The 1996 United Pentecostal Church general conference authorized a letter to President Clinton in which the USA UPC expresses its outrage at his veto. Clinton had said that he vetoes the bill because it did not provide for saving the mother's life. In answer, the UPC letter quoted a Wall Street Journal article co-authored by Doctor Nancy Romer, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wright State University and chairperson of obstetrics and gynecology at Miami Valley Hospital in Ohio. She said:
Contrary to what abortion activists would have us believe, partial-birth abortion is never medically indicated to protect a woman's health or her fertility. In fact, the opposite is true. The procedure can pose a significant and immediate threat to both the pregnant woman's health and her fertility.
Consider the dangers inherent in partial-birth abortion, which usually occurs after the fifth month of pregnancy. A woman's cervix is forcibly dilated over several days, which risks creating an "incompetent cervix," the leading cause of premature deliveries. It is also an invitation to infection, a major cause of infertility. The abortionist then reaches into the womb to pull a child feet first out of the mother, but leaves the head inside. Under normal circumstances, physicians avoid breech births whenever possible; in this case, the doctor internally causes one--and risks tearing the uterus in the process. He then forces scissors through the base of the baby's skull--which remains lodged just within the birth canal. This is a partially "blind" procedure, done by feel, risking direct scissors injury to the uterus and laceration of the cervix or lower uterine segment, resulting in immediate and massive bleeding and the threat of shock or even death to the mother.
None of this risk is ever necessary for any reason. Never is the partial-birth procedure necessary. Not for hydrocephaly (excessive cerebrospinal fluid in the head), not for polyhydramnios (an excess amount of amniotic fluid collecting in the women) and not for trisomy (genetic abnormalities characterized by an extra chromosome).
Sometimes, as in the case of hydrocephaly, it is first necessary to drain some of the fluid from the baby's head. And in some cases, when vaginal delivery is not possible, a doctor performs a Caesarian section. But in no case is it necessary to partially deliver an infant through the vagina and then kill the infant."
Contrary to what abortion activists would have us believe, partial-birth abortion is never medically indicated to protect a woman's health or her fertility. In fact, the opposite is true. The procedure can pose a significant and immediate threat to both the pregnant woman's health and her fertility.
Consider the dangers inherent in partial-birth abortion, which usually occurs after the fifth month of pregnancy. A woman's cervix is forcibly dilated over several days, which risks creating an "incompetent cervix," the leading cause of premature deliveries. It is also an invitation to infection, a major cause of infertility. The abortionist then reaches into the womb to pull a child feet first out of the mother, but leaves the head inside. Under normal circumstances, physicians avoid breech births whenever possible; in this case, the doctor internally causes one--and risks tearing the uterus in the process. He then forces scissors through the base of the baby's skull--which remains lodged just within the birth canal. This is a partially "blind" procedure, done by feel, risking direct scissors injury to the uterus and laceration of the cervix or lower uterine segment, resulting in immediate and massive bleeding and the threat of shock or even death to the mother.
None of this risk is ever necessary for any reason. Never is the partial-birth procedure necessary. Not for hydrocephaly (excessive cerebrospinal fluid in the head), not for polyhydramnios (an excess amount of amniotic fluid collecting in the women) and not for trisomy (genetic abnormalities characterized by an extra chromosome).
Sometimes, as in the case of hydrocephaly, it is first necessary to drain some of the fluid from the baby's head. And in some cases, when vaginal delivery is not possible, a doctor performs a Caesarian section. But in no case is it necessary to partially deliver an infant through the vagina and then kill the infant."
