April 18,
2007
Column #1,338
Historic Abortion Decision
by Mike McManus
America was horrified by the largest mass murder in history this week that
killed 32 people. However, the Supreme Court issued an historic decision to
prohibit another form of killing, virtual infanticide, "Partial Birth
Abortion," It is the first time in 34 years that the Court banned any form of
abortion.
The vast majority of abortions will continue. However, with Justice Alito
replacing Sandra Day O'Connor, there is now a narrow pro-life majority on the
Court, which ruled 5-4 that Government has a "legitimate interest in protecting
fetal life." The State "may express profound respect for the life within a
woman." as long as there is no "substantial obstacle to the woman's exercise of
the right to choose."
Congress said that the now-banned procedure had a "disturbing similarity to the
killing of a new-born infant." Therefore, it was concerned with "draw(ing) a
bright line that clearly distinguishes abortion and infanticide."
The Court agreed, and described the procedure in startling detail. Of the 1.3
million abortions each year, 88 percent are performed in the first twelve weeks
of gestation, the first trimester. They are not at issue here. Nor are most of
the abortions performed in the second or third trimester, in a procedure
technically called "dilation and evacuation (D&E)."
The Court grimly described D&E: "The doctor dilates the cervix and then inserts
surgical instruments into the uterus and maneuvers them to grab the fetus and
pull it back through the cervix and vagina. The fetus is usually ripped apart as
it is removed, and the doctor may take 10 to 15 passes to remove it in its
entirety."
What will be banned is a variation called an "intact D&E" in which "a doctor
extracts the fetus intact...pulling out its entire body instead of ripping it
apart. In order to allow the head to pass through the cervix, the doctor
typically pierces or crushes the skull," the Court explained.
It agreed with Congress, that there is a "moral, medical and ethical consensus
that partial-birth abortion is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never
medically necessary and should be prohibited."
How many such cases are there? There is no independent reporting, only what the
Guttmacher Institute, affiliated with Planned Parenthood, belatedly calculates.
In 2000, it estimated there were 2,200 intact D&Es.
At most, that is the number of lives that will be saved. And since doctors can
still perform D&E dismemberments, perhaps no additional babies will be born.
"That is almost not the issue," argues Wendy Wright, President of Concerned
Women for America. "Now people are aware that abortion is a gruesome and
inhumane procedure that takes an innocent life. The Supreme Court has made a
number of statements that exude a deep respect for human life."
She is right. This is the first time since the Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion
in 1973, that a majority of the Court has expressed concern about life in the
womb.
Kennedy argued eloquently that "Respect for human life finds an ultimate
expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child. The Act recognizes
this reality as well. Whether to have an abortion requires a difficult and
painful moral decision...Some women come to regret their choice to abort the
infant life they once created and sustained."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who used to work for the ACLU, found the decision
"alarming," and objected vehemently that "this way of thinking reflects the
ancient notions of the woman's place in the family," ideas "long since
discredited."
Hooray! She's finally in the minority..
What's the significance of the ruling?
Physicians often are intentionally vague about details of what an abortion
involves. The court said women must be "well informed" if they are not to
"struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound" when learning
only after the event that "she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum
the fast-developing brain of her unborn child."
State laws must require giving women considering an abortion, exact details of
how her baby will be killed. She then has a choice. She might continue with
the abortion.
Or she may decide to deliver her baby and give it up for adoption, which is very
rare today. Of the 1.5 million babies born out of wedlock, only 22,000 are
adopted.
The Supreme Court has become more responsible. Churches should also become more
responsible by praising the long-neglected virtue of chastity, and by urging
unwed pregnant women to consider adoption.
Hopefully, the long-term consequence of this decision is that more women will
refuse casual sex, so called, "hook- ups."
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