Bush Becomes First President to Criminalize Abortion Procedures
Washington, DC— On Wednesday, November 5th, President Bush signed a bill that criminalizes certain types of abortion procedures. President Bush is the first president in the nation’s history to criminalize safe abortion procedures. The bill has been referred to a ban on “partial-birth” abortion, a terminology not recognized by the medical community. It is not limited to third trimester abortions, as some of its proponents have suggested, but will criminalize certain abortion procedures throughout the pregnancy. The measure does not even have a health exception, one of the key reasons the Supreme Court found a similar Nebraska law unconstitutional in 2000. “For the first time since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, the President has criminalized certain types of abortion procedures,” said Tim Stanley, executive director of Minnesota NARAL. “By signing this bill, President Bush is asserting he is more qualified to make individual, private medical decisions than women and their doctors. Last I looked George Bush had an MBA not an MD. What right does he have to insert government and politicians into private, personal medical matters?” “At a time when Americans want their government focused on things like getting the economy going, protecting us from terrorism, fixing our schools and improving health care, President Bush is busy outlawing a range of safe procedures and severely limiting the ability of doctors and women to make important private medical decisions,” said Stanley. Minnesota NARAL is an affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America and is the largest grassroots pro-choice group in Minnesota. Contact: Tim Stanley - 651-602-7655 For more information, visit www.prochoiceamerica.org. ###
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