New laws in several states prohibit nearly all abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation. This flies in the face of Roe v. Wade, which permits states to prohibit elective abortion only after viability is possible, at roughly 24 weeks’ gestation.
The laws are being justified on the theory that a fetus at 20 weeks can perceive pain, in spite of the fact that its cerebral cortex has not yet developed. Most scientists insist that a functioning cerebral cortex is necessary to perceive pain, or anything else.
On a Web site summarizing their case, abortion opponents counter with recent studies by a handful of scientists claiming that a functioning cortex is not necessary for the experience of pain. They charge that the American and British obstetrical colleges are biased, dominated by abortion supporters.
Projection, much?
These laws allow for an exception only in the case of possible death or permanent bodily injury of the mother. The law focuses on a couple who were not allowed to terminate a 22 week pregnancy, even though the fetus had stopped developing and the pregnancy had caused a serious infection.
Even worse, states are beginning to prosecute women for stillbirths. Kansas is attempting to shut down its three remaining abortion clinics through onerous and arbitrary building regulations.
Several states have passed new laws that force women to overcome arbitrary and unnecessary hurdles to terminate pregnancies. These include coercive “counseling” and ultrasounds. And, of course, several states are moving toward defunding Planned Parenthood, or have already defunded it. Across the country there has been a huge spike in state anti-abortion legislation.
I am glad to hear that everything is so hunky-dory in so many states that legislators have nothing else to do but think up ways to ban abortions. I’d hate to think this obsession with womb regulation might be taking precedence over more pressing matters. (/snark)
But I say again, polls going back many years show that American public opinion on abortion is not nearly as extreme as what one sees in a lot of state legislatures. A Time poll conducted last week showed that 64 percent of adults nationwide think that women have a right to terminate a pregnancy in the first few weeks, as opposed to 35 percent who think they don’t. So, while many Americans lean more conservatively on such issues as parental notification and limits on later-term abortions, there has long been a broad consensus that abortions in the first trimester or so (which are 88 percent of abortions performed in the U.S.) are a woman’s business, not the government’s.
This leads to two question. One, it seems to me there long has been a pattern for state legislatures to be more right wing than the the people of a state on many issues. Over the years I’ve noticed this in regard to several issues, from flying Confederate flags over statehouses to allowing bar patrons to carry guns. This speaks to the power of right-wing organizations to elect candidates, but I really wish someone would do a comprehensive study of this someday.
Second, I do wonder what the people in many of these states think. I suspect many of them voted for the guys who promised to cut taxes and grow jobs. Once elected, however, they appear to spend the bulk of their time trying to shut down abortion clinics. Which doesn’t grow jobs. When are they going to realize that if they want sane, responsible government, they have to weed out politicians who are obsessed with abortion.
I think we need to understand that this IS their jobs plan.
Limiting or eliminating abortions means jobs, jobs, jobs!!!
Look:
-Back-room abortionists.
-Their helpers.
-Look-outs.
-More EMS workers.
-More emergency room doctors and nurses.
-Morticians.
-Stone-cutters for headstones.
-Pottery workers for funeral urns.
-Psychologists.
-Social workers to make sure everything is in order as the unwanted child is being raised.
Also, too, they are looking out for the long term benefit of our blessed corporations and our economy.
All of those non-aborted babies can serve as low-wage serf’s for corporations for decades to come.
Btw – I like Fetus Gestapo.
I might like to add, we can also refer to them as the ‘Zygote SS.’
CUND: I have a feeling that the jobs won’t include more EMS workers. There are probably too many now and we have to cut the budget and get along with fewer publicy health services.
PurpleGirl,
You’re right.
Less EMS workers is defintely in the future.
But that’s ok, we can retrain them.
We’ll need town cryers to go through the steets yelling, “Bring out your dead!”
Reading your post, maha, actually brought tears to my eyes. I’ve known so many married women who have had abortions, many pre-Roe vs Wade and many Catholic, by the way. Their pregnancies were unplanned, unintended and beyond their ability to allow its fruition.
To have an outside party in the position to prevent what they knew had to happen would have been so cruel, so agonizing for them. When others assume the position of disallowing a woman to make a choice that is rightfully hers alone, it is so selfish, so empty of compassion and empathy for the well-being of another.
“Cruel and unusual punishment” is apparently allowed when the person is a woman who is merely asking to decide her own fate.
“They charge that the American and British obstetrical colleges are biased, dominated by abortion supporters”
Well of course, it makes perfect sense that a group of professionals who have devoted their lives to educating others in the profession of caring for women and their born and unborn children would be pro-abortion! I mean if all fetuses were aborted it would mean more business…………….never mind!
Seems like a twist on the “What’s the Matter With Kansas” theory that people vote for someone who promises to make abortion illegal but does nothing. Now they are voting for people to make jobs and now they are all about abortion laws.
IMO, the bottom line is the USSC, and quite possibly any appointments to the court Obama may make in a hypothetical second term. Or flip the coin over- what appointments a president Bachmann might make.
CUND — “bring out your dead” Thanks for a hearty laugh.
At this point, the doctors should simply defy the laws and practice according to standard obstetric practice. No cop is going arrest a practicing doctor; the spectacle would cause a riot. Moreover, the burden of proof is on the idiots. They might just as well say no 20 week abortions because fetuses can do calculus. I’d like to see them prove their case in court.
tom b …The cop is going to do what he or she is told to..It’s the County Prosecutor who is going to destroy the doctor..Whether the Prosecutor is motivated by Jesus or seeking a fast track to political notoriety, there are plenty of them out there just waiting for an oportunity to bolster their anti-abortion resume.
There might be an occasional County Sheriff full of Christian zeal who wants to do the Lord’s work by bringing these ungodly doctors to justice…Google: Grady Judd… He’s a Florida” good ole boy” who just loves the Lord, and loves keepin’ the Lord’s house in order.
Swami: I’m a fan of civil disobedience. Had it not been for the war protests (I grew up during Viet Nam), we might still be there. Having said that, it is not courageous on my part to ask the physicians to stick it to the dingbats. I would hope physicians would have some measure of community support, though. The events in Wisconsin earlier this year suggest people might be getting angry enough to get involved. This case is not unlike the creationism thing, where they’ve been pretty trounced in court– and not by “lib’ral” judges.
what appointments a president Bachmann might make.
She should make an appointment with a head shrinker if she really thinks she’ll get elected.
Bachmann blew another one with her John Wayne statement. Seems her historical GPS needs to be calibrated..first her New Hampshire/ Lexington- Concord goof and now her John Wayne/ Waterloo gaff.. She’s like a female version of George Bush with her constant missing the mark of knowing what she’s talking about.
“he’s like a female version of George Bush with her constant missing the mark of knowing what she’s talking about.”
He simulated getting elected twice. Republicans don’t fact check. But she’ll flame out like cavewoman before the convention— hope she doesn’t; she’d be easier to beat than Mittens.
“Second, I do wonder what the people in many of these states think. I suspect many of them voted for the guys who promised to cut taxes and grow jobs. Once elected, however, they appear to spend the bulk of their time trying to shut down abortion clinics. Which doesn’t grow jobs. When are they going to realize that if they want sane, responsible government, they have to weed out politicians who are obsessed with abortion.”
I’m not sure I agree. Given the low turnout in many state elections (especially in off years), I think they’re responding quite well to the people who elected them. Certainly, they’re responding to the people who got them through the primaries. The ‘moderates’, such as they are, don’t show up, especially for primaries.
(aside: this is a personal observation, possibly completely off-base, but legislatures seem to move right during non-presidential election years).
I’d like to see politicians take a stand FOR women’s health. If one or two Republicans in NY can do the right thing and support gay marriage, why can’t democrats take some stronger initiatives to support women’s rights?