Freedom of Choice Act Information (FOCA) Last year before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Barack Obama
told pro-abortion activists: "The first thing I'd do as President is
sign the Freedom of Choice Act."Obama Speech on July 9th, 2008 The following comes from the Secretariat for Pro Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
The "Freedom of Choice Act" • Most Radical Abortion Legislation in U.S History
Myth: The Freedom of Choice Act
(FOCA) basically codifies the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
Fact:
In allowing and promoting abortion, FOCA goes far beyond even Roe.
Some say FOCA (S. 1173, H.R. 1964) would simply codify Roe
v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), the U.S. Supreme
Court decision that declared a constitutional "right" to abortion and
invalidated anti abortion laws in all 50 states. But FOCA is even
worse.
FOCA states that every woman has a "fundamental
right" to have an abortion, and no government (federal, state, or local)
may "deny" or "interfere with" this right. Moreover, no
government may "discriminate" against the exercise of
this right when regulating or providing "benefits, facilities, services, or information" to the public. In
other words, abortion may not be treated differently from live birth -- if a public program supports
motherhood it must equally support abortion. FOCA endangers a wide range of laws enacted by the
people and their elected representatives over 35 years -- laws upheld under Roe and cases applying
it. These include laws on informed consent, parental involvement, physician
licensure, clinic safety, and taxpayer funding. FOCA's far-reaching rule on abortion
is more radical than anything wrought by Roe.' For example:
1. FOCA will invalidate laws to
protect a woman from unsafe abortion clinics and to ensure that she is informed about
abortion.
Roe permitted
regulation of the "facility in which the [abortion] procedure is to be performed" to protect women's health, and permitted
other regulation after the first trimester
(first three months) of pregnancy when "reasonably related to maternal
health." 410 U.S., at 163, 164. Later
Supreme Court cases clarified that laws protecting maternal health are
permissible throughout pregnancy,' and that nothing in Roe prevents a
law requiring that a woman's consent to an abortion be informed.' The current
version of FOCA actually removes
language found in previous versions of the bill
to permit regulations that are "medically
necessary to protect the life or health of women." Because informing women about abortion and alternatives involves some
delay, and may lead some women to change
their decision, laws ensuring informed consent would likely be seen as
"interfering" with the abortion right.
2.
FOCA will require taxpayers to pay for abortions.
Roe
said nothing about abortion
funding. Later Supreme Court cases held that Roe "implies no limitation on
the authority of a State to make a value judgment favoring
childbirth over abortion, and to implement that
judgment by the allocation of public funds." 4 The current version
of FOCA removes language found in previous versions of the bill ensuring that taxpayers will not be forced to pay
for abortions, declaring instead that government may not "discriminate"
against abortion in publicly funded programs.
3.
FOCA will require states to allow
"partial-birth" and other late-term abortions.
Roe allowed states to
ban abortions after viability (when a child can survive outside the womb) if
the y included an exception for the mother's
"health." Later decisions have upheld laws
placing various limits on late-term abortions, and upheld a federal law banning
"partial- birth" abortions even
before viability and without a health exception.' FOCA's insistence on a "fundamental" right to abortion throughout
pregnancy would set the clock back on these gains, and its
sponsors say it is specifically intended to invalidate the partial-birth
abortion ban that was upheld this year within the bounds of Roe.
4.
FOCA will require states to allow abortions by
non-physicians.
Roe permitted a state
to "proscribe any abortion by a person who is not a physician." 410 U.S., at 165. FOCA does not authorize such laws and would
likely result in their invalidation.
5.
FOCA will bar laws protecting a right of
conscientious objection to abortion.
Roe cited with approval
an AMA resolution that no "physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel"
shall be required to violate "personally-held moral principles." 410 U.S., at 143 & n.38. The current version of FOCA removes
language found in previous versions of the bill to permit
regulations to protect conscience.
6.
FOCA will deny parents an opportunity to be involved
in their minor daughter's abortion decision.
Roe expressly declined
to rule on laws ensuring that parents may be involved (410 U.S., at 165 n.67), and later Supreme Court cases held that
nothing in Roe prevents such laws. 6 The current version of
FOCA removes language found in previous versions of the bill permitting such laws; instead it states absolutely that any law which
would "interfere" with the individual's decision
making is invalid.
A vote for FOCA is a vote against modest, reasonable, widely
supported laws that promote and protect
women's health, ensure infoinied consent, protect minors and ensure parental involvement,
safeguard rights of conscience, and respect the desire of most citizens not to
pay for abortions with their tax dollars. It
is the most radical and extreme abortion legislation ever considered in
the United States.
9/30/08
1 out of every 66 deaths in the WORLD is an American abortion.
►1 out of every 4 deaths in America is an American Abortion.
►Half of the deaths in the world are from abortions.
►Abortion
is the leading cause of death in the world. It kills as many
people as ALL of the other causes of death combined.
►We have lost more Americans through abortions (64 times more) than we did in all of our wars (12 wars) combined .
►The world kills more people through abortion than all of the deaths in the America combined. (22 times as many)
►The
D-Day invasion of France (WWII) was the bloodiest in history.
There were 53,714 allied soldiers killed in the "Battle of
Normandy." Yet, our world kills more people than that in
just 9 hours through abortions.
►America
has lost 589 soldiers in its first year of fighting in the Iraq
War. The world, however, kills more people than that in just 6
minutes through abortions.