ATLANTA--The Archdiocese of Atlanta is currently participating in a nationwide postcard-campaign in an effort to urge United States senators to override President Bill Clinton's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, HR 1122.

The archdiocese's participation in the campaign began Jan. 24 and is being funded by Archbishop John F. Donoghue's office.

Parishioners will find preprinted postcards at their parish that they can sign and send to Georgia senators, Paul Coverdell and Max Cleland, asking them to support the override of the president's veto.

Partial-birth abortion is a procedure in which, during the second and sometimes third trimester of pregnancy, a baby is partially delivered, feet first, by the abortion doctor. When the baby is delivered except for the head, the doctor forces scissors into the base of the baby's skull, inserts a catheter and suctions out the brain, killing the baby. The dead baby is then fully delivered.

In reaffirming its support for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act the American Medical Association (AMA) has stated that they have been unable to identify even one circumstance where a partial-birth abortion is medically indicated. The AMA Board of Trustees calls partial-birth abortion "ethically wrong" and "not an accepted 'medical procedure.'"

In both 1996 and 1997 the U.S. Congress voted to ban this procedure with overwhelming bipartisan support. The current bill, HR 1122, bans partial-birth abortions with a "life of the mother" exception. On Oct. 10, 1997, President Clinton vetoed the bill, insisting that there be a "health of the mother" exception.

In Georgia Coverdell voted to ban partial-birth abortion while Cleland voted to keep the procedure legal. Postcards sent to Coverdell will thank him for his vote and ask him to encourage his fellow senators to do the same. Postcards to Cleland will ask him to reconsider and vote to override the president's veto.