Dean: "Senate has decided....to practice medicine"

[Rose Siding]

Dean Criticizes Vote for Harmful Abortion Ban

BURLINGTON, VT -Governor Howard Dean today sharply criticized the latest congressional vote on the so-called partial-birth abortion ban:

"As a physician, I am outraged that the Senate has decided it is qualified to practice medicine. There is no such thing as 'partial birth abortion' in medical literature. But there are times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late term abortion to save a woman's life or protect her from serious injury. Today the Senate took a step toward making it a crime for a doctor to perform such medically necessary procedures.

"This bill will chill the practice of medicine and endanger the lives of countless women. This kind of legislation serves the sole purpose of chipping away women's constitutionally protected reproductive rights and overturning Roe v. Wade."

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/001939.html

I appreciate this statement and the authority with which this candidate offers it.

[Khephra]

1. Great statement

on a sad day.

[Resistance Is Futile]

2. No, no no.

It's pro-life, you see. Awkward questions about the life of the mother aren't to be asked. All that matters is that she has no rights.

[libertad]

31. well, she is just a woman.

nt

[tedoll78]

3. Isn't there a federal law against..

people practicing medicine without a license? In that case, I'd like to see the ones voting in favor of this bill charged in violation of that federal law. With the exception of Dr Frist, assuming that his license is still current..

[killbotfactory]

4. That's my Dean

In two shory paragraphs he explains why the vote was wrong, and why the procedure is necessary. It cuts right through the right-wing bullshit.

[Deja Q]

5. Dean is looking better and better by the day!

He says it factually, without spin.

[JohnKleeb]

6. He's not my candiate but I completely agree

:thumbsup:

[frank frankly]

7. thank you, Doctor

wonderfully said!

[RetroLounge]

8. This type of knowledge and candor explains

why Dean is my *choice* for President.

[Pastiche423]

9. Thank you, Dr. Dean!

I sit in total amazement of what our government did today. There is no way I can wrap my mind around them voting death for some women.

:mad:

[spooky3]

30. Clinton's veto (twice) was what stood between these uninformed

zealots' actions and success in the past. With all his faults and mistakes, time and time again he did the right thing.

[fujiyama]

10. He cut straight to the point...

and these are my thoughts exactly.

What we've been doing in this nation is giving the decision making power of doctors over to beaurocrats in insurance corporations, legistlators, and others with no medical training, which is not allowing doctors to do their damn job.

[maxanne]

11. thanks, Dr. Dean

and thank you for genuinely respecting the rights of women - as well as doctor/patient privilege.

When I heard him speak last May, he spoke on the issue of abortion, and he also said, "In countries where women have full equality there is no terrorism."

I like this guy.

[maha]

12. Hurrah for Doctor Dean!

A voice of sanity, to be sure.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

13. Brave and honest!

That's what we like about our good Doctor!

[Eileen]

14. TOO BAD HE ONLY GOT IT HALF RIGHT!!!

And as a physician - especially a physician running for that office and banking on his medical credentials to increase his credibility on this issue - you woould think that by now he would understand that the Phantom Procedure which the Anti Abortion Propaganda Industry (AAPI) refer to as "PBA" does not now and never has existed.

He got the fact that it is not a medical procedure correct - it is not any type of procedure except a phantom one.

He got the fact that it does ot exist correct.

However when he says " But there are times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late term abortion to save a woman's life or protect her from serious injury. he implies that this Phantom Procedure is somehow related to Late Term Abortions (LTA) and it also has nothing to do with LTA. In fact the AAPI attempt to link this to the D&X procedure which is most frequently performed before the middle of the mid term.

Could somebody who knows Dean kindly refer him to the short analysis of the current bill - here - which includes a number of important links referencing the herstory of the Phantom Procedure. This is far too important an issue for a physician to get it wrong.

Eileen
- Eileen`s Always In Process Web Page

[dajabr]

15. Here's the other half...

One of the most outrageous attacks on a woman’s right to choose is the so-called Partial Birth Abortion bill. As a physician, I know that there is no such thing in the medical literature as “partial birth abortion.” But there are rare times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late-term abortion to save a woman’s life or protect her from injury. Yet the House of Representatives recently made it a federal crime for a doctor to perform such medically necessary procedures. That bill will chill the practice of medicine and endanger the health of countless women.

There is no epidemic of third trimester abortions in the United States; the procedure is so rare that we have not had one in Vermont in the past four years. But this bill is worded so insidiously that it would outlaw many second-term abortions, even before a fetus is viable. That is a direct challenge to the logic of Roe v. Wade and every other Supreme Court abortion decision in the last 30 years, including the recent case striking down a Nebraska law almost identical to the bill passed by the House.

Make no mistake -- Republicans in Congress want to challenge the Supreme Court. They want to turn back the clock 30 years. This bill is one more step in the right wing’s relentless campaign to deprive women of their constitutional right to reproductive freedom. President Bush may soon have an opportunity to nominate one or more members of the Supreme Court, and the legal rights of women hang in the balance.

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_statement_health_reproductivefreedom

Take it easy on him, he's got his ducks in a row on this issue...

[Eileen]

19. No! The 'other half' is still missing.

Take it easy on him, he's got his ducks in a row on this issue...

If you actually believe that then you also have beeen misled by the Anti Abortion Propaganda Industry (AAPI)

The Phamtom Procedure name - 'PBA' - was coined by Canaday as an attempt to describe both a medical abortion procedure and the time in gestation when that procedure is performed. The attempt to use a dual purpose phrase has led to deliberate equivocation on the term from the time it was first introduced. If you refer to numbers of procedures they refer to 'late term'. If you refer to a minority of late term abortions they switch to the procedure used. As long as they are permitted to get away with the equivocation they can run this vote gathering propaganda scam indefinitely.

By intimating the Phantom Procedure may have something to do with 'LTA' Dean is setting himself up for exactly the same bait and switch game that Ron Fitzsimmons, PR man for NARF, was a victim of and which led to his infamous "lying through our teeth" phrase.

The equivocation can and frequently is used to undermine credibility. It is for this reason that I believe it behooves Dean and his research team, and of course the other candidates, to clearly define their position and to make it crystal clear that the Phantom Procedure does not exist - neither as a medical procedure nor as a procedure performed late term in gestation.

The enemies of women's rights to personal bodily autonomy have gotten away with the destructive force of this propaganda for too long and it is time to put it to rest and leave them with egg on their faces.

Eileen
- Eileen`s Always In Process Web Page

[fob]

21. Eileen, your zeal for the issue is obvious and I support that 100%

I just want to let you know that I didn't get the PBA/LTA connection from reading Dean's statement. It read to me like he was distinguishing fact from fiction. He made it seem, at least to me, that PBA is a bogus term that is used to obscure the reality of late term abortions.

Keep up the fight.

[Eileen]

29. The danger in not separating the two terms.

We know from AGI and other sources that the actual number of LATE TERM (that is after 26.6 weeks) abortions performed constitute approximately .01% of all abortions performed. In other words of the current ~1,200,000 abortions annually about 120 of them are performed in the late term or third trimester.

When this is pointed out an oft quoted rebuttal from an article in the Bergen (NJ) Record is quoted which claims ~3,000 Phantom Procedures per annum are performed in a single medical facility (METROPOLITAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, Englewood, NJ) and therefore abortion rights supporters are lying.

The first paragraph refers to LATE TERM abortions. The second paragraph refers to a supposed medical procedure used if it were D&X almost never used late term.

This is how the equivocation game has been played for some 3 presedential terms so far.

Once more - never talk of 'late term' and the Phantom Procedure (PBA) in the same article except when clarifying that they are not the same thing.


Eileen
- Eileen`s Always In Process Web Page

[MissB]

18. Welcome to DU, Eileen!

Just out of curiousity, at one time did you post on the PP abortion debate page? Your web page seems familiar.

If so, then it's good to see you again.

[Eileen]

20. Yes - I'm that Eileen! Hi ? <nm>

[gully]

24. Eileen I feel Dean said the same thing you did.

I don't think he got it wrong.

I know that there is no such thing in the medical literature as “partial birth abortion.” In other words, it's a phantom procedure.

But, there are rare times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late-term abortion to save a woman’s life or protect her from injury.

*The later is true, late term abortions are sometimes necessary to save a womans life.*

In addition, if the procedure that was outlawed was 'phantom' then we've lost no rights?

Did they ban the 'phantom' procedure or the 'real' procedure?

[Eileen]

27. Sorry but I don't want to re-write this paper here.-

However this is the best answer I can give to your question.

If you go to my analysis of the current bill - here - you'll see what is actually being banned - including it's inherent 'poison pill' effect on women and physicians who provide their services for them.

Pay particulart attention to the quote from Justice O'Connor.

My complaint with Dean's statement is that he intimates the Phantom Procedure might be a LTA and he will be caught in the equivocation game and made to look like a liar if he continues to associate LTA and PBA. The only time those two should appear in the same article is when it is being pointed out that they are not the same thing.

Eileen
- Eileen`s Always In Process Web Page

[gully]

33. I didn't look over the statement because I agree with what you are saying

in relation to the fake PBA procedure.

You said~"The only time those two should appear in the same article is when it is being pointed out that they are not the same thing."

I feel Dean said exactly that.

"There is no such thing as 'partial birth abortion'" ... i.e. it's a sham.

"there are times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late term abortion to save a woman's life or protect her from serious injury..." i.e. the correct procedure is a medically necessary one.

:shrug:

I think many Dems failed on this issue, but Dean isn't one of them.

I will read your link when I have a bit more time. Thanks!

And Welcome!!!

[janx]

16. The Florida Senate has decided to practice medicine also.

I'll bet my candidate's not too happy about that one either.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Dr. Frist will respond with..

"Well I'm a doctor too, so I don't see your point." Gotta admit Karl Rove is good at picking his people.

[Bandit]

23. I doubt Frist will respond at all

It is difficult to explain how writing a law concerning medical precedure with no medical knowlege is NOT practicing medicine without a license.

[Eileen]

25. Frist is a Cardiologist..

Actually a cardiac surgeon. If you believe it is OK for a proctologist to perform neuro surgery then you might believe Frist has credibility in the Ob/Gyn field. I don't.

Dean, as a family physician, has at least a little more direct contact with Ob/Gyn patients - even if it is just referring them to the proper specialist after he has conducted an initial examination - and will obviously have women who have had or need abortions in his roster of patients.

Eileen
- Eileen`s Always In Process Web Page

[eileen_d]

22. I like Dean's statement

And here's Kerry's ;)

This vote is a step backwards for women as George Bush’s stealth agenda to roll back the right to choose is pushed forward...

more: http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/pr_2003_1021c.html

[Kool Kitty]

26. Thank you, Dr. Dean.

Nice to hear someone who actually KNOWS what he's talking about discuss this, instead of the people in the Congress who wouldn't know their ass from their elbow, medically speaking.

[shanti]

28. thank you, doctor!

we can't let them preempt our issues with their words!

[DinahMoeHum]

32. Tee Hee. Dean is telling the Congress people that as a doctor

AND a politician he can do their jobs, but THEY can't do HIS !!

As for Bill Frist, f**k him. He's a disgrace to the medical profession.


:evilfrown:

[arwalden]

34. Today I'm Liking Dean More Than The Other...

... who knows what will happen tomorrow, but today's announcement has really impressed me.

-- Allen

[realFedUp]

35. ah men.

We need a doctor to fix this country.