Kagan Attempted to Influence Second Medical Group on Partial-Birth Abortions

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 30, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Kagan Attempted to Influence Second Medical Group on Partial-Birth Abortions

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 30
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The pressure on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has jumped this week thanks to a memo she wrote during the Clinton administration showing her pressuring a medical group to change its position on partial-birth abortion. Now, new files indicated Kagan also pressured a second group.

Kagan urged Clinton to oppose any meaningful restrictions on partial-birth abortion and went as far as manipulating the option of one medical group, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which said such abortions are never medically necessary.

Senators asked Kagan about that memo today during Judiciary Committee hearings and she explained her actions away by saying she wanted to help ACOG form a more accurate opinion.

Now, according to a report Americans United for Life furnished to LifeNews.com, Kagan’s lobbying for changes to medical associations’ positions while in the White House is further evidenced by an email found in her White House documents.

The email has Kagan clearly trying to change the position of another medical group, the American Medical Association.

Kagan discussed with other Clinton administration officials whether the AMA could reverse its policy saying there is not an identified situation in which partial-birth abortion is the only appropriate method of abortion. The AMA also noted ethical concerns with partial-birth abortions and said that it should not be used unless it is absolutely necessary.

“We agreed to do a bit of thinking about whether we (in truth, HHS) could contribute to that effort [convincing the AMA to reverse their policy]," Kagan wrote in the email. "Chuck and I are meeting with the AG on Tuesday; Donna offered to send over some doctors this week (though we don’t know who or when) to give a medical briefing.”

Responding to Kagan’s comments in the email, AUL said: "In other words, Kagan was so opposed to the passage of a ban on partial-birth abortion, she hoped that ACOG and the AMA would suppress or modify their views and aggressively worked to make that happen."

Charmaine Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life, said Kagan has much to explain to the Senate.

“We are deeply concerned about Elena Kagan’s conflicting testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” she said. “There are serious discrepancies between her statements to Senator Hatch and the documented evidence of her actions in December 1996.”

AUL added, "Senators need to ask Kagan why she thought it was appropriate to interfere in the positions of medical organizations. Further, does the lack of any evidence of harm to a woman’s health because of the unavailability of partial-birth abortion for the past three years affect her perspective on the issue?"

"Does Kagan still believe that partial-birth abortion is necessary to protect a woman’s health? If so, what is her factual basis to support this?" the pro-life group concluded.

Pro-life groups have described Elena Kagan as the stereotypical judicial activist and abortion advocate.

She clerked for pro-abortion Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom she lauded, and her writings dating back to her college days are filled with accolades for judges who took the law into their hands and twisted it for a desired outcome rather than relying on the people through their elected officials.

Kagan helped Bill Clinton defend his veto of a partial-birth abortion ban — the gruesome abortion procedure when a baby is birthed halfway and then jabbed in the head with medical scissors, killing him or her. She helped Clinton find political cover for his decision to keep those abortions legal.

Kagan went as far as advocating that the Clinton administration not only ignore but manipulate the opinion of a national medical group that said there was never any medical justification for killing unborn children halfway out of the birth canal.

Kagan has also lauded human cloning and assisted suicide and we can expect those gruesome practices to expand if she becomes the next Supreme Court justice.

Related web sites:
Petition Against Kagan – https://www.iopposekagan.com
Facebook: Stop Kagan

 

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