Letter: Educate lawmakers on abortion bill

To the editor:
   
The U.S. Senate has approved the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S.3).
   The U.S House of Representatives will take up its version of the bill (H.R. 760) no sooner than early May.
   The opponents of the partial-birth abortion ban are trying to substitute the Hoyer-Greenwood "phony ban" that would allow abortions in the seventh month of pregnancy and later for emotional health.
   Some journalists are again propagating claims that partial-birth abortions are performed mostly or only in cases in which the mother’s life or physical health are in dire jeopardy or the baby has profound disorders.
   In reality, such claims have long been discredited. Even prominent pro-abortion advocates have conceded that the method is used thousands of times annually and that the vast majority of partial-birth abortions are performed on healthy babies of healthy mothers. These false claims have to be challenged.
   Our lawmakers in the House of Representatives have to understand this is as close we have come to the enactment of a ban on partial-birth abortion. Let’s educate our lawmakers.
Martin and Mary Ann McIntyre

Monroe