It's about time!

PBA will soon go down in flames, G-d willing.

One of the local House members (local being Rochester, NY), Rep. Louise Slaughter, had this insight to offer in the Democrat and Chronicle deadtree:

The Congress of the United States has never -- ever -- outlawed a medical procedure. What in the name of G-d are we going here? And what is next?

How dare she invoke G-d, while the only god this horrid person worships is Molech. Joe Lieberman, watch out -- you've got competition!

On the FL case, from the St. Petersburg Times, via the Pro-Life Infonet

A little late, as usual, but hopefully better than never, some recent high(low)lights on a case everybody's talking about:

Tallahassee, FL -- The Florida Department of Children & Families has asked a judge to close the file detailing the case of a 22-year-old developmentally disabled woman who was raped and became pregnant while living in a group home.

In its motion filed Wednesday, DCF contends the woman, known in court as J.D.S., is a victim of a sexual battery and that her identity should be exempt from public-records laws. The file includes her name. It also says her health information, some of which is included in the file, is protected from disclosure under federal law.

J.D.S.'s attorney has agreed with the state's request to seal the file.

Most guardianship cases are public record, and The Orlando Sentinel and The Miami Herald have filed a motion objecting to the state's request, arguing the public has a right to know about the controversial case.

"An order restricting access to the records would impede the right of the public to monitor this important proceeding through
the news media," wrote Gregg D. Thomas and David S. Bralow, attorneys for the newspapers.

The attorneys also requested a hearing on the issue. Kirkwood had not ruled on the issue late Tuesday.

DCF and pro-life Gov. Jeb Bush have stated plans to request a second guardian for the unborn child, a position that has drawn fierce criticism from abortion advocates.

On Tuesday, the Christian Coalition of Florida filed a brief asking the judge for protection of the baby. The pro-life group said an "elected official" who is not from the state of Florida is willing to adopt the child, but did not identify the official.

Carolyn Kunkle, deputy director of the group, said a dozen adoption agencies and 15 families also are interested in providing a home for the baby after a potential birth as well as for the baby of a severely disabled Miami woman who also is six months pregnant. A judge on Friday ordered doctors to perform an abortion on the 28-year-old Miami woman, who suffers from seizures and whose health is threatened by the pregnancy.

ACTION: Pro-life advocates are encouraged to contact Jackson Memorial Hospital and encourage it to refuse to perform the abortion on the disabled Miami woman. You can find contact information for the hospital at http://www.um-jmh.org/JHS/Jackson.html and for the hospital's Board of Trustees at http://www.um-jmh.org/JHS/Executive_Staff.html

What does Judaism as I understand it say about this? Don't visit the sins of the father upon the innocent unborn child. Bravo for Governor Bush, the Christian Coalition of FL, and all the amazing folks willing to adopt this innocent child.

As for the welfare of the adult victim in this case, the judge who ordered the abortion should instead have ordered FL's human service agencies to get her into the best physical and mental care that tax revenue can buy, for the duration of pregnancy and beyond. If this had happened in NY state, I would gladly have asked my state legislator to push for just such measures, regardless of the effect such precedent might have on state taxes. I.e., go ahead and spend the money. It's for life and health, the two most important things out there, and it's for someone who can't help herself, exactly the kind of person on whom tax revenue should be spent as lavishly as need be.

The people are with Dems on lots of issues, but not abortion.

In her great piece in today's LA Times, Arianna Huffington lambastes Dems for their ineptitude at capitalizing on the high level of agreement b/t their principles and those of many voter majorities. But one thing she writes troubles me:

On protecting the environment, safeguarding Social Security, greater access to affordable health care, gun control and abortion, the majority of the American people are with the Democrats.

As funnyman John McLaughlin might say, wrong. Where's your evidence, Ms. Huffington? Mine is here, where my former employer, a pro-choicer and an adjunct prof of campaigns and polling at Columbia University, has this to say about the usefulness of the polls Huffington likely consulted:

"I find 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' are irrelevant, the most irrelevant things that exist," said Jeff Pollack, president of the Global Strategy Group Inc., a New York firm that conducted an in-depth national survey for the Othmer Institute of Planned Parenthood of New York in June 2000.

Of course, maybe Huffington relied on polls that ask the question this way: "When it comes to abortion, which of the following best reflects your opinion? (a) legal in all circumstances, (b) legal in most circumstances, (c) illegal in most circumstances, (d) illegal in all circumstances. And for scientific evidence of the propensity of these types of questions to bias response in favor of the researcher's objectives (and everybody has them), search my archives for a great book on the past 30 years of abortion polling (can't find it right now).

One more thing -- within the past year or so, Gallup found for the first time that those in favor of abortion and those opposed are about evenly balanced. Check out the Gallup site and you'll find it.

Abortion and depression

On Memorial Day, Emily of After abortion linked to a Reuters story, the crux of which is that 20 percent of women are depressed while their unborn children are growing inside them. Very scary, for both women and children.

Emily has a good suggestion for further study. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Abortion and breast cancer rates likely to decline precipitously in coming decades, in at least one state

G-d bless Texas. Catholic World News reports that the Lone Star State is almost certain to pass an informed consent bill into law. Among the subjects is the ABC link. CWNews:

The bill which has already passed the [TX] House [and TX Senate] and is likely to be signed by Gov. Rick Perry, calls for a maximum $10,000 fine for abortionists who fail to provide informed consent to women prior to aborting their children. [brackets mine]

NB: You might need a subscription to see the CWNews story in full.

Reading this news is a great way to begin the work week, no? (Even if the news is almost a week old!)

Democratic presidential aspirants prostrate themselves before Emily's List forum

Just the highlights:

"If George Bush gets reelected, you can about be certain that in six years, Roe versus Wade will be gone," said former senator Carol Moseley Braun (Ill.), referring to the 1973 court decision that legalized abortion.

Pardon my font size, but

AMEN.

Of course, she's wrong, but it's still nice to see.

Honesty is nice to see, too. Here's Sen. John Edwards of NC:

Bush's judicial nominees, Edwards said, "will take your rights away," and he called on Democrats to resist. "If we as Democrats don't have the backbone to stand up and fight for that, we don't stand for anything."

You gotta give Edwards one thing: he's right. And the Dems do have the backbone to stand up for something. If only it were something else, they'd win more elections!

Emily of After abortion on Glendon's latest

The gist of Emily's supplement to Glendon:

[P]eople hesitate to make moral pronouncements about abortion because they may also feel responsible for abortions that occurred. There's an ill-defined guilt that many people feel around this subject...they wonder if they could have, should have, done more to be part of a family that made it possible for those kids to be welcomed.