PRO-LIFECHALLENGE Aftermath of Partial-Birth Abortion Life, Death, and Partial-Birth Abortion.

Editor's note: On November 26, 2003, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a "guest editorial" attacking the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and attacking President Bush and the Congress for enacting it. The essay was written by Monica J. Casper, a Seattle sociologist who has written a book titled The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery (Rutgers University Press, 1998).

In her essay, Casper - - then 27 weeks pregnant - - argued that the bill could jeopardize her life and the lives of other pregnant women. Enactment of this bill meant that Congress felt "that my one-pound, non-voting, non-taxpaying fetus has more value than I do," Casper asserted.

In response, Carolyn A. Johnson, who is married to NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, submitted her own account, which appears below.

It was published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on December 5, 2003, in a slightly different form, and is published here by permission.

In her guest column [Nov. 26], Monica J. Casper told readers that she is 27 weeks pregnant (just past six full months) with a "deeply wanted" baby. The recently enacted Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Casper argued, would force her to sacrifice her own life or health if she develops a serious illness, such as "severe preeclampsia."

Acute medical crises certainly can occur during pregnancy, forcing life and death decisions to be made quickly.E I know - - it happened to me.E

During my first pregnancy in 1990, like Casper I was just a few days past the 27 week point when without warning I developed the most severe form of pre-eclampsia (called "HELLP syndrome"). My blood pressure rose steeply. My kidneys and liver began to fail.E Doctors told us that unless the pregnancy was ended immediately, I would die - - and with me, our unborn son, Thomas.