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June 30, 2010

Kagan's 'smoking gun' abortion document

Ralph Alter
Did Kagan re-write medical report on partial-birth?  The smoking gun.

In an article for NRO by Shannen Coffin who was a deputy attorney general in the Bush administration responsible for defending the federal partial-birth abortion act in court, Coffin supplies documents alleged to be in Elena Kagan's own handwriting effectively re-writing the original opinion issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Kagan allegedly coerced ACOG to issue a statement directly contradictory to their true findings:
On a document [PDF] captioned "Suggested Options" -- which she apparently faxed to the legislative director at ACOG -- Kagan proposed that ACOG include the following language (in their publicly released memo): "An intact D&X [the medical term for the procedure], however, may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman."

This statement, which was included in the final report issued by ACOG, was the lynch-pin in the decision by the SCOTUS to overturn Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban.

But this directly contradicts the opinion expressed in the original document submitted to the Clinton administration by ACOG prior to release. Kagan's memo to Clinton adminstration bigwigs indicates her horror at the medical association's originally intended statement:

Todd Stern just discovered that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is thinking about issuing a statement (attached) that includes the following sentence: "[A] select panel convened by ACOG could identify no circumstances under which [the partial-birth] procedure ... would be the only option to save the life or preserve the health of the woman." This, of course, would be disaster -- not the less so (in fact, the more so) because ACOG continues to oppose the legislation. It is unclear whether ACOG will issue the statement; even if it does not, there is obviously a chance that the draft will become public.

The Powerline report provides no indication of exactly how ACOG was convinced to publicly contradict its own findings. This must certainly be an avenue to be further investigated. The importance of Kagan's malfeasance in this matter casts her potential appointment to the Supreme Court in a grim light: should a person involved in a gross scientific deception of this scale be considered for any position of responsibility in our government?

Federal Judge Richard Kopf in striking down the Nebraska statute, cited the integrity of the ACOG report and the impact it had on his decision:

Before and during the task force meeting," he concluded, "neither ACOG nor the task force members conversed with other individuals or organizations, including congressmen and doctors who provided congressional testimony, concerning the topics addressed" in the ACOG statement.

Of course, Judge Kopf had no idea that the statement was a complete fabrication designed to subvert the judicial process. There seems little chance the Kagan nomination will survive this revelation of her perfidious and deceptive machinations in support of partial-birth abortion.


Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target www.rightot.blogspot.com

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