New York Reflects on Historic Abortion Vote
New York Reflects on Historic Abortion Vote | |
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Dateline 4/10/00 Thirty years ago yesterday, the New York State Assembly was one vote
short of the 76 votes needed to legalize abortion on demand through 24
weeks. In a move that made him a hero to abortionists everywhere, Assemblyman
George Michaels stood up and requested that his vote be changed from "nay"
to "yea." George Michaels' deciding vote made New York the first
abortion free-for-all in the United States. The fallout was almost immediate. Even before the law went into effect,
abortionists were setting up shop openly. One woman who was injured before
the law went into effect was surprised when her suit was thrown out of
court. She hadn't realized abortion hadn't become legal until June 1. New York abortionists were ready. Health officials were not. The fallout wasn't pretty. With far more abortionists than officials
to supervise them, the most egregious practices went unremarked. Saline
abortions, which can be deadly to mothers even when performed in a hospital
under careful monitoring, were being performed on an outpatient basis.
Other abortionists, such as Jesse Ketchum, were doing hysterotomy abortions -- major abdominal
surgery -- in their offices. Not surprisingly, women paid with their lives. (See sidebar) Despite this dismal beginning, enthusiasm for legalization continued
unabated in many circles. Bernard Nathanson had his staff at CRASH (Center
for Reproductive and Sexual Health) compile their statistics on complications
recorded in patient charts. Never mind that the charts were known to be
incomplete and inaccurate; what mattered was "proving" that freestanding
clinics could do "safe" abortions. Abortion enthusiasts used
Nathanson's tainted numbers to convince the Supreme Court that the picture
was rosy. The dead women, of course, were not deemed worthy of mention. New York's chaotic, grim years of legalized pre-Roe abortion paved the
way for the current regime of unsupervised, marginally regulated abortion
mills and the carnage they produce. In a way, all the infertility, and
the post-abortion trauma, all the orphaned children and grieving families
of women killed by legalized abortion in the United States, have their
beginning in George Michaels' decision thirty years ago to stand up for
what I'm sure he thought was right. Time has proved him dead wrong.
