On July 18, 1995, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill (HR 1833) to ban what is referred to as "partial-birth abortion". On April 10, 1996 President Clinton vetoed the act. If you are not aware of these grisly procedures, we direct you to the following information:

What is Partial-Birth Abortion?
Introduced by Martin Haskell, MD at the September 1992 National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar, the Dilation and Extraction (D&X) procedure, also known as the "partial-birth abortion", is the latest abortion method to be used in the fourth to ninth months of pregnancy in the United States today.

How is a Partial-Birth Abortion performed?
Excerpts from Dr. Haskell's paper explain the process: (Illustrations adapted from drawings in Life Advocate . Dr. Haskell stated that these drawings are acurate "from a technical point of view."

1) After artificially dilating the cervix, the surgeon uses ultra-sound to locate the baby's leg, which he then grasps with a forceps. He applies firm traction causing a turning of the baby and pulls the extremities into the woman's vagina.	2) The surgeon uses his fingers to deliver the opposite leg, then the torso, the shoulders, and the arms - all of the baby except the head. (Note: The baby can be seen kicking and moving during this entire procedure. No anesthetic is given to the baby.)	3) He then takes a pair of blunt curved Metzenbaum scissors in his right hand. He carefully advances the tip, curve down, to the base of the baby's skull. The surgeon the forces the scissors into the skull. Having "safely" entered, he spreads the scissors to enlarge the opening.	4) He then inserts a suction catheter into this hole and empties the skull contents (the brain). With the catheter still in place, he applies traction to the fetus, removing it completely from the patient. The surgeon removes the placenta and scrapes the uterine walls, ending the procedure.

What the Nurse Saw:

In September 1993, Brenda Pratt Shafer, a Registered Nurse with 13 years experience, was assigned by her nursing agency to an abortion clinic. Since Nurse Shafer considered herself "very pro-choice", she didn't think this assignment would be a problem. She was wrong. "I stood at the doctor's side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant. The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby's body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby's head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp. I never went back to that clinic, but I am still haunted by the face of that little boy. It was the most perfect, angelic face I have ever seen."

There have been, and continue to be, thousands of these abortions performed in the United States. Dr. Haskell has stated that over 80% are for elective reasons. Barbara Radford of the National Abortion Federation (the trade association for abortion providers) wrote in a June 18, 1993 memo: "There are many reasons why women have the late term abortions, including lack of money, lack of health insurance, and lack of knowledge about reproduction."