Ama Supports Anti-Abortion Bill Backs ‘Partial Birth’ Limits As Tough Senate Vote Nears
The American Medical Association on Monday endorsed a bill to restrict “partial birth” abortions just as the hotly contested legislation faces a vote in the Senate, possibly today.
The AMA’s announcement marks the first time the nation’s largest physicians’ organization has taken a position on an abortion bill. Only a week ago the group declined to support or oppose the legislation.
The endorsement comes at a critical time. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., the bill’s Senate sponsor, said he counts 62 “pretty solid” votes for the bill, five short of the two-thirds needed to override a promised veto by President Clinton. But he said there were six to eight undecided votes that might be swayed by the AMA’s endorsement, and said the prospects of a veto-proof Senate majority were “improving.”
Last week the Senate defeated an alternative drafted by Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., and supported by Clinton that would have banned all late-term abortions but provided exceptions to protect the health as well as life of a woman.
The AMA endorsed the bill after the measure’s sponsors agreed to clarifications and procedural safeguards that spell out what procedure is banned and would help protect doctors from overzealous prosecution.
According to Santorum, the changes would make it clear that doctors who are intending to deliver a baby would not be faulted if the disputed procedure suddenly and unexpectedly had to be employed to save the mother’s life. The bill also would more narrowly define “partial birth” to exclude other more widely accepted abortion procedures and free doctors from the obligation of showing that no other procedure would suffice under the circumstances.
In addition, Santorum said, any physician accused of performing an illegal abortion would have the right to review by a state medical board before any criminal proceedings, with information obtained by the review to be considered by the court.
The White House said the AMA statement and Santorum’s amendments would not alter Clinton’s opposition. “The changes that were made in the bill today do not materially affect the president’s concerns, which are to protect the woman from serious health consequences,” said deputy press secretary Mary Ellen Glynn.
Glynn pointed out that another leading medical organization, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, preferred Daschle’s language providing for an exception for health risks.