KINDER'S COMMENTARY: LIES ABOUT PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS ARE BEING EXPOSED

One by one, the lies are being exposed. Inexorably, the tissue of half-truths, misleading statements, euphemisms and lies shrouding the dirty work of the abortion industry is unraveling. "The truth will make you free. But first it will make you miserable."

Among the most miserable Wednesday morning were Kate Michelman and her each-and-every-abortion-at-any-cost crowd at the National Abortion Rights Action League. They awakened to one of the most stunning headlines ever to confront the abortion industry in, of all places, the New York Times, not previously known as a precinct friendly to the pro-life movement.

"An Abortion Rights Advocate Says He Lied" screamed the big, black headline over the news story in the newspaper of record. Even before this week's devastating revelations, Paul Greenberg had seen through the lies in his column on "partial-truth" abortions. But back to the Times' news story: "A prominent member of the abortion rights movement said today that he lied in earlier statements when he said a controversial form of late-term abortion is rare and performed primarily to save the lives or fertility of women bearing severely malformed babies." Suggesting that this guy isn't the only liar inside the abortion rights movement, the article continues: "he now says the procedure is performed far more often than his colleagues have acknowledged, and on healthy women bearing healthy babies.

"Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, said he intentionally misled in previous remarks about the procedure, called intact dilation and evacuation by those who believe it should remain legal and partial-birth abortion by those who believe it should be outlawed, because he feared that the truth would damage the cause of abortion rights. But he is now convinced, he said, that the issue of whether the procedure should remain legal, like the overall debate about abortion, must be based on the truth.

"In an article published in American Medical News, to be published March 3, ... Mr. Fitzsimmons recalled ... when he ... 'lied through my teeth' when he said the procedure was used rarely and only on women whose lives were in danger or whose fetuses were damaged. 'It made me physically ill,' Mr. Fitzsimmons said in an interview. 'I told my wife the next day, I can't do this again.'"

Honor to Fitzsimmons, for owning up to his untruths and, belatedly, telling the truth. Meanwhile, his stunning confession confirms the judgment, rendered here earlier, that the discovery of and publicity over partial-birth abortion marks a historic turning point in the long-running battle over the pro-life issue, properly understood as a battle for the soul of America. How many pro-choicers will want to hit the barricades for a pack of lies fed them by those getting rich on unrestricted abortion on demand into the third trimester?

Just a month earlier, immediately following the Jan. 20 inauguration of the president, the man who vetoed the federal ban on partial-birth abortion sent his vice president and first lady to a gala for the pro-abortion NARAL crowd. The organization is known for being a militant defender of all 30-plus million abortions since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Vice President Al Gore, who just 11 years ago wrote of his personal conviction that abortion is wrong, was the keynote speaker. His wife Tipper presented NARAL's Lifetime Achievement Award to Robin Chandler Duke. Query: Just exactly what do you have to do to win a "lifetime achievement award" from the abortion industry? Meanwhile, the president who defended his veto of the ban on partial-birth abortions in language almost word-for-word indistinguishable from the lies spoken by Mr. Fitzsimmons has fallen silent. Perhaps he is too busy preparing defenses for the latest revelation of the day concerning Lippogate, Asian-gate, Motel 1600, Travelgate, Whitewater, Paula Jones ... .

In Democratic Sen Daniel Patrick Moynihan's savage phrase, as he called for a special prosecutor for the mushrooming Clinton money scandals now threatening to drown his party: "Everyone has a Chinese arms merchant for lunch. Don't you?"

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.