Linda Harris’ letter, “Act signed into law” (BDN letter, Nov. 14), complained that President Bush signed a law banning partial birth abortion without an exception protecting women’s health. However, banning PBA is protecting women’s health.

The very act of inducing premature labor, then deliberately performing a breech birth (turning the baby from the normal head-first position to a feet-first position) risks tearing the uterus and lacerating the cervix, resulting in immediate and massive bleeding, threatening shock or death to the mother. Forcibly dilating the cervix over several days (PBA is a three-day procedure) creates an incompetent cervix, which is a leading cause of future premature deliveries and also invites infection.

The Physicians Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth, an organization of more than 400 specialists in obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics and maternal-fetal medicine, stated emphatically that PBA is never medically necessary and is a significant threat to both the mother’s immediate health and future fertility. The American Medical Association and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop agree that PBA is never necessary.

Ron J. Stauble Sr.

Unity