Elena Kagan Lied To Legalize Partial Birth Abortion In USA
Amazingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who at one time was considered a staunch conservative, voted for Kagan's confirmation in committee and cited the Constitution as the reason for his vote.
National Religious Broadcasters reports "For Sen. Graham to say that he had a constitutional obligation to vote for Ms. Kagan is in itself extremely troubling. Even more troubling is the fact that he seemed to ignore her extreme political views, including her perspective on free speech and the sanctity of human life.
NRB has been focusing on her perspective regarding First Amendment issues. Sanctity of life issues have been discussed in detail by Chairmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President & CEO of Americans United for Life (AUL)....."
According to Dr. Yoest, when the partial-birth abortion issue (PBA)
came up for discussion in the Clinton White House where Kagan was
working, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
(ACOG) said they "could identify no circumstances under which
[partial birth abortion/D&X] procedure....would be the only
option to save the life or preserve the health of the woman."
The AUL report cites a memo where Kagan called ACOG's definition "a disaster" in light of the Clinton Administration's policy work on the matter. Later it was discovered that Kagan actually added a sentence to ACOG's definition, with the effect of profoundly altering the meaning of the ACOG statement.
Her sentence, which followed the original ACOG statement (above), said: "An intact D&X, however, may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman."
Apparently, ACOG's Executive Board accepted the addition, without input from their organization's "select panel" (which had drafted the original medical report on PBA), and without a vote from members of the organization. The additional language Kagan added to ACOG's definition remained an important part of the defense of partial-birth abortion from that point forward, and was used by those who filed suit against state partial-birth abortion bans in the years that followed.
During the recent confirmation hearing for Kagan, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) was clearly disturbed by these revelations. He questioned Kagan about them, and she essentially told the Senator that she doubted that her involvement had influenced ACOG. Yet the AUL report makes it clear that Kagan did, in fact, lobby ACOG while working for the Clinton Administration.
Click here to read the full AUL report.
http://www.aul.org/featured-images/Kagan-Ethics-Report.pdf