The “NOW Action Center” sent me an email, which included this item regarding the “partial birth abortion ban”:
A floor vote in the U.S. House is scheduled for next week on H.R. 760, a bill that would ban most abortion procedures at any time during pregnancy. Take Action!
I’ve blogged about the partial-birth abortion ban several times before. As I’ve argued in the past, this is a deeply dishonest bill; Republicans have used the ambiguity of the term “partial-birth” to create a bill that could be used to ban many forms of late-term abortion, rather than just the single procedure its proponents claim to be banning.
But NOW’s email goes overboard; as awful as this bill is, it won’t ban most abortion procedures, and it probably won’t ban any first-trimester abortions at all. This bill is bad enough without NOW being more alarmist than necessary (not to mention eroding its own credibility).
Ironically, the letter their webpage provides to send to Congresscritters comes much closer to the truth: “This harmful legislation threatens the health of countless women and will deny many women access to safe and common methods of abortion that are performed after the 12th week of pregnancy. Women need your support in defending their basic human right to safe and appropriate medical care.” Although I’m annoyed at NOW for their inaccuracy, I still used their page to send an email, and I hope most Alas readers will do the same..
