QUOTE: A description of the partial-birth abortion is the single
greatest argument against its continued existence... When a practitioner uses sharp
scissors to stab a hole in the skull of a baby and vacuum out its brain
contents and calls it a medical procedure, words have indeed lost their
meaning... With regard to infanticide, no one looking at this procedure could
disagree; it is one-fifth abortion, four-fifths infanticide. It kills a child
when 80 percent of his or her body is out of the womb... [Helen
Alvare, representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, testifying before
the Subcommittee on the Constitution, U.S. House of Representatives, March 21,
1996]
AUTHOR: Helen M.
Alvaré is an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University School of
Law. Prior to joining the George Mason faculty, she was an associate professor
at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law. Professor Alvaré received her
law degree at Cornell University in 1984 and a master's degree in systematic
theology from The Catholic University of America in 1989.
Professor Alvaré
practiced with the Philadelphia law firm of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens &
Young, specializing in commercial litigation and free exercise of religion
matters. For three years, she worked at the Office of General Counsel for the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, where she drafted amicus briefs in
leading U.S. Supreme Court cases concerning abortion, euthanasia, and the
Establishment Clause. For the next ten years, she worked with the Secretariat
for Pro-Life Activities at the NCCB. There, she lobbied, testified before
federal congressional committees, addressed university audiences, and appeared
on hundreds of television and radio programs on behalf of the U.S. Catholic
bishops. She also assisted the Holy See on matters concerning women, marriage
and the family, and respect for human life.
Professor Alvaré
chaired the commission investigating clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia and is an advisor to Pope Benedict XVI's Pontifical Council for
the Laity, as well as an ABC News consultant. Her scholarship regularly treats
current controversies about marriage, parenting, and the new reproductive technologies.
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