The Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. and doctors groups filed suit last November in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco challenging the Partial-Birth Abortion Act. The act was passed by Congress in November and signed into law by President George Bush, but its implementation is on hold pending the legal challenge, which will be heard March 29.

The Justice Department insists that hundreds of records from Planned Parenthood offices in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, Kansas/Mid-Missouri, and the Washington, D.C., area are necessary to bolster its defense of the anti-abortion rights law. Federal subpoenas were served on them February 24.

The chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood in western Pennsylvania, Kim Evert, said in an interview that the family planning and pro-choice organization has provided medical experts who are willing to talk about all aspects of the abortion procedure known medically as dilation and evacuation—which opponents of a woman’s right to choose inaccurately label “partial-birth abortion.”

“The individual records add no new information,” Evert said. “We are planning to fight this subpoena.”

The Justice Department is seeking records from six hospitals where doctors who have joined the challenge to the new law are working.

Evert said Planned Parenthood opposes the new law’s vague language, which could be applied to other abortion procedures, including in early weeks of pregnancy. The law impinges on the physician’s need to be able to choose the best procedure for each patient.

When this reporter visited the Planned Parenthood office here, three young women were busy planning for local participation in the March for Women’s Lives, which will take place in Washington D.C., on April 25.

Buses will leave from three points in the city, and campus women’s groups and unionists are forming delegations. Local organizers plan an afternoon of comedy, music, and drama March 28 to publicize the action. For more information on the march, go to www.marchforwomen.org.

Marty Ressler is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23, and works in Arnold, Pennsylvania.  
 
 
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