ktar.com: (Arizona)
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans on Tuesday make their most concerted effort of the year to change federal abortion law with legislation that would ban almost all abortions after a fetus reaches the age of 20 weeks.
The “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” expected to pass by a comfortable margin late Tuesday, would be a direct challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions up to the time a fetus becomes viable. Fetal viability is generally considered to be at least 24 weeks into the pregnancy.
The measure will be ignored by the Democratic-led Senate and the White House, saying the bill is “an assault on a woman’s right to choose,” has issued a veto threat.
Even if the policy were to become law, it would almost certainly face a legal challenge. That’s a prospect supporters hope for as part of the ultimate goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.
Anti-Choice proponents are trying to diffuse the situation by drawing attention to rape and incest cases. those cases would be minuscule. The real problem which no one is talking about is when there is fetal anomaly. All the advancements made in genetic testing would be disregarded if the fetus were older than 20 weeks from fertilization. 20 weeks fertilization age is actually 18 weeks from conception. So there is another deception.
When I first learned about abortion, I was very young and Sherri Finkbine was catapulted into the public eye because she had sought an abortion. she had taken thalidomide before anyone realized that the foreign drug was the cause of the epidemic of children born with flippers instead of arms and legs. It was then that I decided that no one should have to have a severely impaired child if they knew ahead of time. Apparently I am not the only one out there with those thoughts.
As stated, I was young the time, a child myself. However, I now have children and grandchildren and I have not changed my mind one bit. Less than 10% of all abortions are performed after 16 weeks. To force women to carrying a pregnancy to term when the known outcome will be a severely deformed or impaired child is cruel. It also places a huge financial burden on both the parents and the state.
Ironically, Miss Sherri was a TV personality in Phoenix, Arizona with a local children’s show. The bill’s sponsor, Trent Franks is an Arizona congressman.
Shame on Congress for wasting more time with their social agenda. Shame on Congress for introducing a bill so full of lies and deception. Same on Congress and the anti choice movement for attempting to use Dr. Kermit Gosnell for political purposes. He is a common criminal and scofflaw who performed illegal abortions. We don’t need new laws to protect us from the Dr. Gosnells of the world. They are already in place. Those very laws convicted Gosnell of murder. What more can a law do?
Rep. Marsha Blackburn is both an idiot and a liar. I don’t usually talk about people in such harsh terms but when I hear lies coming out of her own mouth, I have no choice but to call it as I see it.
That bill is so full of medical misfacts. She will be the ‘choir director’ this afternoon for the vote.
So are all these republicans going to pony up their time and money and emotional heartbreak to care for a baby born that with either a life long serious handicap or so sick they can only survive for only minutes outside the womb? Or what about those few who linger for months or years with NO quality of life, suffering from the moment they are born. Are those holier than thou public officials going to pony up their time, money, and emotional investment to care for these babies??!!!!
It isn’t ANYONE else’s right to tell another woman and her family what hardships they are willing to bear or not bear.
Oh no! Those dastardly Republicans are trying to preserve innocent life again. This must be stopped in its tracks. The horror!
@Kelly, you obviously didn’t read our concerns.
Do you want to force a woman continue a pregnancy when all tests indicate there is severe deformity? You are aware that things happen developmentally after the magic 18 weeks of gestation?
I realize the bill says 20 weeks. That is somewhat deceptive because pregnancy is always calculated from conception rather than fertilization, since no one really knows when that is.
The bill really would outlaw abortion from the 18th week on. Just to put this issue into perspective, most amnios are done at week 16. Results are not instant. If the unthinkable happens and there is severe abnormality, there is about a week to arrange for the termination of the pregnancy.
Depending where the woman lives, often travel must be arranged and money must be acquired. Later term abortions are considerably more expensive.
It is obvious what the real intend of this bill is.
More importantly, are you willing to help a family care for a severely handicapped child who might not even know its parents? Are you willing to help that family out finanially? If the answer is no, don’t legislate that anyone else be relegated to a life.
I’m seeing the present Republican Party as a bunch of grumpy,old, mediocre white guys who think they can eliminate competition from women by driving them out of the work force and back to the nursery. You notice that most of them – and many of their children – are beyond the age where they have to worry about raising children. And they don’t worry about raising the unplanned children they would force women to bear. They are not the fighters for school lunches, family leave, or medical care. The represent the backwater intolerant – and ironically – welfare South and Midwest from which most of them come.
Sorry, Moon and other progressive Southerners, but the days of Jefferson, Faulkner, Welty, and other greats seem to have been eclipsed by the likes of Gingrich, Perry, and an assortment of lesser known kooks.
If they and their spouses don’t believe in abortion, they shouldn’t have abortions. Otherwise they should just STFU and quit trying to impose their religious beliefs on others through legislation. They might also bone up on some skills that might make them competitive in the present job market instead of trying to legislate away the competition.
Censored has outdone herself. I won’t say how.
@Moon-howler
So let me ask you this. If there were exceptions for rape/incest and physical/mental abnormalities in the bill, would you drop your opposition to it, or not?
Leaving to one side the substance of these things (e.g., “repealing” health care, limiting abortions, etc.), the disturbing thing to me is the complete abandonment of any effort to govern. We are clearly in a situation where the Republican Party in Washington (or at least in the House, and largely in the Senate) has dropped the last filaments of even pretending to be interested in governance. This is just all campaign/marketing ploys all the time. Period. All inhibitions about doing this, all efforts to create even a shred of ambiguity about what their activity is about are completely discarded at this point. They are in full-blown “elect me” mode. All this activity is directed at gerrymandered pocket districts for election purposes. None is about the governance of the Nation. It is complete dereliction and desertion. It is a very hard thing to watch for Republicans who thought that the party system was all about finding competent people to provide quality governance for our Republic. For all I know, however, there may not be many of us left.
@Censored bybvbl
My observation is that conservative Republicans are very generous with their time, money, and possessions to care for those who are less fortunate. They tend to believe that government assistance is not very effective, and so they donate their time and money profusely to help others in the community. On the flip side, those that advocate for the welfare state tend to donate less and volunteer less due to the belief that the government will take care of these needs.
I realize that these are not universal truths and there are plenty of counter examples. Nevertheless, personal observation suggests that these tendencies are more true than not. For example, my church collects and dispenses food, clothing, and money to single mothers and others that need assistance. It also provides for counseling and assistance for those that have lost pregnancies or children.
The point is that opposition to ineffective government programs does not necessarily equate to a lack of sympathy or care for single mothers and others that experience misfortune.
Goldwater was concerned about the righteous religious impact on politics. Thats an understatement.
Gotta say on the face of this I support it. But you knew that, Moon.
Yea, I figured. I don’t have a problem with restrictions of 20 weeks on abortion without complications or the hard factors. In fact, most places have them and for obvious reasons. But that fetal abormality is the foundation of my belief system and I find that unacceptable.
If nothing is wrong, then those wanting an abortion can come in during the first trimester. Rape, incest, fetal abnormality and life and health of the mother must be in any bill i would support past 20 weeks.
@Moon-howler
If nothing is wrong, then those wanting an abortion can come in during the first trimester. Rape, incest, fetal abnormality and life and health of the mother must be in any bill i would support past 20 weeks.
That would probably be acceptable to most people but don’t expect the present clown show of Republicans to stop there. Birth control is targeted too.
@Kelly_3406
I’ve found plenty of liberals who do volunteer work. I put my husband up against practically anyone you could name.
Why is there such an assumption on the part of Conservatives that social programs are the most wasteful?
@Wolverine
Aren’t we entitled to opinions other than yours?
You sure are, Censored. And usually I like to take them in for perusal. But, good gosh, go easier on us old white guys. We aren’t all evil rat bastards fit only for a gulag. Heck, after seeing this thread, it appears that I am personally pretty darn close to Moon on the late-term abortion business.
Very often people have a great deal more in common than they realize once the labels are dropped.
Censored has an old white husband. So do I. So does Elena. Well, Elena’s isnt very old.
@Wolverine
I know plenty of fine old white guys – even a few Conservatives and Republicans. Fortunately they’re not part of the clown show. I’m not sure the present Republican Party has a place for them. They’ve become the pariahs that women, minorities, the poor, gays and Lesbians, the non-church affiliated, etc. have become. I guess you guys like to call them RINOs.
Actually, Censored, I don’t remember ever calling anybody in that party a RINO. Now, a double-crossing, stinking, lying, rat of an SOB, maybe; but that stuff is usually reserved for liberal Dems like Charlie Schumer and Harry Reid. But there was this time once when George W. Bush and John McCain were….ah, never mind.
Old white men? What’s wrong with old white men?