… that I’m not planning on having one.
Sorry for being flip about it, but I’m not the one who has to carry the baby in my womb. If someone does not own their own body, what rights do they have at all? So, yes, I am a supporter of abortion rights. I don’t think abortion is some value-neutral act, or just another form of birth control. But I cannot rationally consider a something that is just a small collection of cells to be a person with the same rights as a walking, talking pregnant female.
I think the way it was ruled in Roe v. Wade, in which the right to an abortion diminishes as the baby grows in the womb, is probably the best approach. I think most Americans agree with this to some degree.
But as it often is, those who hold positions on the extreme ends of the debate that make the most noise and who will not give up the fight until they “win.”
It is this thinking that drove the murder of this man, a doctor who was one of the few who provided late-term abortions. No doubt the killer believed he had the right to take a life because all life is sacred.
I don’t see many right-to-lifers assassinating doctors who supervise at executions, or going after prosecutors and judges in death penalty cases.
Tags: abortion
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Nor do you see many right-to-lifers murdering abortionists. Most right-to-lifers believe murder is wrong.
Absolutely true, C.J. Sorry I didn’t make that distinction clear.
You need to read Doe v. Bolton, which came down the same day as Roe v. Wade.
It was not reported. I imagine the reason is that reporters were rushing out of the Supreme Court Building to find a telephone to report the contents of Roe v. Wade.
Doe v. Bolton allows abortions through the entire nine month gestation period.
At some point during that period, I think most people would say,
“That’s a baby.”
We might differ on the number of weeks, but I have a hard time believing anyone would suggest that a baby that could live, if born prematurely, is a baby.
Doe v. Bolton allows as late a term abortion that a woman might want for reasons that include “familial” (what’s that mean?) mental health, etc.
It way, way more extreme that Roe v. Wade.
In Illinois the lack of restrictions found in Doe v. Bolton are the law of the land.
Late term abortions are not done except to save the life and health of the mother, or when the fetus is so damaged that it cannot survive outside the womb.
Those who want to outlaw abortion, eg make it illegal, will have to jail doctors and mothers to enforce their law. Do we as a society want that? No. That’s why the Roe decision is brilliant and remains the law of the land. Abortions have always occurred, and when they are illegal, women die by the thousands.
The fanatics who murder abortion providers are mentally ill, or so deluded that they can be compared to Islamic militants who murder and oppress women. Same mindset!
Others should put their energy into providing abortion alternatives, such as support for the mother or adoption, and stop trying to change the law.
Elaine says, “Abortions have always occurred, and when they are illegal, women die by the thousands.”
1. Prove it.
2. When they are legal, babies die by the millions.
The Roe and Bolton cases are the pinacle of the general right to privacy that stared in the 1890’s with the publishing of a paper by Brandeis a future SC Justice.
Over the next 6 decades privacy was inched toward the point of gathering all location specific protections ( such as unwarranted searches in a home, self incrimination, and others and tied them in a big bunch and passed a magic wand over them citing a liberty clause in the 14th amendment and shazzam you have a general right to prvacy)
Roe vaulted to the finish line on the backs of the previous S decisions not legislation as we are supposed to utilize to conduct our social interactions.
Your last few lines imply that abortion and the death penalty are somehow equivalent. They are not. They are different in the same way that me grabbing somebody off the street and locking him up in my basement and a court putting a convicted felon in jail are different.
CJ…. You took the words right out of my mouth. Well said.
We have adopted a son.
Yeah, Cal. I found that last suggestion from Elaine to be a bit unnecessary. It’s sort of like saying someone really doesn’t care about the poor unless they can prove they donate cash to charity.
It’s a goog thing that Scott Roeder (the one who shot Dr. Tiller) can’t get pregnant because he’s likely to get a lot more sex in prison than he ever hoped for. I only hope that his cellmate is a very, very lonely Georgian named Bubba. I wonder if Roeder can squeal like a pig.
When I was in college it was almost a crime against the sisterhood not to be pro-choice. And I tried, I really did. But I could never convince myself that abortion was anything but the taking of innocent human life. Through the years, most of my friends have been pro-choice. They have internalized the true rationale for abortion: that a woman isn’t free and equal unless she has the right to end her pregnancy for any reason or no reason at all. Yet, when they have miscarried they never cry, “oh, I’ve lost my fetus!” No, they grieve and they are in pain and they suffer because they know they lost their baby. Assigning the designation of unprotected “fetus” or cherished “baby” based soley on the current mindset of the pregnant woman strikes me as such an arbitrary and irrational basis for abortion.
‘I don’t see many right-to-lifers assassinating doctors who supervise at executions….”
In one case, the authority comes from the state. The doctor is only a facilitator.
In the other case, the authority comes from the “patient” and the doctor – the doctor does more than just facilitate.
As for the rest, the condemned had a choice as to whether or not to commit the crime. The fetus has no choice.
Just for the record, I’m pro-choice.
I was going to write a snarky post about how the fundies were living up to their reputation, but there’s bigger news here–Vonster is pro choice? Holy shit!