20 California legislators co-sponsor bill that would allow non-physicians to perform uterine-aspiration abortions

Twenty members of the California Legislature have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, that would allow non-physicians to perform abortions — a practice currently prohibited by state law.

In a Jan. 10 memo to other members of the legislature, Kehoe sought co-sponsors for the bill, which would change the state Business and Professions Code to define “abortions performed by uterine aspiration” as non-surgical procedures.

Kehoe managed to get 10 co-sponsors in the state Senate and 10 in the Assembly for the bill, SB 1501, which she introduced on Feb. 24 and which was read for the first time on Feb. 27.

If SB 1501 becomes law, it would mean that a current exception in the law permitting midwives and physicians’ assistants to perform ‘non-surgical abortions’ would also apply to abortions using uterine aspiration.

Kehoe wants to redefine the procedure as non-surgical to make it easier for women to get abortions. According to her Jan. 10 memo to fellow legislators, more than 8,000 such abortions have already been performed by nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants and certified midwives in California as part of a University of California-San Francisco study approved by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

“This measure improves women’s access to early abortions by increasing: 1) the number of non-surgical abortion providers, and 2) the ability for patients to receive safe and cost effective reproductive health care from providers they already know and trust,” Kehoe said in the memo. “This bill is necessary because so many California counties lack access to abortion services, requiring women to travel a significant distance for care.”

Co-sponsors in the Senate (all Democrats) are: Elaine Alquist, Kevin DeLeón, Mark DeSaulnier, Noreen Evans, Lori Hancock, Mark Leno, Ted Lieu, Carol Liu, Darrell Steinberg and Lois Wolk.

Co-sponsors in the Assembly (all Democrats) are: Tom Ammiano, Toni Atkins, Bob Blumenfield, Julia Brownley, Betsy Butler, Jerry Hill, Ricardo Lara, John Pérez, Nancy Skinner and Das Williams.

According to Planned Parenthood, a longtime supporter of Kehoe because of her pro-abortion legislative record, an aspiration abortion is an “in-clinic” procedure. It involves the administration of pain medication, the insertion of a speculum, numbing of the cervix, the possible stretching of the cervix with dilators, the use of antibiotics, the insertion of a tube into the uterus and the suctioning out of its contents.

READER COMMENTS

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 2:03 AM By BETH
This is a serious medical procedure, not a walk in the park. These people must hate women. Also, anyone could get money/payment from the government for performing these horrific surgeries. This evil legislator is re-defining “surgical procedures”.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 6:18 AM By Life Lady 
What a long and twisted tail the enemy has with this woman so firmly in its’ grasp. Christine’s father was a strong Catholic man who always made certain that his children knew their faith and practiced it faithfully. He did his best but it looks like this one escaped and is running amok. It’s hard to grasp the concept that Ms Kehoe is actually serious about this move. If this passes will Baragan already serving time in prison for performing abortions illegally be acquitted? Under this legislation she would likely be hailed as a ‘pioneer’ of the industry. California wake up! We can’t stay silent on this. Write to Ms Kehoe and let her know she must not do this. Tell her you knew her father (we did) because if you are any Catholic who attends a TLM Mass he would be kneeling right beside you in faithful adoration.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 7:53 AM By Camille
The Ca. Medical Assn seems to be silent on this issue. Can it be that this formerly presumed well-esteemed organization of medical professionals would desire the lowering of standards on care for pregnant women?

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 8:28 AM By JMJ
Murder is still murder, no matter how it is done or by whom and each and every one will have to face God, including those that sign on or even vote for this very stupid and dangerous bill. I need to get onto my Zenit e-mails in order to see what God is doing in this world and to get away from the devil’s works. Come Lord Jesus, come.. +JMJ+

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 8:32 AM By JimAroo
Well in this new world where the bishops act like shepherds when the federal government tries to push them around….I can hardly wait for the firestorm of California Bishops rallying the faithful against this horrible proposal. I am sure it will be quite a powerful demonstration of pastoral leadership. Oh, excuse me, i just woke up from my nap….I must have been dreaming when I wrote the above… sorry.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 8:54 AM By Bud 
Even a couple of the gay activists like Tom Ammiano signed on for this. Guess who is really targeted for the procedure to save mone! The largest groups getting abortions!!!!! They will not get the care that Washington is currently imposing on the insurance industry and/or religious orgs forced to support the killing of children.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 9:46 AM By Laurette Elsberry
In looking over the names of those Democrats who stand behind this evil bill, I recognize at least a dozen whom I have personally heard at the State Capitol supporting the goals of Planned Parenthood. They don’t care about the health of poor women; they care about providing more opportunities and sites for killing unborn babies that don’t fit into their approved right-to-life category. It is also not coincidental that many of these same names are the supporters of another evil – “gay rights”. This includes bill author Kehoe, an open lesbian.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 9:52 AM By Abeca Christian
Life Lady you just said something important, you mentioned that this woman grew up in devout Catholic upbringing. Her dad raised her with the faith and she still chose the opposite. I hope people are reading because this is a high telling, parents can do their best and still their child can grow up doing evil instead. Remember folks once they grow up, attend College, the influences are great and we can never stop praying for our youth.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 2:27 PM By Elizabeth
You know how bad it is by just looking at who is backing such an evil thing…. ACLU, PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND THE NATIONAL ABORTION RIGHTS ACTION LEAGUE!!! CALL Senator Kehoe and flood her with calls….. Her number is: (916) 651 – 4039 And pray for her and all involved!

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 4:55 PM By lisag
Abortion in your home! Abortion at school! Abortion on your lunch break! Abortion everywhere!

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 7:26 PM By Maryanne Leonard
This would be merely the most imperceptible step up from the days of backstreet abortionists, one of whom unintentionally killed my Lutheran grandmother at age 23, a beautiful young Norwegian woman who thought having a second child would ruin her figure. Instead, choosing not to give birth to that child actually killed both mother and child in a gruesome manner, depriving my father of a mother as a very young boy, depriving my grandfather of his beloved wife, depriving her family of a daughter and sister, and depriving my brother and me of ever knowing our Norwegian grandmother. Fortunately, this shocking experience caused my grieving Methodist grandfather, who knew nothing about her plans to abort, to convert to Catholicism and raise his son in the faith, and I am most gratefully Catholic as a result, but most such horrific slaughters result only in early graves for young women and their babies. This can and will happen again and again if such an evil law is put in place.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 8:33 PM By Vicki
But isn’t this what Roe v Wade was to prevent? That is, women having to get abortions from “back alley” butchers instead of having “access to good and safe medical care”? The evil has come full circle.

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 11:17 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Life Lady, If her father was such a good Catholic, why has she not yet been excommunicated? Where and who is her bishop? God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 11:27 PM By Abeca Christian
Wow yes Maryanne and Vicki you are right. This is a serious problem! What I’m having most trouble swallowing is who in the right mind would volunteer to actually do it and help another destroy their unborn? I am sick. This may be something the human trafficking may appreciate because they can just have someone privately perform the abortions under the table in secret so they can continue to carry on their dirty work, there will be more teen kidnappings and missing. The sex trafficking business may just shine on this! God have mercy! They won’t be needing the help of Planned Parenthood anymore if this law should ever pass. SICK!

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 7:06 AM By MacDonald
@ Abeca 9:52 AM — your comments about this woman growing up in a strong Catholic family remind me of the many parents I’ve met who are devastated when their children turn away from the faith. Their folks sacrificed so much to give their children guidance, and a good Catholic education, only to see them throw it all away to “blend in” with today’s society and embrace the culture of death. A former friend of mine became a rabid vegetarian, but was pro-abortion — I could never get through to her how crazy this seemed to me!!!

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 7:16 AM By Rommel
Somebody has to organize a March to the California Legislature to protest this horrific bill!!

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 10:36 AM By Abeca Christian
MacDonald I have good friends who have once told me that sometimes we send our kids to get a Catholic education in the wrong Catholic school, they walk out being the most liberal. But I agree, it can be heart breaking for any parent. I would hope that these parents would continue praying for their children’s conversion. With love and prayer. Persevering in all that is good.

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 12:36 PM By Maryanne Leonard
MacDonald, what a profoundly insightful comment about a former friend of yours becoming a rabid vegetarian while being pro-abortion. I never linked the two concepts. It’s not okay to kill the animals with which The Lord populated the earth to feed us, poor creatures, but it’s okay for a woman to seek the aid and abettment, as well as the legal approval, of other members of society to murder children. Wow. Next time I speak with a vegetarian (which I was myself for a while), I will ask them if they are also against murdering children, especially since they are (presumably) not even going to be used for food. My guess is that they too will not have made the connection in their own thinking. Thank you, MacDonald. Perhaps we can get through to a few of our (generally liberal) vegetarian friends through this analogy.

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 3:39 PM By OneoftheSheep
Not travel so far? Who will be with them on the long journey of regret, depression, pain, cancer, etc. Let us be compassionate, not stupid.

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 4:33 PM By Abeca Christian
Well actually now that we are on the topic of vegetarian, I think that most vegetarians do eat fish and drink milk and there are some who are pro-life but I would question the Vegans, it is them who are against killing any animal for food, they don’t even have cheese or milk but most I know are indeed very supportive of the pro-choice cause. I recall one lady on the radio saying that if she saw a stray dog starving and a homeless man, she would prefer to give the food to the dog instead, let the man starve, it’s his fault he is homeless. Those were here words. She was so cruel. Some listeners where saying I would rather they share the food, split it and give half to the dog and the other half to the homeless man.

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 5:09 PM By Felice
what do you expect…injustice breads what? more injustice. get out on the street pray in front of abortion mills, use images of what an abortion is. pray in front of lawmakers’ offices and homes. stand for justice. abortion is a kind of domestic violence that the law protects. you’ll be helping as a duty to change this law.

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 5:40 PM By k
Maryanne Loanard, they might be used for food flavor enhancement research, like the current controversy with Pepsi Next. The aborted fetal cell are not in the drink, but some pro-life organizations are calling for a boycott because the research was done on human embryonic kidney cells.

Posted Friday, March 09, 2012 10:21 AM By Anne T.
They cannot get enough doctors to murder the babies, so now they want to force the nurses to do it. Next they will be trying midwives as in the Old Testament. Watch out little Moses! Watch out little Jesuses! Watch out little girls if your parents want a boy instead!