| |
Mediamatters.Org - In his book The
Case Against Barack Obama, author David Freddoso
misrepresents findings
by the Illinois
state government to claim that a statement by Sen. Barack Obama explaining his
opposition to a bill
that amended the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 was "not true."
Claiming that Obama's assertion
-- that "measures mandat[ing] lifesaving measures for
premature babies" were "already the law" in Illinois -- was
false, Freddoso falsely asserts
that the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and a July 2000 letter from Illinois' then-Attorney General Jim Ryan's office refute
Obama's statement. They do not; indeed, a reported statement by IDPH
supports it.
The July 2000 letter was a response from Ryan's
office to Concerned Women for America
regarding a complaint by nurse Jill Stanek, who claimed that fetuses that were born alive at Christ
Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois,
were abandoned without treatment, including in a soiled
utility room. In a letter on Ryan's letterhead, chief deputy attorney
general Carole R. Doris wrote in part:
On December 6, IDPH provided this
office with its investigative report and advised us that IDPH's internal
review did not indicate
[emphasis added] a violation
of the Hospital Licensing Act or the Vital Records Act.
No other allegations or medical
evidence to support any statutory violation (including the Abused and Neglected
Child Reporting Act about which you inquired) were referred to our office by the
Department for prosecution.
[...]
While we are deeply respectful of
your serious concerns about the practices and methods of abortions at this
hospital, we have concluded that there is no basis for legal action by this
office against the Hospital or its employees, agents or staff at this time.
From that letter,
Freddoso concludes that
the state found that
"[i]n leaving
born babies to die without treatment, Christ
Hospital was doing nothing illegal
under the laws of Illinois."
But the state's conclusions regarding the law were reportedly the
opposite of what Freddoso claims
-- IDPH reportedly concluded that if the hospital had done what Stanek alleged,
its actions would have been illegal under existing law. (The word
"indicate" is in italics above because in his quotation of the
letter, Freddoso substitutes
the word "include" for the word "indicate.")
In an August 2004 email discussion with Stanek, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn quoted IDPH spokesman
Tom Shafer stating, apparently in
reference to Stanek and another nurse, Allison Baker: "[W]hat they were alleging were
violations of existing law. ... We
took (the allegations) very seriously."
Zorn wrote further: "Shafer told me that the 1999 investigation reviewed
logs, personnel files and medical records. It concluded, 'The allegation
that infants were allowed to expire in a utility room could not be
substantiated (and) all staff interviewed denied that any infant was ever left
alone.' "
From Zorn's 2004 blog post:
As you well know, Jill, the Illinois
Atty. General's office, then under abortion foe Jim Ryan,
was quite concerned about your allegations and directed the Illinois Dept. of
Public Health to conduct a thorough investigation of the claims made by
you and Allison Baker.
Why?
"Because what they were
alleging were violations of existing law," IDPH spokesman Tom Shafer told me
yesterday. "We took (the allegations) very seriously."
Shafer told me that the 1999
investigation reviewed logs, personnel files and medical records. It concluded,
"The allegation that infants were allowed to expire in a utility room
could not be substantiated (and) all staff interviewed denied that any infant
was ever left alone."
Shafer was quick to add that neither
he nor the IDPH report concluded that your testimony was untruthful or
exaggerated to help advance your anti-abortion views -- simply
that their investigation did not substantiate the allegations.
In other words, contrary to Freddoso's claim, the
IDPH's reported position supported Obama's explanation: Current law already
"mandated lifesaving measures for premature babies." Freddoso writes of Obama's
assertion: "This is not true. Such measures were not already the law in Illinois. Not according to the Department of
Public Health. Not according to Attorney General Ryan"
[emphasis
in original].But the letter does not, as Freddoso claims, assert that "[s]uch measures were not already the law in Illinois." Nor does the IDPH; indeed,
Zorn quoted the IDPH spokesman
saying that the actions alleged by Stanek would have violated the law at the time.
Echoing his book, Freddoso made similar statements in
writing in an August 13 National Review
article:
"Hospital officials dismissed Stanek's concerns. She then
approached the Republican attorney general of Illinois,
Jim Ryan, who issued a finding
several months later that Christ Hospital was doing nothing illegal under the laws of Illinois. Doctors had no
ethical or legal obligation to treat these premature babies. They had passed
the bright line of birth that had effectively limited the right to life since
the Roe v.
Wade
decision, but under the law they were non-persons." The letter from Ryan's
office did not say that "[d]octors had no ethical or legal
obligation to treat these premature babies"; IDPH, tasked by Ryan with investigating the allegations, reportedly
said the opposite -- if what Stanek was alleging were true, the hospital would have violated
existing law.
From Pages 192-199 of The Case
Against Barack Obama:
A nurse, Stanek's friend, had
helped in the abortion. She had been told to take this baby and leave him in a
soiled utility closet. (The hospital would later deny that such things happened, stating that
they had already set up "comfort rooms" in which to leave the
babies to die.2)
[...]
Could it even be legal to take a living person of any size, already outside his mother's womb, and leave him to die -- to die amid medial waste?
Stanek began talking to hospital
officials, who were dismissive of her concerns. She then sought out help from a
pro-life group, the Concerned Women for America,
and approached the Republican attorney general of Illinois, Jim Ryan.
Ryan made inquiries with the state
Department of Public health, to determine whether this practice was legal.
[...]
On July 17, 2000, Attorney General Ryan reported back on the investigation of Christ
Hospital by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH):
On December 6, IDPH provided this
office with its investigative report and advised us that IDPH's internal
review did not include [sic] a
violation of the Hospital Licensing Act or the Vital Records Act. No other
allegations or medical evidence to support any statutory violation (including
the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act about which you inquired) were
referred to our office by the Department for prosecution ... While we are
deeply respectful of your serious concerns about the practices and methods of
abortions at this hospital, we have concluded that there is no basis for legal
action by this office against the Hospital or its employees, agents or staff at
this time.5
In leaving born babies to die
without treatment, Christ Hospital was doing nothing illegal under the laws of Illinois. Doctors had no
ethical obligation to treat them. Under the law, they were non-persons.
Stanek had found a cause -- a real
injustice she wanted to right.
[...]
[In 2006], he [Obama] would offer this explanation for his
opposition to the Illinois
legislation in The Audacity of Hope:
It mandated lifesaving measures for
premature babies (the bill didn't mention that such measures were already
the law) -- but also extended "personhood" to pre-viable fetuses,
thereby effectively overturning Roe. v. Wade.14
This is not true. Such measures were
not already the law in Illinois. Not according to
the Department of Public Health. Not according to Attorney General Ryan. They had said Christ Hospital
was doing nothing illegal. [emphasis
in original]
Media Matters - Freddoso misrepresents IL government findings to accuse Obama of lying about "born alive" legislation {...} In The Case Against Barack Obama , David Freddoso misrepresents findings by the Illinois state government to claim that a statement by Sen. Barack Obama explaining his opposition to a bill that amended the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 was "not true." Obama asserted that "measures mandat[ing] lifesaving measures for premature babies" were "already the law" in Illinois. Freddoso falsely asserts that the Illinois Department of Public Health and a letter from the Illinois attorney general's office refute Obama's statement. They do not; indeed, a reported statement by the Public Health Department supports it. {...} Published: August 20, 2008, 7:27 pm - Indexed: August 22, 2008, 5:48 pm - Page Size: 24KB |