Posted by
Shogrensus on Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:41:12 PM
Rosie is quite upset today. The Women’s Movement has been completely usurped
Yesterday the United States Supreme Court upheld the “Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, which banned only one form of partial birth abortion unless the life of the mother was in danger. (Click here to read the Court’s opinion)
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Rosie: And speaking of back to where we started, also Supreme Court came down for the first time since 1973 with a partial abortion ban
BW: 5 to 4
Rosie:5 to 4 was the Supreme Court vote. Now it’s shocking to me. This is the first time since 1973, everyone agrees partial birth abortion is horrific. It’s horrific for anyone who has to decide it. 1.3 million abortions done in America every year. 2000 partial birth abortions. What is that? Zero point 1 percent 0.1
***
Her implication seems to be that the fact that so few of the total abortions are Partial Birth that it is shocking that the Court would undermine Roe because of them.
They go on:
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Elisabeth: That represents 2000 lives
Rosie: Well that represents 2000 women who were at risk and this was there only option. This is not, no one electively chooses to have this kind of abortion
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Actually, Rosie is wrong here. This was not the only option facing these women. These women were not at risk. Women whose lives are at risk would either deliver their babies or have an emergency c-section. Both would be faster.
These women are faced with having a child with a disability. They want to elect to not have to face the thought or raising that child or of giving the child up for adoption.
Elisabeth tries to explain this to Rosie:
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Elisabeth: In the Partial Birth Abortion Act there is an exemption where if the women’s life were at risk
BW: only her life not her health
Elisabeth: not her health because people could probably claim and have their doctors vouch for them that it would cause undue stress anxiety there’s a lot of blurriness
BW: most women would not want to have after the first three months, most women would not want to have an abortion
Rosie: This is not an elective abortion
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There has been quite a bit of debate about clauses referring to a woman's health. The word health can be determined to be anything ranging from being emotionally upset to having a serious complication. Because the word health is so completely subjective, Congress omitted the term.
This procedure is so extreme that the Congress believed that the only reason it should be performed is when the life of the mother is in danger.
Barbara is correct that most women would not want to have an abortion after three months. Most women would never want to have an abortion. Women who choose abortion often make the choice with a heavy heart and many women struggle with the choice for years, if not for the rest of their lives.
Because so many women struggled post-abortion with no support for decades, there are now organizations to help women heal after abortion. Rachel's Vineyard is one of the largest organizations to address this issue.