SCAREMONGERING : LEGISLATORS SHOULD RESIST ANTI-ABORTION CAMPAIGN ULTIMATELY AIMED AT USURPING RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND THEIR DOCTORS.

Byline: Claudia Crown Ades

THE debate on the late-term abortion bill has reached rancorous proportions where innuendo, misinformation and plain old deceit rule the day.

Politicians are running scared because of public opinion that is being manipulated by big dollars and distortion. The confused politicians, who are the target of this debate, want a feel-good way out of a politically volatile situation.

There is no way to feel good about this. I know. I had a late-term abortion. It wasn't pretty. Surgery never is. It was hell for me, and it won't be easy for the politicians, but they must find the courage to stop putting innocent women like me in the middle.

Regardless of the rhetoric on both sides, the facts of my situation cannot be altered. In the 26th week of my pregnancy, my husband and I were informed that our baby was plagued with severe anomalies. My son could not and would not live.

I thought we were the only parents in the world who had ever heard such devastating news about their child. It was very lonely. We loved this baby. We wanted this baby. This was our son.

Instead of preparing our world for him, we now had to prepare for tragedy. Gone were the hopes of a dearly wanted pregnancy. Away went the baby-naming books and baby-room plans. The dream had ended.

I had an intact dilation and evacuation or D&E - wrongly termed ``partial birth abortion'' - because, in the opinion of my specialists, it was the safest and most appropriate medical procedure available for both me and my son. I spoke to, and was seen by, some of the finest medical experts in the world. Not everybody is so lucky.

The debate is replete with confusing talk and testimony which may result in victimizing women like me with bad legislation passed by misinformed politicians.

Recently, Ron Fitzsimmons, a pro-choice advocate, said he lied and distorted facts and figures that were, in themselves, already confusing because no reliable data are kept.

Despite this great revelation, I know I never lied, and neither have the other patients who came forward to tell their tragic stories. Yet it is women like us who will be the victims.

The far right continually distorts the facts without concern for the effect it will have on us.

If a true statement is made about a second-trimester abortion's being performed on a healthy fetus, it is maliciously construed to mean that women are frivolously aborting healthy babies in the third trimester of their pregnancies. Not true. Women don't do it, and doctors won't do it.

Another fallacy is in the description of the procedure. One doctor is quoted as saying he uses scissors and a suction machine. That in turn is extrapolated by the far right to mean all doctors. With a major campaign to advance this false description, the press dutifully follows suit and accepts this as the definition. Not true. No scissors or suction machine was ever used on my baby or hundreds of others. Their brains were not sucked out, and their skulls were not crushed. Another malicious lie.

Finally, doctors from the right claim that the five subsequent pregnancy losses which I had were caused by this procedure. Not only is this absolutely false, but they have no way of knowing since I have never made the reasons public until this week. It is grossly unprofessional and ethically questionable for a doctor to assess anyone's medical status without both a comprehensive examination and the medical records. Thank God they were not, and are not, my doctors.

While all kinds of experts and researchers try to sort out the truth, one fact remains absolutely certain. Women with tragic pregnancies, or adverse health consequences in their third trimesters, would be adversely affected by this legislation. A complex medical procedure should be left in the hands of a doctor and the patient.

These are just three examples. There are more. For supporters of this proposed legislation, the bottom-line strategy is to keep the public dazed and confused, so they can chip away at a woman's right to control her own reproductive health.

People on the far right should come clean and admit what everybody already knows: Their mission is to outlaw every abortion technique, one procedure at a time, and thereby every abortion.

If they want to debate abortion, then they should debate abortion. But it's shamefully disingenuous of them to pretend that this is about one procedure, one that happens to be safe, humane and, often, the best procedure available.

Women like me, mired in tragedy, would be victims of their agenda. It's not fair. To achieve their ends, they would force women and their doctors to choose something less safe, or even nothing at all.

I am a mother who did what was best for my child and my health. Other women and I came forward to tell our stories and defend the lives, health and future fertility for the women who follow. Whatever the confusion, we are the women now caught in the middle. President Clinton recognized this. When he vetoed this bill, he did so because there is no exception for women's health. He steadfastly continues to maintain that position. In the face of all the deliberate confusion, he has no problem with clarity.

Neither should any legislator.

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Photo: (Color) Claudia Crown Ades was among those who stood with President Clinton when he vetoed the late-term abortion bill.