Testimony in Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act Cases Reveals the Real Meaning of "Choice".

The so-called "March for Women's Lives" in Washington, D.C., took place the last weekend of April. It was described by the National Organization for Women, a sponsor of the event, as "the most significant and massive abortion rights march in over a decade." The reason for the march, according to organizers, is the new threats to "choice" - - first and foremost, the ban on partial-birth abortion.

Hollywood celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg were on the roster, and "Honorary Congressional Co-Sponsors" included Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Barbara Boxer. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry aired a television ad the week of the march promising to defend "the right to choose" and even hosted a "pro-choice" rally before the march.

Even as preparations to defend "choice" reached a crescendo in Washington, court reporters coast-to-coast were quietly recording testimony about what that word really means.

The testimony was given in lawsuits against the new federal partial-birth abortion ban. President Bush signed the law last November and immediately the giants of the abortion lobby - - Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and the American Civil Liberties Union - - filed lawsuits against the U.S. Attorney General claiming the ban takes away a fundamental constitutional right. They asked federal courts in New York, Nebraska, and California for injunctions against the law, and temporary injunctions were granted. In March 2004 the trials commenced. E(Full transcripts are available at www. usccb.org/prolife.)

The lead witnesses for the plaintiffs, a procession of seasoned abortion doctors, took the stand throughout April to describe under oath what they do to infants in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy during a partial-birth abortion. The testimony was astonishingly frank.

Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, testifying in the New York trial, spoke of how it is "necessary to insert our forceps, open them as wide as possible to try to capture the head within the opening of the forceps and then crush the head using external force applied against the head." She admitted there is "usually a heartbeat" when she performs a partial-birth abortion, and that even when she collapses the skull, the baby is still "living."

Another New York witness, Dr. Timothy Johnson, was asked to describe what doctors use to crush the head. He described the instruments as "tongs" but "thick enough and heavy enough that you can actually grasp and crush with those instruments as if you were picking up salad or picking up anything with...." Here he was interrupted by Judge Richard Casey, who interjected, "Except here you are crushing the head of a baby." "Correct," said Dr. Johnson.