Criminalizing Safe Abortion
Bush is systematically transforming safe, legal procedures that ensure reproductive health into criminal acts, stripping women and their doctors of the right to make informed medical decisions. November 5, 2003: On this date, President Bush signed legislation into law to ban so-called "partial-birth" abortions, declaring that "the right to life cannot be denied by government." Kate Michelman stated, "Today, we saw the real George Bush. If we could afford to, we would put that speech on television every day from now until the election. I'm glad that the President has decided to stop hiding his true colors on this issue. Any shred of doubt that this is the most anti-choice President this country has ever had has been convincingly erased." But within an hour, a federal judge issued a limited temporary restraining order to block the law, sharply questioning its constitutionality. The so-called "partial-birth" abortion ban seeks to prevent doctors from providing the most thorough information to women, potentially causing women to make uninformed decisions about their health with devastating consequences. Partial-birth abortion is a non-medical term created by anti-choice activists to confuse people; it does not refer to any specific medical procedure. This legislation lacks any exception in the name of women's health, and contains language that is so vague that it could out make pre-viability abortions illegal. This deceptive bill puts decisions about the best medical care in the hands of politicians, rather than women and their doctors.
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