion -- An In-Depth Review: Gender, Religion and Other Group Attitudes Toward Abortion." By Lydia Saad. Gallup, January 22, 2002. http://www.gallup.com/...

NOTE: The poll was conducted in May 2001.

[218] Article: "Poll: Abortion Is Manslaughter." CNSNews, January 9, 2001. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1/8/195721.shtml

NOTE: Percentages do not add up to 100% because some agreed with neither statement or were unsure.

[219] Transcript: "CNN Talkback Live." Hosted by Tucker Carlson. CNN, December 19, 2001. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/19/tl.00.html

[220] Article: "Public Opinion About Abortion -- An In-Depth Review: Gender, Religion and Other Group Attitudes Toward Abortion." By Lydia Saad. Gallup, January 22, 2002. http://www.gallup.com/...

NOTE: The poll was conducted in May 2001. Percentages do not add up to 100% because some agreed with neither statement or were unsure.

[221] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

States with a parental consent law in effect:

Alabama	Michigan	Rhode Island
Arizona*	Mississippi	South Carolina†
Arkansas*	Missouri	Tennessee
Idaho	Nebraska*	Texas*
Indiana	North Carolina	Utah
Kansas*	North Dakota	Virginia
Kentucky	Ohio	Wisconsin†
Louisiana*	Oklahoma	Wyoming
Massachusetts	Pennsylvania

* Requires parental consent documentation to be notarized.

† Allows specified health professionals to waive parental involvement in limited circumstances.

[222] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

"Consent … California … New Mexico … Enforcement permanently enjoined by court order; policy not in effect."

[223] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

States with a parental notification law in effect (not including states that also have a consent law in effect):

Alaska	Georgia	New Hampshire
Colorado	Iowa	South Dakota
Delaware† ‡	Maryland†	West Virginia†
Florida	Minnesota

† Allows specified health professionals to waive parental involvement in limited circumstances.

‡ While most states laws apply to all minors, Delaware's law applies to women younger than 16 and South Carolina's law applies to those younger than 17.

[224] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

Notification … Illinois§ … Montana# … Nevada# … New Jersey# …

# Enforcement permanently enjoined by court order; policy not in effect.

§ Enforcement temporarily enjoined by court order; policy not in effect.

[225] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

States with no parental consent or notification laws:

 

Connecticut	New York	Washington
Hawaii	Oregon
Maine	Vermont

[226] Revised Code of Washington, Title 26, Chapter 28, Section 085: "Applying tattoo to a minor — Penalty." Accessed June 29, 2012 at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.28.085

Every person who applies a tattoo to any minor under the age of eighteen is guilty of a misdemeanor. It is not a defense to a violation of this section that the person applying the tattoo did not know the minor's age unless the person applying the tattoo establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she made a reasonable, bona fide attempt to ascertain the true age of the minor by requiring production of a driver's license or other picture identification card or paper and did not rely solely on the oral allegations or apparent age of the minor.

[227] New Jersey Law 2C:40-21: "Tattooing of a minor; parental permission, required." New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice. Accessed June 29, 2012 at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/

A person commits a disorderly persons offense if he knowingly tattoos or engages in body piercing of a minor under the age of 18 years without first having obtained the written permission of the minor's parent or legal guardian or, if neither exists, a person who stands in place of a parent.

[228] Senate Bill No. 746, CHAPTER 664: An act to amend Section 22706 of, and to add Section 2241.3 to, the Business and Professions Code, relating to tanning facilities." Approved by the governor on October 9, 2011. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/...

Section 22706 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: …

(b) … (3) Persons under 18 years of age are prohibited from using an ultraviolet tanning device.

(4) Proof of age shall be satisfied with a driver's license or other government issued identification containing the date of birth and a photograph of the individual.

[229] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions Brief As of June 1, 2012." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

NOTE: There are no notification or consent laws in effect for Washington, New Jersey, or California.

[230] Web page: "Abortion." Gallup, 2012. Accessed June 29, 2012 at http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx/

A law requiring women under 18 to get parental consent for any abortion

	Favor (%)	Oppose (%)	No opinion (%)
2011 Jul 15-17	71	27	2
2005 Nov 11-13	69	28	3
2003 Jan 10-12	73	24	3
1996 Jul 25-28	74	23	3
1992 Jan 16-19	70	23	7

[231] Web page: "Abortion and Birth Control. Polling Report, 2008. Accessed July 8, 2008 at http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm

CBS News Poll. July 13-14, 2005. N=632 adults nationwide. …

"Would you favor or oppose requiring that at least one parent be told before a girl under 18 years of age could have an abortion?"

Favor [=] 80% … Oppose [=] 17% … Unsure [=] 3%

[232] Web page: "Abortion and Birth Control (page 2)." Polling Report, 2012. Accessed June 29, 2012 at http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm

Pew Research Center survey. Aug. 11-17, 2009. N=2,010 adults nationwide …

"Do you strongly favor, favor, oppose, or strongly oppose requiring that women under the age of 18 get the consent of at least one parent before they are allowed to have an abortion?"

Strongly Favor [=] 45% … Favor [=] 31% … Oppose [=] 11% … Strongly Oppose [=] 8% … Unsure [=] 5%

[233] "Illinois General Assembly Questionnaire." Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization, 1996. Part1: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_obamaquestionaire1newest.html

Part 2: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_obamaquestionaire2.html

[234] "Illinois General Assembly Questionnaire." Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization, 1996. Fax transmittal date/time stamp: "Sep-10-96 TUE 05:26". http://www.politico.com/...

[235] Article: "Liberal views could haunt Obama." By Mike Allen and Ben Smith. Politico, December 12, 2007. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7312.html

"A week after Politico provided the questionnaire to the Obama campaign for comment, an aide called Monday night to say that Obama had said he did not fill out the form, and provided a contact for his campaign manager at the time, who said she filled it out."

[236] Article: "Obama had greater role on liberal survey." By Kenneth P. Vogel. Politico, March 31, 2008. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9269.html

" 'Sen. Obama didn't fill out these state Senate questionnaires — a staffer did — and there are several answers that didn't reflect his views then or now,' Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama's campaign, said in an e-mailed statement."

[237] Article: "Obama had greater role on liberal survey." By Kenneth P. Vogel. Politico, March 31, 2008. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9269.html

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago nonprofit group that issued it. And it found that Obama — the day after sitting for the interview — filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama's own handwritten notes added to one answer. …

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama's campaign, said in an e-mailed statement. "He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire at the meeting, but that doesn't change the fact that some answers didn't reflect his views. His 11 years in public office do."

[238] "Illinois General Assembly Questionnaire." Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization, 1996. Part1: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_obamaquestionaire1newest.html

Part 2: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_obamaquestionaire2.html

Candidate Report Sheet for Interviews

Candidate Name      Barack Obama [In handwriting] …

Date of Interview    9/9/96 [In handwriting] …

Place of Interview   5623 S. Drexel - House of Alan and Lois Dobry [In handwriting]

[239] "Illinois General Assembly Questionnaire." Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization, 1996. Fax transmittal date/time stamp: "Sep-10-96 TUE 05:26". http://www.politico.com/...

[240] Senate Bill 562: "Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 2001." State of Illinois Senate, 92nd General Assembly, 2001-2002. http://www.ilga.gov

Section 10. Definitions…. "Minor" means any person under 18 years of age who is not or has not been married or who has not been emancipated under the Emancipation of Mature Minors Act. …

Section 15. Notice to adult family member. No person shall knowingly perform an abortion upon a minor or upon an incompetent person unless the person or his or her agent has given at least 48 hours actual notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor or incompetent person of his or her intention to perform the abortion....

Section 20. Exceptions. Notice is not required under this Act if … (3) the attending physician certifies in the patient's medical record that a medical emergency exists and there is insufficient time to provide the required notice; or the minor declares in writing that she is a victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by an adult family member as defined in this Act....

Section 25. Procedure for judicial waiver of notice. … A minor or incompetent person may petition any circuit court for a waiver of the parental notice of abortion requirement under this Act and may participate in proceedings on her own behalf. … All court proceedings under this Section shall be sealed. … These proceedings shall be given precedence over other pending matters to the extent necessary to ensure that the court reaches a decision promptly. … Notice under this Act shall be waived if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence either:

(1) that the minor or incompetent person is sufficiently mature and well-enough informed to decide intelligently whether to have an abortion; or

(2) that notification under Section 15 of this Act would not be in the best interests of the minor or incompetent person. …

No fees shall be required of any minor or incompetent person who avails herself of the procedures provided by this Section. …

Section 40. Penalties.

(a) A physician who willfully fails to provide notice as required under this Act before performing an abortion on a minor or an incompetent person shall be referred to the Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Board for action in accordance with Section 22 of the Medical Practice Act of 1987.

(b) A person, not authorized under this Act, who signs any waiver of notice under this Act for a minor or incompetent person seeking an abortion is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

[241] Vote: "Senate Bill 562 - Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 2001." State of Illinois Senate, 92nd General Assembly, April 6, 2001. http://www.ilga.gov/...

"P [Present] Obama"

[242] Resolution 2: "Rules Of The Senate." Senate of the 92nd General Assembly, State of Illinois, 2001-2002. http://12.43.67.2/legislation/...

Article 1-12:

Majority of those Elected. "Majority of those elected" means an absolute majority of the total number of Senators entitled to be elected to the Senate, irrespective of the number of elected or appointed Senators actually serving in office. So long as 59 Senators are entitled to be elected to the Senate, "majority of those elected" shall mean 30 affirmative votes.

Article 5-1(f): "No bill shall be passed by the Senate except on a roll call vote of a majority of those elected."

NOTE: This rule was effective at the time of Obama's vote. The same rule was still in effect as of June 2008.

[243] Article: "Obama Abortion Dodges Blessed by Planned Parenthood." By Teddy Davis. ABC News, July 17, 2007. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/obama-abortion-.html

NOTE: The next footnote independently confirms Sutherland's assertion that she and Obama worked together on abortion-related legislation.

[244] Speech: "Barack Obama before Planned Parenthood Action Fund." July 17, 2007. Transcribed by Laura Echevarria. http://lauraetch.googlepages.com/...

I'm happy to see so many good friends here today, including Steve Trombley and Pam Sutherland from my home state of Illinois. We had a number of battles down in Springfield for many many years and it is wonderful to see that they are here today. … Steve and Pam will tell you that we fought together in the Illinois State Senate against restrictive choice legislation—laws just like the federal abortion laws, the federal abortion bans that are cropping up.

[245] Questionnaire: "2004 U.S. Senate Candidates." Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization, December 15, 2003. Submitted by Barack Obama on January 5, 2004. http://blogs.suntimes.com/...

Question 28b: "Do you support parental or spousal notification or consent to obtain an abortion? I oppose spousal notification or consent. Regarding parental notification, I would oppose any legislation that does not include a bypass provision for minors who have been victims of, or have reason to fear, physical or sexual abuse."

[246] Senate Bill 562: "Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 2001." State of Illinois Senate, 92nd General Assembly, 2001-2002. http://www.ilga.gov/

Section 10. Definitions…. "Minor" means any person under 18 years of age who is not or has not been married or who has not been emancipated under the Emancipation of Mature Minors Act. …

Section 15. Notice to adult family member. No person shall knowingly perform an abortion upon a minor or upon an incompetent person unless the person or his or her agent has given at least 48 hours actual notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor or incompetent person of his or her intention to perform the abortion....

Section 20. Exceptions. Notice is not required under this Act if … (3) the attending physician certifies in the patient's medical record that a medical emergency exists and there is insufficient time to provide the required notice; or the minor declares in writing that she is a victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by an adult family member as defined in this Act....

Section 25. Procedure for judicial waiver of notice. … A minor or incompetent person may petition any circuit court for a waiver of the parental notice of abortion requirement under this Act and may participate in proceedings on her own behalf. … All court proceedings under this Section shall be sealed. … These proceedings shall be given precedence over other pending matters to the extent necessary to ensure that the court reaches a decision promptly. … Notice under this Act shall be waived if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence either:

(1) that the minor or incompetent person is sufficiently mature and well-enough informed to decide intelligently whether to have an abortion; or

(2) that notification under Section 15 of this Act would not be in the best interests of the minor or incompetent person. …

No fees shall be required of any minor or incompetent person who avails herself of the procedures provided by this Section. …

Section 40. Penalties.

(a) A physician who willfully fails to provide notice as required under this Act before performing an abortion on a minor or an incompetent person shall be referred to the Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Board for action in accordance with Section 22 of the Medical Practice Act of 1987.

(b) A person, not authorized under this Act, who signs any waiver of notice under this Act for a minor or incompetent person seeking an abortion is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

[247] Vote: "Senate Bill 562 - Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 2001." State of Illinois Senate, 92nd General Assembly, April 6, 2001. http://www.ilga.gov/...

"P [Present] Obama"

[248] Article: "Sen. Barack Obama's RH [Reproductive Health] Issues Questionnaire." By Andrea Lynch. RH Reality Check, December 21, 2007.

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/...

Does Sen. Obama believe adolescents should have the right to choose abortion, or should they be required to seek their parents' consent? Why or why not? Are there any circumstances that might make a compelling case for waiving the parental consent requirement?

As a parent, Obama believes that young women, if they become pregnant, should talk to their parents before considering an abortion. But he realizes not all girls can turn to their mother or father in times of trouble, and in those instances, we should want these girls to seek the advice of trusted adults - an aunt, a grandmother, a pastor.

Unfortunately, instead of encouraging pregnant teens to seek the advice of adults, most parental consent bills that come before Congress or state legislatures criminalize adults who attempt to help a young woman in need and lack judicial bypass and other provisions that would permit exceptions in compelling cases.

[249] Bypass Provisions for State Abortion Parental Consent and Notification Laws. This table was made through research conducted on July 28-29, 2008 of each state's codes/statutes. Most of these provisions are for judicial bypass, although some states allow doctors to invoke them.

State	Code/Statute	Operative language for exceptions
AL*	§26-21	"best interest of the minor"
AK	§18.16	"physical abuse, sexual abuse, or a pattern of emotional abuse minor's best interest"
AZ	§36-2152	"her best interests sexual conduct with a minor by the minor's parent, stepparent, uncle, grandparent, sibling "
AR	§20-16-804	"her best interests"
CA*	§123450	"minor's best interest"
CO	§12-37.5-105, §12-37.5-107	"child abuse or neglect", "best interest of the minor"
DE	Title 24, §1784	"best interest of the minor"
FL	Title 29, §390.01114	"child abuse or sexual abuse of the petitioner by one or both of her parents or her guardian best interest of the petitioner"
GA	§15-11-112	"best interests of the minor"
ID	§18-609A	"best interests of the minor"
IL*	Chap. 750, §70/20, §70/25	"victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by an adult family member", "best interests of the minor"
IN	§16-34-2-4	"minor's best interests"
IA	§135L.3	"best interest of the pregnant minor"
KS	§65-6705	"best interest of the minor"
KY	§311.732	"best interest of the minor"
LA	§40.1299.35.5	"best interest of the minor"
MD	§20-103	"physical or emotional abuse of the minor best interest of the minor"
MA	Chapter 112, §12s	"in her best interests"
MI	§722.904	"best interests of the minor"
MN*	§144.343	"victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse"
MS	§41-41-55	"best interests of the minor"
MO	§188.028. 2	"best interest of the minor"
MT	§50-20-212	"physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of the petitioner by one or both parents, a guardian, or a custodian best interests of the petitioner"
NE	§71-6903, §71-6906	"best interests of the pregnant woman", "victim of abuse sexual abuse child abuse"
NV*	§442.255	"her best interests"
NJ*	§9:17A-1.7	"physical, sexual or emotional abuse of the minor by the parent, guardian or legal custodian ... best interests of the minor"
NM*	§30-5-1	[No exceptions]
NC	§90-21.8	"minor's best interests"
ND	§14-02.1-03.1	"best interests of the minor"
OH	§2919.121	"best interests of the minor"
OK	Title 63, §1-740.2, §1-740.3	"victim of sexual abuse", "her best interest"
PA	§3206	"best interests of the woman"
RI	§23-4.7-6	"her best interests"
SC	§44-41-30, §44-41-32	"pregnancy is the result of incest", "best interest of the minor"
SD	§34-23A-7	"her best interests"
TN	§37-10-304	"minor's best interests"
TX	§33.003	"minor's best interest physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of the minor"
UT	§76-7-304.4, §76-7-304.5	"incest parent or guardian has abused the minor parent or guardian has not assumed responsibility for the minor's care and upbringing", "minor's best interest"
VA	§16.1-241	"her best interest abused or neglected"
WV	§16-2F-3	"minor's best interest"
WI	§48.375	"sexual assault pregnancy is the result of sexual intercourse with a caregiver minor's best interests"
WY	§35-6-118	"best interest of the minor"

* Law blocked by court order or ruling.

[250] For details on the Congressional bill that Obama filibustered (which will be discussed in more depth later), see Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act and Final Vote Results for Senate Roll Call 263.

[251] "Opinion number 90-19 of the Attorney General of New Mexico (Hal Stratton)." By Paul Farley (Assistant Attorney General). October 3, 1990.

Page 2: "New Mexico's current criminal abortion statute, NMSA 1978, §§ 30-5-1 to 30-5-3 (Supp.) 1990 was passed in 1969. … The statute further requires that any abortion either be performed only with the women's consent or, if she is under eighteen years of age, then at the request of the minor and then her living parent or guardian."

Page 4: "New Mexico's criminal abortion law does not provide for such a bypass, as required by existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent."

Page 7: "We further conclude that New Mexico's parental consent provision may become enforceable either through legislative enactment of the amendments discussed above or, under certain circumstances, through modification of federal abortion jurisprudence."

[252] 2008 Democratic Party Platform: "Renewing America's Promise." Democratic National Committee, August 25, 2008. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=78283

[253] 2008 Republican Platform. Republican National Convention, August 26, 2008. http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf

"We must protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement."

[254] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"She was somewhat improved on Wednesday but was found on Friday, September 16 when her father went home at about noon and she was ill. He took her for an x-ray which showed pneumonia bilaterally. She was hospitalized where she went into cardiopulmonary arrest later that night."

[255] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

Page 1: "CAUSE OF DEATH Septic Abortion with Pneumonia … MANNER OF DEATH Undetermined"

Pages 5-6: "REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM: … There is evidence of recent pregnancy with recent partial abortion. The uterus is enlarged consistent with current pregnancy of age approximately 2-3 months."

[256] Entry: "septic abortion." Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Accessed September 8, 2008 at http://medical.merriam-webster.com/medical/septic abortion

"spontaneous or induced abortion associated with bacterial infection (as by E. coli, beta-hemolytic streptococci, or Clostridium perfringens)"

[257] Entry: "pneumonia." Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Accessed September 12, 2008 at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pneumonia

"a disease of the lungs characterized especially by inflammation and consolidation of lung tissue followed by resolution and by fever, chills, cough, and difficulty in breathing and that is caused especially by infection"

[258] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"With Clark in tow, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic where a counselor listed her options. She was told an Indiana minor has to get a parent's written consent for an abortion."

[259] Indiana State Code, Title 16, Article 34, Chapter 2: "Requirements for Performance of Abortion; Criminal Penalties." Accessed September 11, 2008 at http://law.justia.com/indiana/codes/title16/ar34/ch2.html

IC 16-34-2-4

Written consent of parent or guardian of unemancipated pregnant woman under 18 years of age....

Sec. 4. (a) No physician shall perform an abortion on an unemancipated pregnant woman less than eighteen (18) years of age without first having obtained the written consent of one (1) of the parents or the legal guardian of the minor pregnant woman.

(b) A minor:

(1) who objects to having to obtain the written consent of her parent or legal guardian under this section; or

(2) whose parent or legal guardian refuses to consent to an abortion; may petition, on her own behalf or by next friend, the juvenile court for a waiver of the parental consent requirement under subsection (a)

(c) A physician who feels that compliance with the parental consent requirement in subsection (a) would have an adverse effect on the welfare of the pregnant minor or on her pregnancy may petition the juvenile court within twenty-four (24) hours of the abortion request for a waiver of the parental consent requirement under subsection (a)

(d) The juvenile court must rule on a petition filed by a pregnant minor under subsection (b) or by her physician under subsection (c) within forty-eight (48) hours of the filing of the petition. Before ruling on the petition, the court shall consider the concerns expressed by the pregnant minor and her physician. The requirement of parental consent under this section shall be waived by the juvenile court if the court finds that the minor is mature enough to make the abortion decision independently or that an abortion would be in the minor's best interests.

[260] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"Investigation disclosed that REBECCA BELL became pregnant in mid-May 1988 (according to Planned Parenthood referral receipt). She did not confide this information to her parents. According to her friend, HEATHER CLARK, REBECCA BELL told the father of the unborn child about the pregnancy and he broke off all contact with her in mid-July. REBECCA BELL told HEATHER CLARK that she intended to have an abortion."

[261] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"… Heather Clark, a neighbor and Becky's closest friend at the time of her death. … With Clark in tow, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic where a counselor listed her options. … Most minors, she was told, simply go out of state. Louisville is less than 100 miles away."

[262] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"REBECCA BELL also reportedly has a history of substance abuse for which she was hospitalized from mid-February through April, 1988."

[263] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"She had told conflicting stories about abortion plans and the exact circumstances of the abortion are not known."

[264] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"For a time, Clark says, she was going to have an abortion. Then she was going to have the baby and put it up for adoption. Or run away to California. "She was just really confused," Clark said."

[265] Phone call to Marion County Coroner's Office, August 21, 2008. "Dr. Dennis Nicholas is no longer a coroner and he has passed."

[266] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"According to Dr. Dennis J. Nicholas, the coroner here in Marion County, Becky Bell was killed by pneumonia brought on by the use of unsterile instruments during an illegal abortion."

[267] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27. Page 26: "The coroner performed an autopsy and called us. 'Your Rebecca Suzanne died from an illegal, botched abortion; dirty instruments had been used.' "

NOTE: The county coroner did not perform the autopsy and was not present for it. See next footnote.

[268] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

Page 2: "IDENTIFICATION … Persons present for the autopsy included Dr. John E. Pless, Evidence Technician Jim Floyd, Mr. Steven O'Neal and David Becsey."

Page 4: "LUNGS … Bronchopneumonia is bilateral with the left lower lobe being severe and the left and right upper lobes being moderate."

[269] Article: "In Debate on Abortion, 2 Girls Make It Real." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, October 27, 1991. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"They have appeared on '60 Minutes,' walking through their daughter's graveyard and talking about how they blame the law for their daughter's death."

[270] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27.

Page 26: "One day, we got a letter from Peter Jennings. He wanted us to be on the news to talk about Becky, who was the first teenager known to die because of a parental consent law."

[271] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"This summer, Bill Bell quit his job. For the next year, he and Karen will tour the country talking against parental involvement laws, their expenses paid by Smeal's Fund for the Feminist Majority."

[272] Article: "A Rush to Blame in Becky Bell's Death." By Cal Thomas. Washington Times, August 9, 1990. Page G1.

"Miss Bell's parents have announced plans to use their daughter's death as a rallying cry against such laws. They also have participated in the creation of a video they want to show in public schools and universities that they hope will lead to the repeal of parental consent legislation."

[273] Article: "In Debate on Abortion, 2 Girls Make It Real." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, October 27, 1991. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"They have appeared on '60 Minutes,' walking through their daughter's graveyard and talking about how they blame the law for their daughter's death."

[274] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27.

Page 26: "One day, we got a letter from Peter Jennings. He wanted us to be on the news to talk about Becky, who was the first teenager known to die because of a parental consent law."

[275] Transcript # 198: Larry King Live. CNN, December 24, 1990.

[Cybil Shepherd:] Abortion will continue, whether it's legal or not. It's not the question of whether abortion will be around, it's just a question of whether you're going to have women - women are already dying of illegal abortions. Becky Bell in Indiana couldn't go to her parents, there was a parental consent law. She had a good relationship with her parents, but she could not face up to going to her parents and asking permission to get consent to have an abortion. She went and had an illegal abortion, she died of it. Her parents are traveling around the country talking to state legislatures trying to get through to these people what parental consent means.

[276] Article: "In Debate on Abortion, 2 Girls Make It Real." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, October 27, 1991. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"Since Becky's death, her parents, Karen and Bill, have traveled to 23 states to testify or lobby against parental notification laws.... Their story has appeared in a variety of publications, including Seventeen magazine and Rolling Stone."

[277] Article: "Teenagers and Abortion." By Eloise Salholz and others. Newsweek, January 8, 1990.

"Late in the summer of '88, the Indianapolis high-school junior made her way to Planned Parenthood to figure out her options. She chose abortion, but not on Indiana's terms: rather than seek the consent of one parent, as state law required, she planned to have the procedure performed on a Saturday in Kentucky. But in the interim, desperate, she tried a home remedy. By Friday she was dead."

[278] Pamphlet: "NO WAY OUT: Young, Pregnant and Trapped by the Law." Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, 1991.

In the prime of her life, Becky Bell, a 17-year-old Indiana teenager, died of a massive septic infection from a botched illegal abortion. At the time, Indiana required that a young woman obtain the consent of a parent or a judge before having an abortion. To avoid "disappointing" her parents by telling them that she was pregnant, Becky did what hundreds of thousands of women did before legalized abortion -- she bought "medical care" in the back alley.1 [Footnote 1: CBS 60 Minutes, February 24, 1991.]

[279] Review: "Teen-Agers Face Reality On Both Sides of Screen." By John J. O'Connor. New York Times, October 13, 1992. http://query.nytimes.com/...

… Home Box Office has been noticeably more vigorous lately in its pursuit of original programming. …

… A good case in point is this evening's abortion essay: "Public Law 106: The Becky Bell Story."

… Becky ends up having an illegal abortion and dying of a resultant infection. The story begins with her being rushed to the hospital by her distraught, helpless parents.

[280] Results from a search performed September 9, 2008:

(1) "Abortion is a woman's choice." Miami Herald, August 16, 2008.

(2) "Illegal abortions killed women." Monroe, Louisiana News-Star, January 20, 2008.

(3) "Parental Involvement Laws for Abortion in the United States...." Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Spring 2007.

(4) "Parental Notification Law Should Be Altered." Indiana Post-Tribune, April 11, 2007.

(5) "Teenage Abortion Waivers Not Rare." Palm Beach Post, October 29, 2006.

(6) "Measure 43: It's a life and death issue." The Oregonian, September 18, 2006.

(7) "When the Parents Can't Know." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 1, 2006.

(8) "When the Parents Can't Know." New York Times, July 29, 2006.

(9) "When parental involvement laws go wrong." The Humanist, May 1, 2006.

(10) "Pros, cons of parental notification of abortion debated." Associated Press, February 21, 2006.

(11) "Emphasize Education, Prevention." Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, January 30, 2006.

(12) "In remembrance: Women who died from illegal and unsafe abortions." People's Weekly World, January 28, 2006.

(13) " 'These laws kill': Notification rules drives girls to back alleys pro choice activist says." Charleston Gazette, January 20, 2006.

NOTE: For specific examples, see the next three footnotes.

[281] Editorial: "When the Parents Can't Know." By Judith Warner. New York Times, July 29, 2006. http://select.nytimes.com/...

"I think, first, of Becky Bell, who in 1988 died of an illegal abortion because she was too ashamed to comply with Indiana's requirement that she notify her parents of her intent to end her pregnancy."

[282] Article: "Pros, cons of parental notification of abortion debated." By Jennifer Bundy, Associated Press, February 21, 2006.

"Indiana had a parental notification law in 1988. But Bell's daughter, Becky, did not want to tell her parents, so she had an illegal abortion. She died a week later from complications caused by dirty instruments used in the procedure, her father said after a news conference preceding the hearing."

[283] Paper: "Parental Involvement Laws for Abortion in the United States and the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child: Can International Law Secure the Right to Choose for Minors?" By Katie Hatziavramidis. Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Spring 2007.

Becky Bell, a teenager who became pregnant in Indiana, a state that requires parental consent for an abortion, was too embarrassed to tell her parents of her pregnancy.36 Instead, Becky sought an illegal abortion.37 She died of complications a week later, at the age of seventeen.38 …

Thus, the argument that parental involvement laws are beneficial because they prevent abortions rings hollow; they merely increase the possibility that a minor may delay or reject safe, legal healthcare in favor of more clandestine but potentially dangerous procedures. …

The author is an attorney in the greater Chicago area, and her interests center on human and civil rights matters, particularly employment discrimination. She has testified before the Texas Senate on parental involvement laws and been active in the fields of gender and reproductive rights for over a decade.

[284] Article: "In Debate on Abortion, 2 Girls Make It Real." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, October 27, 1991. http://query.nytimes.com/...

[285] 60 Minutes. CBS, February 24, 1991.

[286] Web page: "The Mission of Human Life International." Accessed September 8, 2008 at http://www.hli.org/mission.html

"The mission of HLI is to promote and defend the sanctity of life and family around the world according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church through prayer, service and education."

[287] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

[288] Entry: "abortion." American Heritage Dictionary of Science. Edited by Robert K. Barnhart. Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

"a   birth that occurs before the embryo or fetus develops enough to live on its own, usually during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy (spontaneous abortion) … SYN: miscarriage."

[289] Editorial: "In Indiana and Maryland, a tale of two abortions." By James A. Miller (director of research for Human Life International). Baltimore Evening Sun, February 15, 1991. Page A21.

I tracked down the doctor who performed Becky Bell's autopsy, Jesse Giles. Incredibly enough, Becky Bell's parents … never bothered to talk to the doctor who wrote the report.

When Giles wrote the word "abortion" in his autopsy report, he never imagined that abortion advocates would one day look over his shoulder and seize upon that word to promote their agenda. Giles used the word "abortion" in the way it had always been used in medicine prior to the national debate. He meant a spontaneous abortion. In short, he meant a miscarriage.

If Giles had meant a deliberate surgical abortion, he would have used the word "induced" to describe it. Giles told me that there is no evidence of an induced abortion, and in his professional opinion Becky Bell suffered a miscarriage.

Unfortunately, another pathologist stuck the word "septic" immediately before the word "abortion" on the report's cover page.

[290] Press Release: "Human Life International Comments on HBO's 'Pro-Abortion Fraud': The Becky Bell Story." PR Newswire, October 20, 1992.

Giles believes Becky Bell "underwent a spontaneous abortion, a miscarriage." (3)

Moreover, Giles has flatly stated that "I am astounded that they would assert that my (autopsy) report proves that there was an instrumented, illegal abortion." (4) …

3. Personal communications, Dr. Jesse C. Giles with James A. Miller, HLI Director of Research, fall and winter of 1990, spring 1991.

4. Personal communication, Dr. Jesse C. Giles, Feb. 25, 1991, the day after CBS's "60 Minutes" broadcast of "The Becky Bell Story." The "they" referred to by Giles was "60 Minutes" and the Bell parents.

[291] Emails sent to Dr. Giles on July 31 and August 11, 2008 went unanswered. On August 11th Dr. Giles was reached via phone and he stated, "I don't really want to talk about the case."

[292] Email from Dr. Pless, August 4, 2008.

"Jesse Giles … was a fellow in training at the time of the autopsy. He was present for the autopsy - but he was operating under my supervision."

[293] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

While performing an autopsy on her, Dr. John Pless, head of forensic pathology at Indiana University Medical Center, found fetal material and evidence of an infection in Becky's genital tract. To him, that indicated a botched abortion.* …

Pathologist Pless says, "we can't determine" precisely how Bell died. He found no evidence of internal injury, which he felt ruled out a self-induced abortion. Nor were there any marks on Becky's cervix that would be left by the instruments commonly used for clinic abortions. He theorizes someone pushed something up her cervix without leaving a sign. …

"I cannot prove she had an illegal abortion. I cannot prove she had anything but a spontaneous abortion," said Pless, who said he based his conclusions on "the percentages" of what would most likely to produce the results he observed.

* NOTE: When asked by Just Facts if this was an accurate representation of his view, Dr. Pless responded, "I did not say that it was a botched abortion. Those are not my words. I would never use the work 'botched'. It could have been an abortion performed correctly by all standards that got infected. If Becky Bell's parents knew that she had had surgery then they could have taken her to the doctor for antibiotic therapy which would have saved her life if administered when she first developed symptoms." [e-mail: August 1, 2008.]

[294] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology). Pages 5-6:

REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM … There is evidence of recent pregnancy with recent partial abortion. The uterus is enlarged consistent with current pregnancy of age approximately 2-3 months. … The lower third of the uterine cavity has only the usual flat mucosa without obvious evidence of instrumentation. However, the upper 2/3 of the uterine cavity has a mixture of blood clot and necrotic [dead] and hemorrhagic [bloody] products of conception. … The serosa [outer lining] of the uterus is smooth and glistening and without exudate [anything oozing from it], and there are no areas of perforation or pus in or around the uterus.

[295] Emails from Dr. Pless:

August 1, 2008: "The infection spread through the blood stream from the uterus to the lungs. The source of the infection was the tissue products from the pregancy [sic] that had been incompletely removed."

August 4, 2008: "I can not rule out a spontaneous abortion. The presence of infection suggests that it was not spontaneous."

August 11, 2008: "The same micro-organism was cultured in the uterus and the lung. It is unlikely that the infection originated in the lung and then went to the uterus."

[296] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology). Page 6:

SPECIMENS FOR CULTURE: Blood bacterial culture, lung tissue swabs for bacterial culture and bilateral pleural [membrane surrounding the lungs and chest cavity] fluid swabs for bacterial culture.

MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION: Tissue samples representative of the major organs have been processed onto glass slides for microscopic examination. These histologic specimens have been examined and there are no additional significant pathologic findings other than those noted on the Anatomic Findings.

[297] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology). Pages 3-4:

"NECK ORGANS: The mucosa of the hypopharynx, larynx and trachea is smooth and glistening without ulceration or tumor."

[298] Email from Dr. Pless, August 21, 2008. "There was no upper airway disease - so the only possiblity [sic] was spread from the uterus. Yes, my memory could be faulty after 20 years."

[299] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

Page 2: "CIRCUMSTANTIAL SUMMARY … Blood culture from the hospital showed no growth, but sputum [mucus and other matter from the lungs] cultures grew streptococcus pneumoniae."

[300] Paper: "Role of two-component systems in the virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae." By G. K. Paterson and others. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2006. Pages 355-363. http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/full/55/4/355

Page 355:

Understanding of how the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae perceives and responds to its environment in the host offers insight into the pathogenesis of disease caused by this important bacterium and the potential for improved interventions. …

… S. pneumoniae is normally found as a harmless commensal of the human upper respiratory tract. However, depending on host and bacterial factors that are not fully understood, the pneumococcus is also a major cause of diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, septicaemia, bronchitis and otitis media. …

Page 357: "[T]he importance of genes to virulence varies with the site of infection...."

Page 361: "Pneumococcal [Streptococcus pneumoniae] TCSs are important virulence factors of this significant human pathogen. Interestingly, their contribution to virulence can vary depending on pneumococcal strain and infection site."

[301] Book: Case Files: Microbiology, Second edition. By Eugene C. Toy and others. McGraw-Hill Medical, 2008.

Page 150: "Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) … commonly colonizes the upper airway in humans, more frequently in children than adults. … Pneumococcal pneumonia {What Becky had} typically follows a milder upper respiratory infection."

[302] Book: School Nurse Emergency Care Course, Second edition. Loyola University Medical Center, 2003. http://www.schoolhealthservicesny.com/...

Page 146:

In viral pneumonia, the history includes an upper respiratory infection of gradual onset. Bacterial pneumonia {What Becky had} has a more sudden onset; the student will usually appear ill, with fever, chills, cough, and chest pain.

The signs and symptoms that accompany pneumonia in older children include a nonproductive cough, fever, pleural pain, dyspnea, and an increased respiratory rate.

NOTE: Observe that there is no mention of upper airway disease in the quote above.

[303] Email from Dr. Pless, September 2, 2008. Note that Dr. Pless was not asked to modify the report.

[304] Review: "Teen-Agers Face Reality On Both Sides of Screen." By John J. O'Connor. New York Times, October 13, 1992. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"Becky ends up having an illegal abortion and dying of a resultant infection. … "The Becky Bell Story" is tough and persuasive."

[305] Press Release: "Human Life International Comments on HBO's 'Pro-Abortion Fraud': The Becky Bell Story." PR Newswire, October 20, 1992.

"Becky, accompanied by best friend 'Kelly,' is shown entering a small building in a seedy part of town and then walking upstairs to meet her illegal, "back-alley" abortionists."

[306] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

[307] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

[308] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27.

[309] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

… Heather Clark, a neighbor and Becky's closest friend at the time of her death.

… With Clark in tow, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic where a counselor listed her options. …

Heather Clark fought back anger -- she didn't believe then her friend had had an abortion and still doesn't. …

Thursday night, Clark stopped by to visit. She says Becky asked her to schedule an abortion in Louisville for Saturday.

[310] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"REBECCA BELL reportedly was at a party where various drugs were being used (cocaine, "speed" and LSD) on the week-end of September 10-11, claimed that someone had put "speed" or cocaine in her drink."

[311] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27.

Page 25: "I was laying awake in bed waiting for her to come home. At 12:45 in the morning, I heard her trying to open the door. She was crying and said, 'Mom, it was a horrible party. I feel like I've got the flu like Dad.' "

[312] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"On Tuesday, she fainted at work."

[313] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"On Tuesday, she fainted at work. She stayed home the next two days, resisting her parents' pleas that she go to the doctor."

NOTE: Observe that there is a possible disparity with the next footnote regarding the first day in which she stayed home from school.

[314] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"On Tuesday, September 13, she awoke with a neck ache, stayed home from school and developed an elevated temperature. She was somewhat improved on Wednesday...."

[315] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27. Page 25:

After school on Monday, she still felt sick. By Wednesday she had a fever of 104 and a strange cough. I told her we were going to the doctor. She turned white. She said, 'Mom, oh, Mom, please, oh, please, I don't want to go. Just give me some aspirin and I'll be okay, please, please.'

She was nearly hysterical, so I respected her wishes.

[316] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

"Thursday night, Clark stopped by to visit. She says Becky asked her to schedule an abortion in Louisville for Saturday."

[317] Article: "Abortion debate shifting; Individuals become symbols in dispute." By Joe Frolik. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1990. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/

Friday morning, Becky staggered to the bathroom. Bleeding. Her mom assumed she was having her period. After helping Becky back to bed, she insisted they go to the doctor. At last, Becky agreed.

The family physician diagnosed severe pneumonia and sent her to the hospital.

[318] Coroner's Report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Dennis J. Nicholas, M.D. (Coroner of Marion County, Indiana). Case number 88-0880. October 3, 1988.

"She was somewhat improved on Wednesday but was found on Friday, September 16 when her father went home at about noon and she was ill. He took her for an x-ray which showed pneumonia bilaterally."

[319] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

Page 2: "CIRCUMSTANTIAL SUMMARY … She was taken to St. Vincent hospital approximately 4:00 PM on Friday, September 16, 1988."

[320] Book: Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. Edited by Karen A Schneider. NARAL Foundation, 1997. Chapter entitled "Becky Bell." By Karen Bell (Becky's mother). Pages 24-27.

Page 26: "Late that night, with grandma, grandpa, and other relatives gathered, the doctor said, 'We don't know if we can save the baby.' And I thought, 'The baby? My God, Becky was pregnant.' "

[321] Autopsy report: "Rebecca Suzanne Bell." By Jesse C. Giles. Forensic Division, Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, September 17, 1988, 7:30 A.M. Signatories: John E. Pless, M.D. (Forensic Pathologist, Division of Forensic Pathology) & Jesse C. Giles, M.D. (Fellow in Forensic Pathology, Division of Forensic Pathology).

Page 2: "CIRCUMSTANTIAL SUMMARY … She subsequently experienced an unexpected cardiopulmonary arrest, and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit where she died at 11:29 PM on September 16, 1988."

[322] Autopsy number 89-593: "Erica Richardson." By Julia C. Goodin & others. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland, June 28, 1989. Autopsy performed on March 3, 1989.

Page 1: "DESCRIPTION OF INJURY … Close examination of the anterior portion of the uterus showed a large irregular perforation of the anterior lower uterine wall which extended into a portion of the cervix."

Page 5: "OPINION: This, 16 year old black female, ERICA RICHARDSON, died from rupture of lower uterus and cervix with complications, including hemorrhage into the pelvic cavity surrounding the uterus and air embolism (air escaping into the vasculature and heart). According to police reports, the deceased was known to have been pregnant and this is consistent with autopsy findings. However, she had undergone and evacuation [abortion] procedure which resulted in perforation of the uterus."

[323] Article: "Teen's death after abortion brings suit." By Larry Perl. Prince George's Journal Weekly, May 30-31, 1990.

The malpractice suit claims that on the evening of March 1, 1989, Dr. Gene Crawford punctured 16-year-old Erica Kae Richardson's uterus and cervix — then left her "bleeding to death" on an operating table in his Laurel office for four hours, without monitoring vital signs.

At 10:45 p.m., Crawford carried Richardson to her aunt's car and told the aunt to "take [her] home and out her to bed," the suit states. … The aunt, deciding that her niece needed "emergency treatment," drove to Bowie Health Center, where Richardson was rushed into the emergency room at 11 p.m., in respiratory arrest, and died shortly after midnight the suit states. …

Richardson's mother … referred questions to the attorneys. … Donald McLaughlin said Richardson's aunt, Denise Crarey, helped Richardson get an abortion without telling Richardson's mother. McLaughlin added that though Crarey and Richardson's mother are sisters, they have "a very strained relationship." Crarey, a registered nurse, took Richardson first to Washington Hospital Center, which wouldn't perform the abortion because Richardson was too far along in her pregnancy [19 weeks], McLaughlin said.

[324] Article: "Mother is suing doctor: Daughter died after abortion." By Melanie Mader. Laurel Leader, June 29, 1990. Pages A1, 3.

Page 1: "[T]he 16-year-old Cheltenham girl...."

Page 3: "Richardson-Smith was unaware that her daughter was having an abortion until the Bowie medical center called her, McLaughlin said."

[325] Press release: "Human Life International Claims Maryland Health Department 'Ignores, Covers-Up' Abortion Deaths." PR Newswire, November 21, 1991.

"Erica Richardson, 16, died March 2, 1989, just hours after an abortion was performed upon her by Dr. Gene O. Crawford at his Metropolitan Women's Center, 9811 Mallard Dr., Laurel, Md."

[326] Maryland State Code § 20-103: "Abortion." State of Maryland. Accessed August 2008 at http://www.michie.com/...

(c) Waiver of notice authorized.-

(1) The physician may perform the abortion, without notice to a parent or guardian of a minor if, in the professional judgment of the physician:

(i) Notice to the parent or guardian may lead to physical or emotional abuse of the minor;

(ii) The minor is mature and capable of giving informed consent to an abortion; or

(iii) Notification would not be in the best interest of the minor.

(2) The physician is not liable for civil damages or subject to a criminal penalty for a decision under this subsection not to give notice.

[327] Report: Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics." By Howard N. Snyder. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U. S. Department of Justice, July 2000. http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf

Page 1: "The 1991 through 1996 NIBRS master files contain reports from law enforcement agencies in 12 States: Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. These reports were scanned to identify incidents of sexual assault."

Page 3 (graph): "Age profiles of sexual assault victims, by offense category: Forcible rape."

NOTE: The raw data used to construct this graph was e-mailed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to Just Facts on August 14, 2008.

[328] Book: Sex and America's Teenagers. By Patricia Donovan & others. Guttmacher Institute, 1994.

Page 28: "Forced Sex … Adapted from [the source cited in the footnote below. Page 111, Table 2]. … Those who answered affirmatively to the question "Was there ever a time when you were forced to have sex against your will, or were raped?" were classified as having had involuntary intercourse."

Data extracted from Figure 17:

Age of females who had intercourse	Involuntary intercourse only	Both voluntary and involuntary intercourse	Voluntary intercourse only
15 and younger	26%	14%	60%

[329] Study: "Nonvoluntary Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." By Kristin Anderson Moore & others. Family Planning Perspectives, May - June, 1989. Page 110-114.

Page 110: "Data from the 1987 round of the National Survey of Children indicate that seven percent of Americans aged 18-22 have experienced at least one episode of nonvoluntary sexual intercourse. Women were more likely than men to report having had such an experience, with just under half of all nonvoluntary experiences among women occurring before age 14."

Page 111: Data extracted from "Table 2. Cumulative proportions of young people who had experienced intercourse prior to given ages…":

 

Gender, Race, Age*	Percentage who had experienced voluntary intercourse	Percentage who had experienced intercourse (voluntary or involuntary)
Female, white, < 16 years old	10.6	15.3
Female, black, < 16 years old	20.7	23.5

NOTE: The figures in this chart are based upon raw numbers. Since the survey had an overrepresentation of black people as compared to the general U.S. population, the figures in the previous footnote are weighted to compensate for this overrepresentation.

Page 112: "Clearly, among both black and white women at younger ages, the proportions who had experienced intercourse are considerably higher when nonvoluntary sex is included in the estimate. Seven percent of white women reported having experienced intercourse by their 14th birthday, but only two percent reported having had a voluntary sexual experience by that age."

[330] Study: "Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey." By Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes. U.S. Department of Justice, June 2006. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/210346.pdf

Page 18: "Survey results show that rape occurs at an early age for many rape victims—21.6 percent of women and 48 percent of men were younger than 12 years old when they were first raped, and 32.4 percent of women and 23 percent of men were between ages 12 and 17. Thus, more than half (54 percent) of female victims and nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of male victims were first raped before their 18th birthday."

[331] Arkansas State Code, Title 20, Subtitle 2, Chapter 16, Subchapter 8: "Abortion — Parental Notification." Arkansas General Assembly. Accessed June 2008 at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/

20-16-801. Consent required.

Except as otherwise provided in §§ 20-16-804 and 20-16-805, no person may perform an abortion upon an unemancipated minor or upon a woman for whom a guardian or custodian has been appointed because of a finding of incompetency unless the person or the person's agent first obtains the written consent of either parent or the legal guardian or custodian. …

20-16-802. Definitions. …

(3) "Minor" means an individual under eighteen (18) years of age;

(4) "Parent" means:

(A) Either parent of the pregnant woman if they are both living;

(B) One (1) parent of the pregnant woman if only one (1) is living or if the second one cannot be located through reasonably diligent effort; or

(C) The court-appointed guardian or custodian if the pregnant woman has one

[332] Article: "Granite City Abortion Clinic Part Of Rape Investigation." By Cordell Whitlock. Channel 5, KDSK, St. Louis, November 16, 2006. http://www.ksdk.com/

"Police in Bryant, Ark., say Cheshier began assaulting the juvenile last year. In October, he was arrested and charged with rape. The victim told police Cheshier had gotten her pregnant and forced her to have an abortion."

[333] Article: "Protesters' photos may be clue in rape case." By Shane Graber. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 17, 2006. http://www.stltoday.com/

"The teen told police he got her pregnant and took her to a St. Louis-area abortion clinic in March, the affidavit said."

[334] Article: "Federal judge rejects request to enforce Illinois abortion law." Associated Press, March 2, 2008.

"The Parental Notice of Abortion Act was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995 but never enforced because the Illinois Supreme Court refused to issue rules spelling out how judges should handle appeals of the notification requirement."

[335] Brief: "Parental Involvement in Minors' Abortions." Guttmacher Institute, June 1, 2008. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf

"Illinois… Enforcement permanently or temporarily enjoined by a court order; policy not in effect."

[336] Article: "Granite City Abortion Clinic Part Of Rape Investigation." By Cordell Whitlock. Channel 5, KDSK, St. Louis, November 16, 2006. http://www.ksdk.com/

"Angela Michael frequently protests outside the clinic and police used a photo she took of Cheshier's car to prove he was there in March."

[337] Phone conversation with the arresting officer of Jeffrey Cheshier, June 12, 2008. Cheshier committed suicide. He was the alleged victim's stepfather. The girl kept detailed records on her calendar, and as such, Cheshier was facing about 12 counts of rape.

[338] Death Certificate:

Jeffery Cheshier

Birth Date: 14 Oct 1965

Death Date: 17 Jul 2007

Social Security Number: XXX-XX-XXXX

State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Arkansas

[339] House of Representatives Amendment to Senate Bill S.403: "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act." 109th United States Congress, September 26, 2006. http://thomas.loc.gov/

Sec. 2431. Transportation of minors in circumvention of certain laws relating to abortion

(a) Offense-

(1) GENERALLY- Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever knowingly transports a minor across a State line, with the intent that such minor obtain an abortion, and thereby in fact abridges the right of a parent under a law requiring parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision, in force in the State where the minor resides, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

(b) Exceptions-

(1) The prohibition of subsection (a) does not apply if the abortion was necessary to save the life of the minor because her life was endangered by a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, including a life endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.

(2) A minor transported in violation of this section, and any parent of that minor, may not be prosecuted or sued for a violation of this section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an offense under section 2 or 3 based on a violation of this section. ...

Sec. 2435. Child interstate abortion notification

(a) Offense-

(1) GENERALLY- A physician who knowingly performs or induces an abortion on a minor in violation of the requirements of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

(2) PARENTAL NOTIFICATION- A physician who performs or induces an abortion on a minor who is a resident of a State other than the State in which the abortion is performed must provide, or cause his or her agent to provide, at least 24 hours actual notice to a parent of the minor before performing the abortion. If actual notice to such parent is not possible after a reasonable effort has been made, 24 hours constructive notice must be given to a parent.

(b) Exceptions- The notification requirement of subsection (a)(2) does not apply if

(1) the abortion is performed or induced in a State that has, in force, a law requiring parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision and the physician complies with the requirements of that law;

(2) the physician is presented with documentation showing with a reasonable degree of certainty that a court in the minor's State of residence has waived any parental notification required by the laws of that State, or has otherwise authorized that the minor be allowed to procure an abortion;

(3) the minor declares in a signed written statement that she is the victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by a parent, and, before an abortion is performed on the minor, the physician notifies the authorities specified to receive reports of child abuse or neglect by the law of the State in which the minor resides of the known or suspected abuse or neglect;

(4) the abortion is necessary to save the life of the minor because her life was endangered by a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, including a life endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or because in the reasonable medical judgment of the minor's attending physician, the delay in performing an abortion occasioned by fulfilling the prior notification requirement of subsection (a)(2) would cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the minor arising from continued pregnancy, not including psychological or emotional conditions, but an exception under this paragraph does not apply unless the attending physician or an agent of such physician, within 24 hours after completion of the abortion, notifies a parent in writing that an abortion was performed on the minor and of the circumstances that warranted invocation of this paragraph; or

(5) the minor is physically accompanied by a person who presents the physician or his agent with documentation showing with a reasonable degree of certainty that he or she is in fact the parent of that minor.

[340] Study: "Statutory Rape: A Guide to State Laws and Reporting Requirements. By Asaph Glosser, Karen Gardiner & Mike Fishman. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the Lewin Group, December 15, 2004. http://www.hhs.gov/opa/pubs/statutory-rape-state-laws.pdf

Pages 15-16 (in pdf file): "Table 1: State Age Requirements."

[341] Study: "Statutory Rape: A Guide to State Laws and Reporting Requirements. By Asaph Glosser, Karen Gardiner & Mike Fishman. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the Lewin Group, December 15, 2004. http://www.hhs.gov/opa/pubs/statutory-rape-state-laws.pdf

Page 12: "Each state's reporting requirements identify certain individuals who are required to notify the authorities of suspected abuse. Although it varies by state, mandated reporters are typically individuals who encounter children through their professional capacity."

NOTES:

Pages 17-126 outline the laws in each state. The following 29 states and the District Of Columbia have laws that necessitate reporting of a sexual relationship between a 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

The following 20 states have laws that necessitate reporting of a sexual relationship between a 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl if the suspected perpetrator has care, control or custody of the child: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia.

Montana does not have a law that explicitly requires reporting of sexual abuse.

[342] Web page: "About Life Dynamics." Accessed September 11, 2008 at http://www.lifedynamics.com/Pro-life_Group/

"As an anti-abortion pro-life organization, we fight to change the abortion picture - to end legal abortion and return the right to life to unborn babies from the moment of conception. Our motto is, 'Pro-Life: without compromise, without exception, without apology.' "

[343] Report: "Child Predators." By Mark Crutcher. Life Dynamics, 2002. http://www.childpredators.com/Forms/ChildPredators.pdf

[344] Article: "Pro-Life Group Launches Undercover Sting." Fox News, May 31, 2002. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54079,00.html

"What she learned is that more than 90 percent of the clinic employees handling the calls said they would conceal the information provided by the caller, according to Life Dynamics president Mark Crutcher."

NOTE: Tapes were made of the phone calls and some have been circulated to the media, who has confirmed their authenticity. Details in the facts to follow.

[345] Report: "Child Predators." By Mark Crutcher. Life Dynamics, 2002. http://www.childpredators.com/Forms/ChildPredators.pdf

[346] Report: "Child Predators." By Mark Crutcher. Life Dynamics, 2002. http://www.childpredators.com/Forms/ChildPredators.pdf

[347] Report: "Child Predators." By Mark Crutcher. Life Dynamics, 2002. http://www.childpredators.com/Forms/ChildPredators.pdf

[348] Article: "Connecticut Abortion Clinics Look The Other Way." By Ted Greenberg. WTIC – TV, May 22, 2002. http://fox61.trb.com/

"So what does Planned Parenthood have to say about all this? Not much. As we did with the child advocate, we wanted to play the tapes for them and get their reaction, but they refused unless they could hear them first. We agreed to play the tapes over the phone for them, but still they refused an on-camera interview. Instead, they issued this short statement."

[349] Article: "Connecticut Abortion Clinics Look The Other Way." By Ted Greenberg. WTIC – TV, May 22, 2002. http://fox61.trb.com/

"So we made some calls to Connecticut Planned Parenthood centers and we asked for the names we heard. Some were not overly common names, like Heidi and Glenda. We found they indeed worked there. Also, the tones placing the calls on the tape match the Planned Parenthood phone numbers."

NOTE: Transcripts of some of the phone conversations were contained in this article, which is no longer posted.

[350] Ruling: Hodgson v. Minnesota. U.S. Supreme Court, June 25, 1990. Case 497 U.S. 417. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

[351] Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court: Hodgson v. Minnesota. American Psychological Association, September 1, 1989. http://www.apa.org/psyclaw/reproductivehealth.pdf

Pages 18-20.

[352] Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court: Hodgson v. Minnesota. American Psychological Association, March 16, 1987. http://www.apa.org/psyclaw/hodgson.pdf

Page 10.

[353] Ruling: Roper v. Simmons. U.S. Supreme Court, March 1, 2005. Case 543 U.S. 551. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

[354] Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court: Roper v. Simmons. American Psychological Association, July 19, 2004. http://www.apa.org/psyclaw/roper-v-simmons.pdf

Pages 7-8.

[355] Web page: "American Medical News." Accessed September 6, 2008 at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/

American Medical News is the newspaper for America's physicians. Published since 1958, it is one of the most widely read publications in the United States on news affecting the medical profession. From Medicare and managed care to public health and practice management, no other source covers the same range of current events affecting medical practice.

American Medical News is published by the American Medical Association and is intended to serve as a credible forum for information affecting physicians and their practices. The content of articles and the opinions expressed in AMNews are not necessarily endorsed by the AMA.

[356] Article: "Veto-proof majority in House votes to prohibit late-term procedure." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, November 20, 1995.

NOTE: The next footnote corroborates this.

[357] Entry: "abortion, partial-birth." Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Edited by Ida G. Dox & others. Fourth edition. Parthenon Publishing Group, 2002. Page 2:

"partial-birth a. (PBA) Common term for termination of a late pregnancy with a breech presentation. Labor is induced by conventional methods; the cervix is widely dilated and delivery is expedited by evacuation the cranial contents with a suction catheter, then compressing the cranium."

[358] Article: "2nd Trimester Abortion: An interview with W. Martin Haskell, MD." Cincinnati Medicine, Fall 1993. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Haskell Cincinnati Medicine.pdf

NOTE: This article describes the procedure in detail.

[359] Ruling: Gonzales v. Carhart. United States Supreme Court, April 18, 2007. Case 05-380. Decided 5-4. Majority: Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito. Concurring: Thomas, Scalia. Dissenting: Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, Breyer. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section I (A): "[Partial-birth abortion] gained public notoriety when, in 1992, Dr. Martin Haskell gave a presentation describing his method of performing the operation."

[360] Article: "An Abortion Rights Advocate Says He Lied About Procedure." By David Stout. New York Times, February 26, 1997. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"Ron Fitzsimmons, the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers…. In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along, Mr. Fitzsimmons said."

[361] Twenty weeks after fertilization. Intrauterine picture taken under the direction of Professor Andrzej Skawina of Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Antoni Marsinek of the Czerwiakowski Gynecological and Obstetrics Hospital (Krakow, Poland); Photographers: Andrzej Zachwieja and Jan Walczewski. Copyright: Life Issues.

NOTE: A number of different photographers have published intrauterine photos. I asked several such individuals if I could reproduce their pictures, and Life Issues was the only one that gave permission. The pictures from Life Issues look similar to those taken by the other photographers.

[362] Bill: "H.R. 1833 - Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)." U.S. Congress, March 27, 1996. http://thomas.loc.gov/

(a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. This paragraph shall not apply to a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury: Provided, That no other medical procedure would suffice for that purpose. This paragraph shall become effective one day after enactment.

(b)(1) As used in this section, the term 'partial-birth abortion' means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.

[363] Web page: "H.R. 1833 - Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed September 2008 at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h104-1833

Cosponsors: 155 total (20 Democrats, 135 Republicans).

[364] Web page: "Major Actions - H.R.1833: To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed September 3, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

 

DATE	ACTION
6/14/1995	Introduced in House
11/1/1995	Passed in House by Yeas and Nays: 288 – 139 (Roll Call 756).
12/7/1995	Passed in Senate with amendments by Yeas and Nays: 54 – 44 (Vote No. 596).
3/27/1996	Passed in House with Senate amendments by Yeas and Nays: 286 – 129 (Roll Call 94).
4/10/1996	Vetoed by President.
9/19/1996	Passed in House with the two-third majority required to override a Presidential veto by Yeas and Nays: 285 - 137 (Roll Call 422).
9/26/1996	Failed in Senate without the two-third majority required to override a Presidential veto by Yeas and Nays: 58-40 (Vote No. 301).

[365] Calculated with data from the following sources:

a) Vote Number 596: "H.R. 1833 - To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions." U.S. Senate, December 7, 1995. http://www.senate.gov/...

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting
Republican	45	7
Democratic	9	37	1

b) Vote Number 94: "H.R. 1833 - To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions (Agree to Senate Amendments)." U.S. House of Representatives, March 27, 1996. http://thomas.loc.gov/

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting
Republican	214	15	6
Democratic	72	113	9
Independent		1

Totals from House and Senate votes above:

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting	Total
Republican	259 (90%)	22 (8%)	6 (2%)	287
Democratic	81 (34%)	150 (63%)	9 (4%)	241

[366] Bill: "H.R. 1122 - Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)." U.S. Congress, October 8, 1997. http://thomas.loc.gov/

(a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. This paragraph shall not apply to a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury. This paragraph shall become effective one day after enactment.

(b)(1) As used in this section, the term 'partial-birth abortion' means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.

[367] Web page: "Major Actions - H.R. 1122: To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed September 3, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

DATE	ACTION
3/19/1997	Introduced in House
3/20/1997	Passed in House by Yeas and Nays: 295 – 136 (Roll Call 65).
5/20/1997	Passed in Senate with amendments by Yeas and Nays: 64 – 36 (Vote No. 71).
10/8/1997	Passed in House with Senate amendments by Yeas and Nays: 296 – 132 (Roll Call 500).
10/10/1997	Vetoed by President.
7/23/1998	Passed in House with the two-third majority required to override a Presidential veto by Yeas and Nays: 296 – 132 (Roll Call 325).
9/18/1998	Failed in Senate without the two-third majority required to override a Presidential veto by Yeas and Nays: 64 – 36 (Vote No. 277).

[368] Calculated with data from the following sources:

a) Vote Number 71: "H.R. 1122 - To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions." U.S. Senate, May 20, 1997. http://www.senate.gov/...

	Voted YES	Voted NO
Republican	51	4
Democratic	13	32

b) Vote Number 500: "H.R. 1122 - To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions (Agree to Senate Amendments)." U.S. House of Representatives, October 8, 1997. http://thomas.loc.gov/

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting
Republican	217	8	2
Democratic	79	123	4
Independent		1

Totals from House and Senate votes above:

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting	Total
Republican	268 (95%)	12 (4%)	2 (1%)	282
Democratic	92 (37%)	155 (62%)	4 (2%)	251

[369] Article: "Method to End 20-Week Pregnancies Stirs a Corner of the Abortion Debate." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, July 5, 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/...

[370] Article: "2nd Trimester Abortion: An interview with W. Martin Haskell, MD." Cincinnati Medicine, Fall 1993. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Haskell Cincinnati Medicine.pdf

"Dilation and Extraction (D & X) … was developed in 1993 by Cincinnati physician W. Martin Haskell, MD."

NOTE: This article describes the procedure in detail and explains how Haskell came to develop it.

[371] Article: "Method to End 20-Week Pregnancies Stirs a Corner of the Abortion Debate." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, July 5, 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/...

Dr. Haskell, whose paper on how to perform the procedure was distributed to other doctors by the National Abortion Federation, said in a letter to Mr. Canady's subcommittee: "Statements that fetuses are not dead until nearly the end of the procedure are not accurate. Death occurs early in the procedure if not before. Representations that fetuses are living, conscious, feeling pain, wiggling, kicking or trying to escape are totally fictitious."

[372] Article: "Shock-tactic ads target late-term abortion procedure: Foes hope campaign will sink federal abortion rights legislation." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, July 5, 1993. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/AmericanMedicalNews1993.pdf

A letter to the Star-Tribune said the procedure shown "is only performed after fetal death when an autopsy is necessary or to save the life of the mother." And the Morrisville, Vt., Transcript … quoted the abortion federation as providing similar information. "The fetus is dead 24 hours before the pictured procedure is undertaken, the editorial stated.

But Dr. Haskell and another doctor [McMahon] who routinely use the procedure for late term abortions told AMNews that the majority of fetuses aborted this way are alive until the end of the procedure.

[373] Article: "Method to End 20-Week Pregnancies Stirs a Corner of the Abortion Debate." By Tamar Lewin. New York Times, July 5, 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"But anti-abortion groups point to statements in earlier news accounts, including a 1993 article in The American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association, that quoted the two doctors as saying, 'The majority of fetuses aborted this way are alive until the end of the procedure.' "

[374] House Report 104-267: "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995." Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, September 27, 1995. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

Pages 5-6:

Dr. Martin Haskell and Dr. James McMahon, two abortionists who use the partial-birth abortion method, were interviewed by the American Medical News in 1993. These doctors "told the AMNews that the majority of fetuses aborted this way are alive until the end of the procedure."¹⁴

Dr. Haskell and the National Abortion Federation disputed the accuracy of the AMNews article after the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act" was introduced this year, claiming that out-of-context quotes were used.¹⁵ …

¹⁴ Diane M. Gianelli, "Shock-Tactic Ads Target Late--Term Abortion Procedure: Foes Hope Campaign Will Sink Federal Abortion Rights Legislation," American Medical News, July 5, 1993, at 3, 21.

[375] Article: "Veto-proof majority in House votes to prohibit late-term procedure." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, November 20, 1995.

"The accuracy of the article was challenged, two years after publication, by Dr. Haskell and the National Abortion Federation, who told Congress the doctors were quoted 'out of context.' "

[376] Letter: "Barbara Bolsen (Editor, American Medical News) to Charles T. Canady (Chairmen, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives)." July 11, 1995. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/AmericanMedicalNews1993.pdf

We have full documentation of these interviews, including tape recordings and transcripts. Enclosed is a transcript of the contested quotes that relate to the allegations of inaccuracies made against AMNews.

Let me also note that in the two years since publication of our story, neither the organization nor the physician who complained about the report in testimony to your committee has contacted the reporter or any editor at AMNews to complain about it. …

Relevant portions of recorded interview with Martin Haskell, MD:

AMNews: Let's talk first about whether or not the fetus is dead beforehand…

Haskell: No it's not. No, it's really not. A percentage are for various numbers of reasons. Some just because of the stress -- intrauterine stress during, you know, the two days that the cervix is being dilated. Sometimes the membranes rupture and it takes a very small superficial infection to kill a fetus in utero when the membranes are broken. So in my case, I would say probably about a third of those are definitely are [sic] dead before I actually start to remove the fetus. And probably the other two-thirds are not," said Dr. Haskell. …

[377] House Report 104-267: "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995." Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, September 27, 1995. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

Page 6:

In a letter to the Honorable Charles T. Canady, Dr. James McMahon, an abortionist who uses the partial-birth abortion method, implies that large doses of analgesia kill the baby before the doctor begins delivery. He states:

The fetus feels no pain through the entire series of procedures. This is because the mother is given narcotic analgesia at a dose based upon her weight. The narcotic is passed, via the placenta, directly into the fetal bloodstream. Due to the enormous weight difference, a medical coma is induced in the fetus. There is a neurological fetal demise. There is never a live birth.¹⁸ …

¹⁸ Letter from James T. McMahon, M.D., to Congressman Charles T. Canady (June 23, 1995) (on file with the Subcomm. on the Constitution of the House Comm. on the Judiciary).

[378] Newsletter: "Washington Report." By Michael Scott. American Academy of Anesthesiologists, May 1996. http://www.asahq.org/Newsletters/1996/05_96/washington.htm

[379] Letter: "Barbara Bolsen (Editor, American Medical News) to Charles T. Canady (Chairmen, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives)." July 11, 1995. See page 4 in pdf: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/AmericanMedicalNews1993.pdf

NOTE: This statement was made in an interview conducted for an article published on July 5, 1993. That Haskell was primarily referring to partial-birth abortion is demonstrated in the next two footnotes.

[380] Paper: "Dilation and Extraction for Late Second Trimester Abortion." By Martin Haskell. Presented at the Fall Risk Management Seminar of the National Abortion Federation, September 13, 1992. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Haskellinstructional.pdf

Page 28: "The author routinely performs this procedure [partial-birth abortion] on all patients 20 through 24 weeks LMP with certain exceptions."

[381] Article: "Shock-tactic ads target late-term abortion procedure: Foes hope campaign will sink federal abortion rights legislation." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, July 5, 1993. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/AmericanMedicalNews1993.pdf

But Dr. Haskell and another doctor who routinely use the [partial-birth] procedure for late term abortions…. Dr. Haskell said he performs abortions 'up until about 25 weeks' ' gestation, most of them elective."

[382] House Report 104-267: "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995." Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, September 27, 1995. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

Page 8:

The writings of both Dr. Haskell and Dr. McMahon advocate partial-birth abortion as the method they prefer for all late-term abortions.²² Dr. Haskell told the AMNews that the vast majority of the partial-birth abortions he performs are elective. He stated, "And I'll be quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20–24 week range. * * * In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons. And the other 80% are purely elective. * * *"²³

Dr. McMahon uses the partial-birth abortion method through the entire 40 weeks of pregnancy. He claims that most of the abortions he performs are "non-elective," but his definition of "non-elective" is extremely broad. Dr. McMahon sent a letter to the Constitution Subcommittee in which he described abortions performed because of the mother's youth or depression as "non-elective."²⁴

²² Haskell, supra note 4 at 27; Letter from James T. McMahon, M.D., to the Subcomm. on the Constitution of the House Comm. on the Judiciary (June 6, 1995) (on file with the Subcomm. on the Constitution of the House Comm. on the Judiciary).

²³ Letter from Barbara Bolsen, supra note 17.

²⁴ Letter from James T. McMahon, M.D., supra note 20.

[383] Letter to Congressman Christopher Smith (& others). October 2, 1995. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Anti-PBAletter1995.pdf

This surgical procedure is used only in rare cases fewer than 500 per year. It is most often performed in cases of wanted pregnancies gone tragically wrong, when a family learns late in pregnancy of severe fetal anomalies or a medical condition that threatens the pregnant woman's life or health.

[List of Signatories:] Advocates for Youth, The Guttmacher Institute, American Association of University Women, American Civil Liberties Union, American Humanist Association, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Americans for Democratic Action, Americans for Religious Liberty, Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Center for Women's Policy Studies, Clara Bell Duvall Education Fund, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Disciples for Choice, The Feminist Majority, Hollywood Women's Political Committee, Human Rights Campaign Fund, Institute for Research on Women's Health, International Projects Assistance Service, Medical Students for Choice, Michigan Welfare Rights League, National Abortion Federation, National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, National Asian Women's Health Network, National Association of Nurse Practitioners, National Black Women's Health Project, National Center for the ProChoice Majority, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National Organization for Women, National Republican Coalition for Choice, National Women's Health Network, National Women's Law Center, Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People For the American Way Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Action International, ProChoice Resource Center, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Society of Physicians for Reproductive Health and Choice, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, Voters For Choice, Women of Reform Judaism, The Federation of Temple Sisterhood, Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, Women's Law Project, Women's Legal Defense Fund, Women's Rabbinic Network, YWCA of the USA, Zero Population Growth

[384] Press Release: "Aiming at the Right to Abortion, Congress Votes to Ban a Medical Procedure that Saves Women's Lives." PR Newswire, November 1, 1995.

DISTRIBUTION: TO NATIONAL AND HEALTH/MEDICAL EDITORS…

Planned Parenthood Federation of America issued the following:

In an unprecedented intrusion by Congress into medical decisions, the U.S. House of Representatives today voted to ban a late abortion procedure designed to save women's lives. The procedure, dilation and extraction (D&X), is extremely rare and done only in cases when the woman's life is in danger or in cases of extreme fetal abnormality.

[385] Article: "Medicine adds to debate on late-term abortion: Abortion rights leader urges end to 'half truths'." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, March 3, 1997. http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/pba/AMAFitzimmons1997.pdf

"In November 1995, [Fitzsimmons] was interviewed by 'Nightline' … telling the reporter that women had these abortion only in the most extreme circumstances of life endangerment or fetal anomaly."

[386] Article: "An Abortion Rights Advocate Says He Lied About Procedure." By David Stout. New York Times, February 26, 1997. http://query.nytimes.com/...

"Mr. Fitzsimmons … appeared on 'Nightline' on ABC and … said the procedure was used rarely and only on women whose lives were in danger or whose fetuses were damaged."

[387] On September 4, 2008, Just Facts contacted the ABC News Store to obtain a copy of this transcript and was told that the program aired on 11/7/95, was entitled "Late-term abortions," and ABC's legal department has not approved it for release. This was confirmed by a search of their archives which revealed that this episode is missing and that the shows surrounding it on 11/06/95 and 11/09/95 are available [http://abcnewsstore.go.com/...].

[388] Press Release: "Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony, March 21, 1996, Diana Zuckerman, National Policy Director of Planned Parenthood to the House Judiciary Committee on the Constitution, Partial-Birth Abortion." Planned Parenthood Federation Of America, March 21, 1996.

We at Planned Parenthood are outraged that Congress is continuing to intrude into difficult and private medical decisions best left to women, families, and doctors. The attempt to ban dilation and extraction (D&X), a late abortion procedure that is used very rarely and in the most tragic circumstances, places women's lives in jeopardy. …

The truth is that the D&X procedure is only used when the woman's life or health is in danger or in cases of extreme fetal anomaly.

[389] Article: "The Facts on Partial-Birth Abortion; Both Sides Have Misled the Public." By Ruth Padawer. Bergen Record, September 15, 1996.

Doctors at Metropolitan Medical in Englewood estimate that their clinic alone performs 3,000 abortions a year on fetuses between 20 and 24 weeks, of which at least half are by intact dilation and evacuation. …

"I always try [a partial-birth abortion first]," said a Metropolitan Medical gynecologist, who, like every other provider interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. …

"We have an occasional amnio abnormality, but it's a minuscule amount," said one of the doctors at Metropolitan Medical, an assessment confirmed by another doctor there. "Most are Medicaid patients, black and white, and most are for elective, not medical, reasons: people who didn't realize, or didn't care, how far along they were. Most are teenagers."

NOTE: This article alleges that "abortion foes" have also misled in this debate. Most of the points made to substantiate this statement are addressed in House Report 104-267. One that is not is this statement: "In reality, only about 600, or 0.04 percent, of abortions of any type are performed after 26 weeks, according to the latest figures from Guttmacher." Compare that with the following from American Medical News:

Accurate figures on second- and third-trimester abortions are elusive because a number of states don't require doctors to report abortion statistics. For example, one-third of all abortions are said to occur in California, but the state has no reporting requirements. …

There is a particular debate over the number of third-trimester abortions. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD, estimated in 1984 that 4,000 are performed annually. The abortion federation puts the number at 300 to 500. Dr. Haskell says that "probably Koop's numbers are more correct." [Article: "Shock-tactic ads target late-term abortion procedure: Foes hope campaign will sink federal abortion rights legislation." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, July 5, 1993. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/AmericanMedicalNews1993.pdf]

[390] Letter to the editor and response: "Abortion Numbers Questioned." From "The management of Metropolitan Medical Associates," September 23, 1996. Bergen Record, October 2, 1996.

The editor replies: The Record stands behind the story and rebuts the claims in Metropolitan Medical's unsigned letter. …

Metropolitan Medical's letter contradicts what two prominent staff physicians at the clinic, one of whom is also a high-ranking administrator, told Staff Writer Ruth Padawer independently of each other. The first physician said the clinic each week performs 60 to 100 abortions at 20 weeks gestation or later, or 3,000 to 5,000 a year. The second physician told Padawer that the clinic handles 3,000 such cases a year.

Both physicians also independently told Padawer that at least half the post-20 week abortions performed at the clinic were by the intact D&E method. …

As for the Metropolitan Medical's claim that a quotation by one of its doctors was "erroneous": Padawer read back to him all of his quotations, including the one about the Medicaid patients. She also read him the paragraph preceding and following the quotations. He confirmed the accuracy and context of each quotation.

[391] Article: "An Abortion Rights Advocate Says He Lied About Procedure." By David Stout. New York Times, February 26, 1997. http://query.nytimes.com/...

Ron Fitzsimmons, the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, said he intentionally misled in previous remarks about the procedure … because he feared that the truth would damage the cause of abortion rights. …

… Mr. Fitzsimmons recalled the night in November 1995, when he appeared on "Nightline" on ABC and "lied through my teeth" when he said the procedure was used rarely and only on women whose lives were in danger or whose fetuses were damaged. …

In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along, Mr. Fitzsimmons said.

[392] Article: "Medicine adds to debate on late-term abortion: Abortion rights leader urges end to 'half truths'." By Diane M. Gianelli. American Medical News, March 3, 1997. http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/pba/AMAFitzimmons1997.pdf

What abortion rights supporters failed to acknowledge, Fitzsimmons said, is that the vast majority of these abortion are performed in the 20-plus week range on healthy fetuses and healthy mothers. "The abortion rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so, probably, does everyone else," he said.

He knows it, he says, because when the bill to ban it came down the pike, he called around until he found doctors who did them.

"I learned right away that this was being done for the most part in cases that did not involve those extreme circumstances," he said. …

[Quoting Fitzsimmons:] "When you're a doctor who does these abortions and the leaders of your movement appear before Congress and go on network news and say these procedures are done in only the most tragic of circumstances, how do you think it makes you feel? You know they're primarily done on healthy women and healthy fetuses, and it makes you feel like a dirty little abortionist with a dirty little secret."

[393] Article: "Abortion: Activists lied: Pro-choice advocates admit to deception." Bergen Record, February 27, 1997. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PBA activists lied.pdf

[394] Bill: "S.3: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)." U.S. Congress, October 21, 2003. http://thomas.loc.gov/

Sec. 1531. Partial -birth abortions prohibited

(a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial -birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This subsection does not apply to a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. This subsection takes effect 1 day after the enactment.

(b) As used in this section--

(1) the term 'partial -birth abortion' means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion --

(A) deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother, for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus; and

(B) performs the overt act, other than completion of delivery, that kills the partially delivered living fetus…

[395] Web page: "Cosponsors - S.3: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed September 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

Cosponsors: 45 total (2 Democrats, 43 Republicans).

[396] Web page: "Major Actions - H.R. 1122: To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions." U.S. Library of Congress. Accessed September 3, 2008 at http://thomas.loc.gov/

DATE	ACTION
2/14/2003	Introduced in Senate
3/13/2003	Passed in Senate by Yeas and Nays: 64 – 33 (Vote No. 51).
6/4/2003	Passed in House without objection.
10/2/2003	Conference Report passed in House by Yeas and Nays: 281 – 142 (Roll Call 530).
10/21/2003	Conference Report passed in Senate by Yeas and Nays: 64 – 34 (Vote No. 402).
11/5/2003	Signed by President. Became Public Law No: 108-105.

[397] Calculated with data from the following sources:

1) Vote Number 530: "S.3: A bill to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion." U.S. House of Representatives, October 2, 2003. http://thomas.loc.gov/

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting
Republican	218	4	7
Democratic	63	137	5
Independent		1

2) Vote Number 402: "S.3: A bill to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion." U.S. Senate, October 21, 2003. http://www.senate.gov/...

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting
Republican	47	3	1
Democratic	17	30	1
Independent		1

Totals from House and Senate votes above:

 

	Voted YES	Voted NO	Not Voting	Total
Republican	268 (95%)	12 (4%)	2 (1%)	282
Democratic	92 (37%)	155 (62%)	4 (2%)	251

[398] Bill: "S.3 - Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)." U.S. Congress, October 21, 2003. http://thomas.loc.gov/

Sec. 1531. Partial -birth abortions prohibited

(a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial -birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

[399] Ruling: Gonzales v. Carhart. United States Supreme Court, April 18, 2007. Case 05-380. Decided 5-4. Majority: Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito. Concurring: Thomas, Scalia. Dissenting: Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, Breyer. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section IV (B): "In addition the Act's prohibition only applies to the delivery of "a living fetus." … If the [partial-birth abortion] procedure is truly necessary in some circumstances, it appears likely an injection that kills the fetus is an alternative under the Act that allows the doctor to perform the procedure."

[400] Article: "Harsh Details Shift Tenor of Abortion Fight; Both Sides Bend Facts On Late-Term Procedure." By Barbara Vobejda & David Brown. Washington Post, September 17, 1996. Page A01.

"The usual alternative to intact D&E is "dismemberment D&E," in which the fetal limbs are pulled off the body in utero, sometimes while the fetus is still alive."

NOTE: See the next footnote for a more detailed explanation.

[401] Ruling: Gonzales v. Carhart. United States Supreme Court, April 18, 2007. Case 05-380. Decided 5-4. Majority: Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito. Concurring: Thomas, Scalia. Dissenting: Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, Breyer. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

Section I (A):

Of the remaining abortions that take place each year, most occur in the second trimester. The surgical procedure referred to as "dilation and evacuation" or "D&E" is the usual abortion method in this trimester. …

After sufficient dilation the surgical operation can commence. The woman is placed under general anesthesia or conscious sedation. The doctor, often guided by ultrasound, inserts grasping forceps through the woman's cervix and into the uterus to grab the fetus. The doctor grips a fetal part with the forceps and pulls it back through the cervix and vagina, continuing to pull even after meeting resistance from the cervix. The friction causes the fetus to tear apart. For example, a leg might be ripped off the fetus as it is pulled through the cervix and out of the woman. The process of evacuating the fetus piece by piece continues until it has been completely removed. A doctor may make 10 to 15 passes with the forceps to evacuate the fetus in its entirety, though sometimes removal is completed with fewer passes. Once the fetus has been evacuated, the placenta and any remaining fetal material are suctioned or scraped out of the uterus. The doctor examines the different parts to ensure the entire fetal body has been removed. See, e.g., Nat. Abortion Federation, supra, at 465; Planned Parenthood, supra, at 962.

Some doctors, especially later in the second trimester, may kill the fetus a day or two before performing the surgical evacuation. They inject digoxin or potassium chloride into the fetus, the umbilical cord, or the amniotic fluid. Fetal demise may cause contractions and make greater dilation possible. Once dead, moreover, the fetus' body will soften, and its removal will be easier. Other doctors refrain from injecting chemical agents, believing it adds risk with little or no medical benefit. Carhart, supra, at 907-912; Nat. Abortion Federation, supra, at 474-475. …

The main difference between the two procedures is that in [a partial-birth abortion] a doctor extracts the fetus intact or largely intact with only a few passes.

Section III (C) 1:

The Act excludes most D&Es [dilation and evacuations] in which the fetus is removed in pieces, not intact. … Removing the fetus in this manner does not violate the Act because the doctor will not have delivered the living fetus to one of the anatomical landmarks or committed an additional overt act that kills the fetus after partial delivery. …

D&E does not involve the delivery of a fetus because it requires the removal of fetal parts that are ripped from the fetus as they are pulled through the cervix.

[402] Ruling: Gonzales v. Carhart. United States Supreme Court, April 18, 2007. Case 05-380. Decided 5-4. Majority: Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito. Concurring: Thomas, Scalia. Dissenting: Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, Breyer. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/...

In No. 05-380 (Carhart) respondents are LeRoy Carhart, William G. Fitzhugh, William H. Knorr, and Jill L. Vibhakar, doctors who perform second-trimester abortions. These doctors filed their complaint against the Attorney General of the United States in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. They challenged the constitutionality of the Act and sought a permanent injunction against its enforcement.