The decision made by the Supreme Court three weeks ago to uphold the 2003 law banning partial birth abortion proved that the new justices, Alito and Roberts, provide the solid conservative majority to uphold the ban.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court Justices have, in the past, taken into consideration the health of the woman in abortion cases, they still chose to uphold a law that lacks a clause about protecting women's health.
This ban, and the upholding of it, is harmful to women's health, it interferes with medical decision making and does not allow doctor's to provide the best medical care and options for their patients. It also interferes with the personal decisions that should be left up to the woman .
The 5-4 vote shows the willingness of this court to possibly revisit the 1973 case Roe v. Wade and a woman's basic right to an abortion. The door is now open for attacks on safe and legal abortion procedures without any regard to women's health.
As constituents we need to elect more pro-choice Congresspersons and Presidents who will respect and protect the fundamental rights of freedom and privacy for our mothers, wives, sisters and friends.
This entry is cross posted in the UW-Madison College Democrats blog
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court Justices have, in the past, taken into consideration the health of the woman in abortion cases, they still chose to uphold a law that lacks a clause about protecting women's health.
This ban, and the upholding of it, is harmful to women's health, it interferes with medical decision making and does not allow doctor's to provide the best medical care and options for their patients. It also interferes with the personal decisions that should be left up to the woman .
The 5-4 vote shows the willingness of this court to possibly revisit the 1973 case Roe v. Wade and a woman's basic right to an abortion. The door is now open for attacks on safe and legal abortion procedures without any regard to women's health.
As constituents we need to elect more pro-choice Congresspersons and Presidents who will respect and protect the fundamental rights of freedom and privacy for our mothers, wives, sisters and friends.
This entry is cross posted in the UW-Madison College Democrats blog
3 Comments:
While I'm still not sure about my stance on partial-birth, I agree that the court is wearing away some of the decisions around Roe, but not tackling it head on and trying to overturn.
My guess is that Kennedy wouldn't vote to overturn, but one more anti-choice Justice on SCOTUS will peel back reproductive freedoms across the country, including Wisconsin, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Wisconsin's criminal abortion law actually fines and imprisons the woman for getting an abortion, not just the provider. There have been a few bills introduced in the legislatue over the past few years to overturn the statute, but they've all died in the assembly. And with the new makeup of the Supreme Court, pre-Roe state laws have a lot more potential than they ever have before, or at least since 1973.
"Partial Birth Abortion" is right-wing rhetoric, and we should avoid using it. The term tries to frame the debate, and is essential to the anti-choice movement's attempt to take away women's rights by scaring citizens. "Partial Birth Abortion" suggests something that actually does not occur. The mother in no way is "giving birth"; in most cases of intact dilation and extraction (the medically correct terminology), the fetus suffers from a condition called hyrdocephalus which causes the skull to increase up to 250% over normal size, making birth impossible and endangering the life of the mother (and the fetus, as its skull and brain may be crushed during live birth).
The procedure itself is rare, comprising only 1% of all abortions, and is generally used only in cases where the life of the mother is in danger.
PBA and its use is just another example of the right wing distortion machine and the Republican Party's willingness to obscure and/or ignore science and data to pursue a socially radical and regressive agenda for our country.
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