FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/April 11, 1996 CONTACT: Sara Foer [202/651-7023] American Nurses Association Supports Veto of Late-term Abortion BillCalls legislation an intrusion into a personal health care decisionWASHINGTON, DC ---The American Nurses Association today commended President Clinton's veto of legislation which would have prohibited health care providers from performing a certain type of late-term abortion. ANA opposed this legislation as an inappropriate intrusion of the federal government into a therapeutic decision that should be left in the hands of a pregnant woman and her health care provider. ANA has long supported freedom of choice and equitable access of all women to basic legal health services, including services related to reproductive health. This legislation would impose a significant barrier to those principles. "Registered nurses have worked for decades to make real the goal of every birth being planned and wanted. These late-term abortions are rare and tragic, and they occur when something has gone terribly wrong with a pregnancy," said ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN. "It is inappropriate for the law to mandate a clinical course of action for a woman who is already faced with an intensely personal and difficult decision. If a woman and her health care provider determine that this procedure is safest for protecting her life and health, the government should not intrude. This protection of a woman's right to choose safe, reproductive care is the essence of Roe v. Wade."
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