From: dianne@dianne.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Dianne Ferrans )
Subject: Re: Pro-choice VP?
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:32:22 GMT


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Quayle: 'D and C' Precludes Need for Abortion

Byline:   Kent Jenkins Jr.
          Washington Post Staff Writer

THE WASHINGTON POST, 11/03/88

          Edition:  FINAL
          Page:     30: Section A
          Copyright 1988


             MEMPHIS  Nov. 2 --
         Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle said
      today that many rape victims would not need to choose whether
      to have an abortion because they could undergo dilatation and
      curettage, a medical procedure that scrapes the uterus. He
      said he believes that procedure is not the same as an
      abortion.
         "I understand that immediately after a rape that is
      reported, that a woman normally, in fact, can go to the
      hospital and have a D and C," Quayle said. "At that time that
      is before the forming of a life. That is not anything to do
      with abortion."
         Dilatation and curettage is a procedure used in abortion; it
      does not prevent conception.
         "Yes, it's a type of abortion, obviously," said Dr. Joseph
      Collea, an obstetrician at Georgetown University Hospital
      Medical Center. "I suppose it's semantics and you can call it
      anything you want, but it ends up the same. Fertilization has
      already occurred, and you are trying to disturb the lining of
      the uterus so the fertilized egg can't implant itself."
         Quayle, who said he opposes abortion except when the
      mother's life is in jeopardy, made the statement when
      reporters here asked whether the Maryland woman raped by
      Massachusetts murderer William Horton Jr. should have given
      birth to Horton's child if she had become pregnant. He said
      Horton's 1987 rape while on a prison furlough program
      approved by Michael S. Dukakis would not have justified an
      abortion.
         Today marked the third time recently that Quayle has said
      he thinks rape victims should not get abortions if they
      become pregnant.
         In the past two weeks, Quayle has stuck by his "pro-life"
      position under tough questioning. He told a young reporter
      for the "Children's Express" television show that he would
      not recommend she get an abortion if she were the victim of
      incest. And at a Missouri high school, Quayle said that if
      his wife, Marilyn, were raped and became pregnant, he would
      advise her to carry the child.
         Staff writer Philip J. Hilts contributed to this report.


END OF DOCUMENT

Copyright 1988, The Washington Post.

Reproduced without commercial intent
under the "fair use" provisions
of copyright law.


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'Dr. Quayle' on Abortion

Byline:   Judy Mann

THE WASHINGTON POST, 11/04/88

          Edition:  FINAL
          Page:     03: Metro
          Copyright 1988


         NOBODY IS entitled to be as ignorant and insensitive as
      Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, particularly
      not somebody who looks like he's going to be a heartbeat away
      from the presidency. His recent answers to questions on
      abortion reveal a man who either doesn't have a clue about
      the facts of life or one who is using rape and incest victims
      to demagogue his way through the campaign.
         Either way, given the positions of Quayle and Republican
      presidential nominee George Bush on abortion, it is
      incomprehensible how any woman could vote for that ticket.
      With the future makeup of the Supreme Court very much at
      stake in this election, women who vote for Bush and Quayle
      might be signing away their right to determine their own
      reproductive destiny, safely and legally.
        Where George Bush hasn't sorted out all the answers, his
      running mate has. And then some.
         In the past couple of weeks, Quayle has stated positions
      on abortion that are simply unconscionable for a responsible
      adult, let alone someone running for national office. When he
      was interviewed by young journalists for the "Children's
      Express" television show, he told a 12-year-old girl that if
      she were raped by her father and became pregnant she should
      go ahead with the pregnancy and give birth. It's not clear
      whether he thinks she should subsequently give the baby up
      for adoption --
         which is George Bush's solution to "problem" pregnancies
      -- or keep the baby and rear it herself. In any case, there
      was not a hint of any understanding on his part of the
      absolute horror that is the life of an incest victim.
         The only justification for abortion in Quayle's view is if
      the life of the mother is in danger. At a Missouri high
      school, he said that if his wife Marilyn were raped and
      became pregnant, he would advise her to carry the child. Is
      he prepared to raise a rapist's child as his own? Would he
      really put his own wife through that kind of ordeal?
         On Wednesday, campaigning in Memphis, he was asked whether
      the Maryland woman who was raped by William Horton Jr., the
      furloughed Massachusetts murderer, should have given birth to
      Horton's child if the rape had resulted in a pregnancy. At
      which point Quayle turned into an instant expert on
      gynecological procedures and treatment of rape victims.
         He recommended a D & C. Then he said that wouldn't be an
      abortion.
         D & C, which stands for dilatation and curettage, is a
      surgical procedure in which the lining of the uterus is
      scraped. It is a procedure used to treat a number of
      gynecological problems. It is also a procedure used to abort
      pregnancies.
         Said Quayle, "My position is that I understand from a
      medical situation that, immediately after rape that is
      reported, that a woman normally, in fact, can go to the
      hospital and have a D & C at that time . . . that is before
      the actual forming of a life."
         When asked point-blank whether he expected a rape victim
      to bear a rapist's child, he said, "Hopefully they would seek
      medical attention immediately, and under normal medical
      procedure, life and conception would not even begin."
         Doctors asked to comment on Quayle's treatment plan for
      rape victims said D & Cs are not normally used to treat rape
      victims. Victims who think they may be pregnant are given a
      morning-after pill. This pill, which can have serious side
      effects on people with certain medical conditions, makes the
      uterus unresponsive to the growth of a fertilized egg. If a
      D & C is used after fertilization has occurred, then it is
      an abortion, according to Dr. Joseph Collea, an obstetrician
      at Georgetown University Medical Center.
         Either way, Quayle has demonstrated that he doesn't know
      what he's talking about.
         Polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of
      Americans oppose a constitutional amendment banning abortion,
      and a vast majority of those who would restrict abortion want
      to permit it for victims of rape and incest. Quayle,
      operating from the cavalier ignorance of a rich man's son who
      has never even had to contemplate the terrible fate of rape
      or incest victims, is so out on the fringe on this that it
      ought to disqualify the ticket from serious consideration.
      That has not happened because only about 2 percent of the
      electorate  regards abortion as the most important issue in
      the campaign.
         Why Bush picked Quayle as his running mate remains a
      mystery. What's become eminently clear, however, is that Bush
      picked a loose cannon who would force incest and rape victims
      -- even a child, for heaven's sake -- to bear babies against
      their will, and who has come to this conclusion from
      ignorance so profound as to be unfathomable. At a heartbeat
      away, that makes for a bum ticket.


END OF DOCUMENT

Copyright 1988, The Washington Post.

Reproduced without commercial intent
under the "fair use" provisions
of copyright law.




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