Dean on Abortion past statements agreee with recent ABC interview

Below are the past statements by Dean - I am struck by how unchanging he has been over time - at the conf on women's health the other day and in the ABC interview this week he repeated the same position as is stated below.





Q: Where do you stand on the partial birth abortion ban?
A: In the four years between 1996 & 2000 there were no late term abortions performed in my state. Late term abortions are very rare and should never be used except to save the life or health of the mother. I just don't think the government ought to be making personal medical decisions for Americans. No respectable physician would ever do a late term abortion except for the most serious reasons. That is why I did not support the President's bill
Source: Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A Nov 6, 2003

As a physician, I do not like the idea that Congress or the President think they should practice medicine. Abortion is a deeply personal decision which ought to be made between the patient, the family and physician. It's none of the government's business.
Source: Campaign web site, DeanForAmerica.com, "On the Issues" Nov 30, 2002


http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/cg/index.html?type=page&pagename=policy_statement_health_reproductivefreedom


As a physician, I do not believe Congress or the President should practice medicine. Abortion is a deeply personal decision, which ought to be made between a woman and her physician. It's none of the government's business. I have been a strong supporter of a woman’s right to reproductive freedom my entire life. I believe that the right to privacy is enshrined in the Constitution. As President, I would do everything in my power to preserve that right. I have a different perspective on this issue than other politicians because of my medical training and my experience as a family doctor. I am proud to have served as a Board Member of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. I understand women’s health, and I will defend the right of women to control decisions about their bodies. One of the most outrageous attacks on a woman’s right to choose is the so-called Partial Birth Abortion bill. As a physician, I know that there is no such thing in the medical literature as “partial birth abortion.” But there are rare times when a doctor is called upon to perform a late-term abortion to save a woman’s life or protect her from injury. Yet the House of Representatives recently made it a federal crime for a doctor to perform such medically necessary procedures. That bill will chill the practice of medicine and endanger the health of countless women. There is no epidemic of third trimester abortions in the United States; the procedure is so rare that we have not had one in Vermont in the past four years. But this bill is worded so insidiously that it would outlaw many second-term abortions, even before a fetus is viable. That is a direct challenge to the logic of Roe v. Wade and every other Supreme Court abortion decision in the last 30 years, including the recent case striking down a Nebraska law almost identical to the bill passed by the House.Make no mistake -- Republicans in Congress want to challenge the Supreme Court. They want to turn back the clock 30 years. This bill is one more step in the right wing’s relentless campaign to deprive women of their constitutional right to reproductive freedom. President Bush may soon have an opportunity to nominate one or more members of the Supreme Court, and the legal rights of women hang in the balance.

My point is that the post is pretty silly and cannot help your candidate.