Dornan’s Path Is a Low Road

June Bickford of Anaheim Hills thought she’d write a letter to one of her local congressmen, Robert K. Dornan.

Rep. Dornan, Mrs. Bickford had just read in the newspaper, was pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Rust vs. Sullivan upholding a ban on abortion counseling at clinics that accept federal funds.

Except counseling is really too big a word here. Under the so-called gag rule, health care workers at federally funded clinics may not even mention abortion as an option for pregnant women, under any circumstances. Congress recently passed legislation to cancel the ban, but President Bush has threatened a veto.

At any rate, Rep. Dornan, quoted in a story about general congressional outrage over the court ruling, had weighed in with his own spin on events. He characterized Rust vs. Sullivan as “on the high edge of a powerful medium decision” and then he said this:

“I do like seeing Planned Parenthood take a heavy hit because they are as political a group as there is in the United States and they are the main perpetrators of the lie that Roe vs. Wade only legalized abortion in the first three months. The legal fact is that Roe legalized abortion for the entire nine months period for any reason whatsoever.”

So Mrs. Bickford, who happens to be on the board of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, thought she’d try to correct some of Rep. Dornan’s misperceptions. She had never written the congressman before.

She penned a short note letting him know about Planned Parenthood’s family planning services and enclosed a brochure from the organization entitled, “Pro Child, Pro Family, Pro Choice.” The brochure lists the 25 services that Planned Parenthood offers locally, including abortions during the first trimester.

The congressman wrote her back.

“Thank you for your recent letter concerning the work which Planned Parenthood does,” he begins. “It was good to hear from you.”

Then Rep. Dornan goes on to say that he is familiar with Planned Parenthood’s programs and services, nationally and locally.

“As a matter of fact,” he writes, “there are few leaders among either pro-lifers or pro-abortionists who have studied the work of the organization as much as I have. I am aware of the non-abortion services performed by Planned Parenthood. But promotion of abortion is a major element of Planned Parenthood’s function.

“According to the 1990 annual report prepared by the Santa Ana branch of Planned Parenthood, that organization was responsible for 422 abortions. Planned Parenthood is clearly not ‘pro-choice’ but pro-abortion.”

Now considering that the speaker here is Rep. Dornan, this is pretty standard stuff. The congressman is what we in the press politely call “an outspoken opponent of abortion.”

Except being polite to others who may not share his view is something that does not come easily to the congressman. As Mrs. Bickford has learned.

“I support the Rust decision of the Supreme Court because I do not feel that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions or even counseling which encourages abortions, as Planned Parenthood so obviously does,” Rep. Dornan went on.

“If Planned Parenthood wants move (sic) tell young girls in the direction of killing their pre-born children, they can do it on their own dime. I ask you, does P.P. really show any mothers-to-be, let alone pregnant teenage-mothers-to-be, sonograms or drawings or anthropomorphic models of the life growing in their wombs? How about an audio session where the parent-to-be hears the tiny heartbeat?

“Again, thank you for contacting me about this destruction of human life issue,” he writes. “I look forward to hearing your convoluted rebuttal.”

Then the congressman signed off, “Sincerely, Bob.” And he added this “P.S. Margaret Sanger (an early advocate of contraception as a way of managing population growth) really was a racist, wasn’t she?”

June Bickford wrote to let me know about Rep. Dornan’s response to her little note. And a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood says they have added the letter to their Dornan file; another woman, this one from Santa Ana, had already sent a copy in.

So it was a form letter after all.

At Planned Parenthood, they sounded amused by the congressman’s words. They read me excerpts from other Dornan missives that were along the same lines. June Bickford, however, said she was appalled.

“One would think that our elected officials would have more respect for the citizens that employ him,” she wrote.

One would think, but then again, maybe whoever thinks that just isn’t too familiar with Bob. When it comes to choosing between the high road and the low, the congressman will always dig himself deep into the ground.