Good Morning America (ABC) - 1992-03-05 - 1 of 2 (partial)

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[0:01] Don't worry about it.

[0:02] >> I'm sorry. We're going to go first to

[0:03] the news and leading the news this

[0:04] morning, speculation about the candidacy

[0:06] of a presidential contender. Someone may

[0:08] be getting out of the race and Mike

[0:09] Schneider has that story on the news of

[0:11] the day. Mike, good morning.

[0:11] >> Morning, Charlie. I was going to give

[0:12] you the headlines, but they seem to be

[0:14] about two weeks old now.

[0:16] Good morning, everybody. Senator Bob K's

[0:18] campaign trail has apparently reached

[0:20] the end of the road at this point. The

[0:21] Nebraska Democrat has called a news

[0:22] conference for later today. Word at this

[0:24] point is that he plans to announce that

[0:26] he is dropping out of the race for

[0:27] president. Carrie has attracted only

[0:29] weak support from the voters after the

[0:31] Tuesday round of primaries and caucuses.

[0:33] And that showing has prompted him to

[0:35] cancel a number of campaign appearances

[0:36] in the state of Florida to go back to

[0:38] Washington and to meet with his Senate

[0:40] supporters.

[0:42] >> No final decision yet. I'm just going to

[0:44] meet with Senator X, Senator Moan,

[0:46] Bingaman, Reed, Brian, others who have

[0:48] been been with me from the beginning and

[0:50] I'll make an announcement tomorrow.

[0:52] >> What does this all mean? ABC's Koki

[0:54] Roberts is joining us now live from our

[0:56] Washington bureau. First of all, Koke,

[0:57] what happened to this guy? He looked to

[0:59] be from all accounts so good on paper

[1:01] for the Democrats.

[1:02] >> But being good on paper is not being

[1:04] good in public. And that was really what

[1:06] happened to him. He didn't connect with

[1:07] audiences. He had one thing that he

[1:10] talked about, which was health care, and

[1:12] people care about health care, but they

[1:13] don't care singularly about it. It's not

[1:16] the only thing they care about. And he

[1:18] just didn't seem to click. And finally,

[1:21] in the end, his his only message was,

[1:23] "Keep me there because these other two,

[1:26] Sangus and Clinton, are not electable.

[1:28] You'll find that out eventually, and

[1:30] I'll be there waiting in the wings for

[1:32] you." Well, nobody wanted him in even in

[1:34] the wings.

[1:35] >> Well, who who of those who remain stands

[1:37] to gain the most if Carrie leaves.

[1:39] >> I think it's sort of split between

[1:42] Sangus and Clinton. I think that what

[1:43] you'll have is is uh Clinton picking up

[1:46] the people who his message about trade

[1:49] and maybe his healthc care message uh

[1:52] and that uh maybe a lot of the people

[1:54] who are um more suburban western uh who

[1:58] are um people who are sort of computer

[2:01] people for one of a better word uh will

[2:04] go to to Sanis. I think it's it's more a

[2:07] class thing than anything else.

[2:08] >> All right KO have to leave it there.

[2:10] Appreciate it. ABC's Koki Roberts live

[2:11] for us this morning in our Washington

[2:13] bureau. As for the remaining Democratic

[2:15] candidates, they're doing some

[2:16] campaigning in South Carolina, which has

[2:17] a primary on Saturday. And of course, in

[2:20] the Super Tuesday states as well, the

[2:22] two big prizes there, Florida and Texas.

[2:24] And as you might expect, they're getting

[2:25] a lot of attention as of today and over

[2:27] the next 5 days. Texas is where they'll

[2:29] all be tonight for ABC's nationally

[2:31] televised Democratic debate. Each of the

[2:34] candidates will be hoping to get the

[2:35] attention of the people in the 11 Super

[2:37] Tuesday states. And you will be able to

[2:39] see the Democratic debate from Dallas at

[2:42] 11:30 p.m. Eastern time tonight here on

[2:44] ABC. Peter Jennings will be the

[2:45] moderator. Over on the Republican side

[2:48] now, rather bold suggestion from the

[2:49] challenger, Patrick Buchanan. He says

[2:52] President Bush should quit the race.

[2:54] Buchanan says only he can maintain the

[2:56] coalition of Reagan Republicans and

[2:58] independents that helped win the last

[2:59] three presidential elections. Buchanan

[3:02] suggestions caught a lot of people by

[3:04] surprise since he still hasn't won a

[3:06] primary or a caucus or really even

[3:07] gotten close. Guess it's no real

[3:09] surprise at all that the White House

[3:11] doesn't think too much of Mr. Buchanan's

[3:12] idea. The White House spokesman Marlon

[3:14] Fitzwater says Buchanan's gone looney

[3:17] tunes. That's a quote. Meanwhile, the

[3:19] president has begun a rather intense

[3:21] 6-day campaign tour that will go to

[3:23] straight up to Super Tuesday next week.

[3:25] Mr. Bush was in Florida yesterday. We

[3:27] get more on that story now from ABC's

[3:28] Kathleen Dilasi.

[3:31] George Bush looked like a man riding

[3:33] high on the campaign trail, but his aids

[3:36] acknowledge they must work harder to

[3:38] wrestle the conservative vote away from

[3:40] Pat Buchanan. The Bush campaign

[3:42] continues to play to safe conservative

[3:44] crowds, though like the Cuban Americans

[3:47] who have always stood by the president.

[3:49] He knew what button to push in Miami.

[3:51] and I'm looking forward to being the

[3:54] first president of the United States to

[3:57] set foot on the free soil of post Castro

[4:01] Cuba.

[4:03] >> The president also played his safe

[4:05] foreign policy card in Tampa, home of

[4:07] the military command that oversaw the

[4:09] Gulf War and home of the war hero who

[4:12] can still make most Americans feel good

[4:14] about the war. I think we've got to come

[4:17] together as a country to resist the

[4:19] politics of ugliness and hate, racial

[4:22] bigotry and discrimination. We've got to

[4:25] stand against that wherever we are. The

[4:27] bottom line is I need your help. I need

[4:30] your help to keep our party strong, keep

[4:32] it united so we can win this fall.

[4:35] >> The president might win some

[4:36] conservatives back if he made another no

[4:38] new taxes pledge, but he's not willing

[4:41] to do that. He broke the pledge once and

[4:44] another round of promises could invite

[4:45] ridicule from opponents and do more harm

[4:48] than good. Kathleen Dasi, ABC News,

[4:51] Miami.

[4:53] >> Other news this morning, it was a year

[4:54] ago this week that Los Angeles police

[4:56] officers were seen on a home videotape

[4:58] beating the motorist Rodney King. Well,

[5:00] today opening arguments are beginning in

[5:02] the trial of four police officers who

[5:03] are accused of beating King and then

[5:05] filing false reports. ABC's Tom Shell

[5:07] reports.

[5:09] The opening statement by the prosecution

[5:11] will begin with the jury seeing this

[5:13] vide tape of the beating of Rodney King.

[5:16] All 12 jurors have already seen the tape

[5:18] on television, but each said he or she

[5:21] had not formed any opinion. The tape is

[5:24] the centerpiece of the prosecution's

[5:26] case.

[5:26] >> The force you see on that tape is

[5:29] unreasonable. It is excessive and is

[5:31] unnecessary. And based upon that tape

[5:33] and the reports that followed, we

[5:35] believe the juryy's going to convict

[5:36] these defendants. Ironically, attorneys

[5:39] for the four police officers charged in

[5:41] the case say the beating tape will help

[5:43] their defense.

[5:44] >> The tape appears and in fact does go uh

[5:48] sort of blurry. And what's going on

[5:50] there? Well, we hope to show you what's

[5:52] going on there. And it's certainly not

[5:53] Mr. King laying down.

[5:55] >> The four Los Angeles police officers are

[5:57] white. Rodney King, the alleged victim,

[6:00] is black. There are no blacks on the

[6:02] jury, which is composed of seven men and

[6:04] five women, including an Asian and a

[6:07] Hispanic. The trial is being held in

[6:09] Ventura County, west of Los Angeles,

[6:12] where only 2% of the population is

[6:14] black. Prosecutors plan to call George

[6:17] Holiday as their first witness, the

[6:19] amateur photographer who made that

[6:21] videotape. Tom Shell, ABC News, Los

[6:24] Angeles. Elsewhere this morning, a

[6:27] Virginia fertility doctor who may have

[6:28] fathered as many as 70 children has now

[6:31] been convicted of more than 50 counts of

[6:32] fraud and perjury. The Cecil Jake has

[6:35] been told patients that they were

[6:36] pregnant when they were not, according

[6:37] to his conviction and then claimed that

[6:39] the women had miscarried. He also

[6:41] admitted using his own sperm in some

[6:43] cases to fertilize some of the women.

[6:45] The doctor will be sentenced in May.

[6:47] There will be discussion on the Jacobson

[6:48] case just a few moments here on Good

[6:50] Morning America, but that's the news

[6:51] till now. Time to check in with Charlie

[6:52] and Spencer.

[6:53] >> All right, thanks very much, Mike.

[6:54] After, as we heard earlier in the news,

[6:56] the verdict was guilty yesterday on 52

[6:58] counts of fraud and perjury in the case

[7:00] of Virginia Fertility Dr. Cecil

[7:03] Jacobson. The physician who was accused

[7:05] of fathering as many as 75 children

[7:08] using his own sperm to artificially

[7:10] inseminate his patients. With us now in

[7:12] Washington is Deborah Gregory, a former

[7:14] patient of Dr. Jacobson, the first to go

[7:16] public with allegations against him and

[7:18] the first to testify for the prosecution

[7:20] in the trial. Debbie, good morning.

[7:22] >> Hi, Joan. I guess I should start by

[7:24] saying you're not one of the women who

[7:25] alleged that they unknowingly had

[7:27] children of Dr. Jacobson's, but why

[7:29] don't you tell us what your experience

[7:30] was?

[7:31] >> Well, with uh Dr. Jacobson, he had um

[7:35] alleged that I was pregnant three times

[7:37] within one year and uh the last during

[7:40] the last alleged pregnancy um he had

[7:43] said uh that I was 18 weeks pregnant and

[7:47] um that was on one day on a Friday and

[7:51] on the next day on um a Saturday I went

[7:54] to my regular OBGYn

[7:57] who said there was no baby um that I

[8:01] wasn't pregnant and had not been um and

[8:06] uh before that he Dr. Jacobson had said

[8:10] that I had miscarried um twice during

[8:13] that that same year.

[8:14] >> Now when he told you you were pregnant,

[8:16] what kind of proof did I know that he

[8:18] you went to him and you he was this very

[8:20] well-known and renowned doctor and yet

[8:22] what kind of proof did he actually give

[8:24] you? Did he show you sonograms? What to

[8:26] to prove to you that you were pregnant?

[8:28] >> He did. He uh did pregnancy tests. um uh

[8:32] which showed positive um although I was

[8:35] on huge doses of hCG which we've later

[8:39] found um tripped the pregnancy test to

[8:42] show positive. He did ultrasounds um

[8:46] that he actually drew pictures on

[8:49] showing the baby um just a couple of

[8:52] weeks before we found out that there was

[8:55] no baby. He did a sonogram where he said

[8:59] that um it was uh he called the baby

[9:02] junior and showed his arm and said he

[9:05] was sucking his thumb. And

[9:06] >> meanwhile, I guess you were at home

[9:08] making plans for nurseries. I mean, you

[9:10] were going forward on this and telling

[9:12] friends and picking names,

[9:14] >> right? At that point, I mean, I was

[9:16] thought I was four and a half months

[9:17] pregnant and I was the hormones had um

[9:21] increased caused weight gain. I was

[9:23] wearing maternity clothes. Um,

[9:25] >> how did he explain to you when you

[9:27] supposedly had a miscarriage, but that

[9:28] you had no signs of having a

[9:30] miscarriage? How did he explain that one

[9:32] off? He said that the fetus would resorb

[9:36] into my system and that I you didn't

[9:40] want to have a DNC um because that would

[9:45] could further complicate getting

[9:47] pregnant again and that if you just let

[9:50] it go the it would resorb he likened it

[9:53] to a bruise.

[9:54] >> I know it was a hard thing for you to go

[9:56] public with this story because it is

[9:58] such a personal story. What was the

[9:59] reaction when it was first broadcast on

[10:01] TV?

[10:02] um many women that didn't know what was

[10:06] going on, they found out what he was

[10:09] doing, the the fraud that he was

[10:11] perpetuating. Um and it was for that

[10:14] reason that we we went public.

[10:16] Certainly, we didn't really want to put

[10:18] our personal lives out in front of the

[10:20] media, but

[10:21] >> Well, but this is but now is the end

[10:23] result. How do you feel now here in the

[10:25] verdict?

[10:26] >> I feel good. I I feel like we what we

[10:29] had set out to do was to stop him from

[10:32] ever doing this to anyone else and I

[10:34] feel we've accomplished that.

[10:36] >> Debbie, thank you very much.

[10:38] >> Thank you.

[10:39] >> It is 14 minutes after fertility fraud.

[10:42] How common is this? Can it happen to

[10:45] you? We'll discuss those issues when

[10:46] Good Morning America continues.

[10:52] There's some disturbing questions about

[10:53] the practice of reproductive medicine.

[10:56] Only a few states have laws governing

[10:58] sperm banks and fertility clinics. For

[11:00] the most part, they regulate themselves.

[11:03] How can hopeful couples protect

[11:04] themselves against fertility fraud? And

[11:06] is more regulation needed? Joining us as

[11:09] we examine these questions are Dr.

[11:11] Richard Faulk, the director of

[11:13] reproductive endocrinology and

[11:14] infertility at Columbia Hospital for

[11:16] Women in Washington. Dr. Faulk testified

[11:18] for the prosecution in the Jacobson

[11:20] case. And with us from Chicago is Lori

[11:22] Andrews, a lawyer with the American

[11:24] Bares Foundation who specializes in the

[11:26] area of reproductive law and

[11:28] bioeththics. And good morning to both of

[11:30] you.

[11:30] >> Good morning.

[11:31] >> Morning.

[11:31] >> Dr. Faulk, I understand that you

[11:33] testified of course as material witness

[11:35] and there are a couple of questions that

[11:36] were just raised even as we just talked

[11:37] to Debbie, one of the former patients of

[11:39] Dr. Jacobson. She was told she was

[11:42] pregnant, but actually she was

[11:44] registering a false positive after he

[11:46] injected her with this hormone. Now, he

[11:49] claims he wasn't aware of that hormone's

[11:51] effect, but wouldn't it be safe to say

[11:52] that a fertility specialist should know

[11:54] better?

[11:55] >> It would be safe to say that a medical

[11:57] student should know better, let alone a

[11:59] fertility specialist. Absolutely. Well,

[12:01] he also told the patients that she had

[12:02] miscarried twice and