Jim Stillman
NevarThe hypocrisy of Abortion
April 5th 2011 06:54
A paradox about abortion
Making abortions illegal or more difficult to obtain, including parental notification laws, increases the public health risk, makes injuries or death more likely.
There are empirical data to support the idea that abortion is a public health issue not one to be addressed by penal sanctions, the addition of roadblocks or by making legal abortions more difficult to obtain. The facts are that if a woman who wishes to obtain an abortion, she will seek out a provider who will accommodate her. It is far better or her to have access to a sanitary, regulated facility rather than an unregulated dangerous one.
One of the primary arguments against the 2010 Health Care reform legislation is that it somehow allows the Federal government to finance abortions. Since the 1976 Hyde Amendment, with a few exceptions (rape, incest or where the life of the mother is threatened) Congress has continued the ban. The Affordable Health Care legislation is totally consistent; Federal funding of Medicaid does not allow Federal monies to pay for abortion. A substantial number of states have, through Tea Party supported and dependent legislators and limited but focused Governors have pushed their agenda to the extreme. In Florida, these zealots have abandoned rational thought and waste energy on preventing that which is already forbidden.
Obama-haters are not concerned about objective truth; that would conflict with the hatred! They live in their own universe and have no issue with logical conflict with other of their sacred beliefs. The state of Florida serves as a perfect example.
Newly elected Rick (“Vote for me; I wasn’t indicted”) is in charge but members of the Republican controlled Legislature are doing their part.
Start with the premise that governmental interference with the personal lives and choices of adult individuals are an infringement of liberty; it’s bad.
On the other hand, government interference in support of imposing the personal moral and religious beliefs on those who fail to share those beliefs is not only permitted, it is encouraged.
The most egregious of the proposed Florida bills to place a block to an abortion, one that has no relation to preserving the woman’s health or safety. This proposed law would require physician to perform an ultra-sound of the womb, and show it to the pregnant. The results of the ultra-sound must be explained and fully communicated to the woman. There are exceptions, but how is this anything other than a way to discourage abortions? This is the same legislature that objects to the government “forcing” individuals to obtain health insurance; it is “overreaching by government!
Another proposal would prohibit insurance coverage for abortion services. Who is going to pay for that ultrasound? The woman? The physician? The hospital where it is performed?
The variety of new proposed laws makes it clear that there is an agenda at work. Roadblocks to legal and safe abortions are created without rationality.
The Florida Constitution and state law now give parents a right to be notified before minors can get abortions, but allow underage girls to get a court waiver of that requirement.
Legislation has been filed to give judges up to three business days, which could total five days if a weekend intervenes, instead of the current 48 hours to make a decision. It also would require minors to file such cases in the judicial circuit in which they live. Current law lets them go to neighboring or nearby circuits. What is the purpose of the delay? What is the purpose of the limitation on the forum?
The extra time could delay some abortions to the second trimester of a pregnancy while most clinics limit their practice to first trimester procedures. The restriction to local circuits would increase the risk of a girl running into someone who knows her at the courthouse.
Other Bills would impose a variety of new requirements on clinics and doctors including stricter criminal penalties for violations of existing regulations. It would add requirements for abortion doctors to get three hours of ethics training every year and that clinics licensed after Oct. 1 be owned and operated only by physicians. Who is going to pay for the training or is the hope that physicians will not add to their schedules and forgo abortions – even if, in their medical judgment, it would be appropriate? (Perhaps an annual “ethics” course should be mandatory for legislators!)
Another provision says clinic advertisements would have to include statements saying they are prohibited from performing abortions in the third trimester or after viability. The legislation that is proposed also would bar anyone from distributing information in any way, including word of mouth, about poisons, drugs or "means whatever" for causing or procuring a miscarriage. Violators could get up to a year in jail. What happened to the reverence for the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment’s prohibition against Government restriction of free speech?
The state of Florida has a crumbling infrastructure, is ranked very low in lists where out-of-state companies find hospitable. Our roads are crowded; we ignore possibilities of rapid transit – even when it would not cost a dime. We have high unemployment, a housing market that is showing little improvement.
But our elected officials are determined to make us follow their moral rules! Even if their actions result in the death or maiming of middle class and poor women.
Many states legislate roadblocks to abortion, disallow state funds to be spent for abortion services, enact parental notification laws, compel women seeking legal abortions to watch videos of fetuses or procedures; these states and individuals know that Roe v Wade is the law and probably will not be totally overruled.
What is the inevitable result of these actions? Wealthy women will have free access to abortion services, either in a private facility or by travelling to a more receptive locale. For the poor, however, an abortion result is still available, but often in unsanitary, filthy dangerous settings. Poor women become ill, injured or die; but they will seek abortions. In an ideal world, all children will be a blessing, all unwanted children and those who cannot be adequately be raised and fed will be adopted into good and loving homes.
It is not an ideal world. Teens will become, out of ignorance or carelessness, pregnant. They will seek and obtain abortions, regardless of sanctions and restrictions and prohibitions. Where should they go? Women who are poor and without health resources will seek and obtain abortions. Are we to condemn them, also, to the dangerous health risks or death in an illegal and unregulated abortionist?
Making abortions illegal or more difficult to obtain, including parental notification laws, increases the public health risk, makes injuries or death more likely.
There are empirical data to support the idea that abortion is a public health issue not one to be addressed by penal sanctions, the addition of roadblocks or by making legal abortions more difficult to obtain. The facts are that if a woman who wishes to obtain an abortion, she will seek out a provider who will accommodate her. It is far better or her to have access to a sanitary, regulated facility rather than an unregulated dangerous one.
One of the primary arguments against the 2010 Health Care reform legislation is that it somehow allows the Federal government to finance abortions. Since the 1976 Hyde Amendment, with a few exceptions (rape, incest or where the life of the mother is threatened) Congress has continued the ban. The Affordable Health Care legislation is totally consistent; Federal funding of Medicaid does not allow Federal monies to pay for abortion. A substantial number of states have, through Tea Party supported and dependent legislators and limited but focused Governors have pushed their agenda to the extreme. In Florida, these zealots have abandoned rational thought and waste energy on preventing that which is already forbidden.
Obama-haters are not concerned about objective truth; that would conflict with the hatred! They live in their own universe and have no issue with logical conflict with other of their sacred beliefs. The state of Florida serves as a perfect example.
Newly elected Rick (“Vote for me; I wasn’t indicted”) is in charge but members of the Republican controlled Legislature are doing their part.
Start with the premise that governmental interference with the personal lives and choices of adult individuals are an infringement of liberty; it’s bad.
On the other hand, government interference in support of imposing the personal moral and religious beliefs on those who fail to share those beliefs is not only permitted, it is encouraged.
The most egregious of the proposed Florida bills to place a block to an abortion, one that has no relation to preserving the woman’s health or safety. This proposed law would require physician to perform an ultra-sound of the womb, and show it to the pregnant. The results of the ultra-sound must be explained and fully communicated to the woman. There are exceptions, but how is this anything other than a way to discourage abortions? This is the same legislature that objects to the government “forcing” individuals to obtain health insurance; it is “overreaching by government!
Another proposal would prohibit insurance coverage for abortion services. Who is going to pay for that ultrasound? The woman? The physician? The hospital where it is performed?
The variety of new proposed laws makes it clear that there is an agenda at work. Roadblocks to legal and safe abortions are created without rationality.
The Florida Constitution and state law now give parents a right to be notified before minors can get abortions, but allow underage girls to get a court waiver of that requirement.
Legislation has been filed to give judges up to three business days, which could total five days if a weekend intervenes, instead of the current 48 hours to make a decision. It also would require minors to file such cases in the judicial circuit in which they live. Current law lets them go to neighboring or nearby circuits. What is the purpose of the delay? What is the purpose of the limitation on the forum?
The extra time could delay some abortions to the second trimester of a pregnancy while most clinics limit their practice to first trimester procedures. The restriction to local circuits would increase the risk of a girl running into someone who knows her at the courthouse.
Other Bills would impose a variety of new requirements on clinics and doctors including stricter criminal penalties for violations of existing regulations. It would add requirements for abortion doctors to get three hours of ethics training every year and that clinics licensed after Oct. 1 be owned and operated only by physicians. Who is going to pay for the training or is the hope that physicians will not add to their schedules and forgo abortions – even if, in their medical judgment, it would be appropriate? (Perhaps an annual “ethics” course should be mandatory for legislators!)
Another provision says clinic advertisements would have to include statements saying they are prohibited from performing abortions in the third trimester or after viability. The legislation that is proposed also would bar anyone from distributing information in any way, including word of mouth, about poisons, drugs or "means whatever" for causing or procuring a miscarriage. Violators could get up to a year in jail. What happened to the reverence for the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment’s prohibition against Government restriction of free speech?
The state of Florida has a crumbling infrastructure, is ranked very low in lists where out-of-state companies find hospitable. Our roads are crowded; we ignore possibilities of rapid transit – even when it would not cost a dime. We have high unemployment, a housing market that is showing little improvement.
But our elected officials are determined to make us follow their moral rules! Even if their actions result in the death or maiming of middle class and poor women.
Many states legislate roadblocks to abortion, disallow state funds to be spent for abortion services, enact parental notification laws, compel women seeking legal abortions to watch videos of fetuses or procedures; these states and individuals know that Roe v Wade is the law and probably will not be totally overruled.
What is the inevitable result of these actions? Wealthy women will have free access to abortion services, either in a private facility or by travelling to a more receptive locale. For the poor, however, an abortion result is still available, but often in unsanitary, filthy dangerous settings. Poor women become ill, injured or die; but they will seek abortions. In an ideal world, all children will be a blessing, all unwanted children and those who cannot be adequately be raised and fed will be adopted into good and loving homes.
It is not an ideal world. Teens will become, out of ignorance or carelessness, pregnant. They will seek and obtain abortions, regardless of sanctions and restrictions and prohibitions. Where should they go? Women who are poor and without health resources will seek and obtain abortions. Are we to condemn them, also, to the dangerous health risks or death in an illegal and unregulated abortionist?
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