Partial birth ban wailers

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Aside from zebras, few things are black and white. But the partial-birth abortion ban President Bush is about to sign is an exception. And one of the best demonstrations of why actually came from one of the most zealous supporters of keeping the procedure legal.

Back in 1995, when the House first considered a ban, then-Rep. Pat Schroeder, Colorado Democrat, fought desperately to prevent simple drawings of the surgery from being circulated among her fellows. She declared it would turn the House into "a chamber of horrors." There she was, declaring that something too awful to illustrate must nonetheless be kept legal.

The procedure, as accurately described in the Los Angeles Times, "requires a physician to extract a fetus, feet first, from the womb and through the birth canal until all but its head is exposed. Then the tips of surgical scissors are thrust into the base of the fetus' skull, and a suction catheter is inserted through the opening and the brain is removed."

Now you see what worried Mrs. Schroeder. And you can understand why, although surveys often show Americans favoring legalized abortion (depending on the wording), a January Gallup poll found 70 percent want partial-birth abortion banned.

Yet the National Coalition of Abortion Providers back in 1997 estimated that the method was used 3,000 to 5,000 times annually; while a recent Alan Guttmacher Institute survey indicates the number is steadily increasing.

I interviewed a woman who temporarily assisted a doctor who performed the procedure. "It was the worst thing I ever saw," Brenda Shafer told me. "I'm a nurse. I've seen just about every kind of death you can imagine. I've had children die in my arms. But nothing compares to what I saw in that clinic. I kept telling myself this isn't happening; it's just in a dream."

A Downs syndrome child she saw aborted was 6 months old. "I've had a couple of friends who had babies that old," said Nurse Shafer. After the fetus' brains were sucked out and it was delivered, the mother "held it in her arms and when she looked at that baby she started crying 'Oh God, forgive me. What have I done?' We had to take the baby away from her; she wouldn't give it up."

Partial-birth abortion advocates don't say it's the best thing since indoor plumbing, but they insist it must remain a woman's choice. Yet the only true choice is an informed one, and it's hard to imagine many women would knowingly undergo so horrific a surgery.

But a third of the Senate thought otherwise. "For the first time in history Congress is banning a medical procedure that is considered medically necessary by physicians," claimed lead opponent, Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat. Not true.