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« Dirty Politics - Accusing Obama of Being Terrorist-Connected | Main | Father of Canadian Socialized Health Care Has Change of Heart »
Saturday
28Jun

Leftists Oppose Informing Consumers - Lose Case

http://www.redstate.com/stories/law/victory_for_south_dakota_in_informing_women_about_abortion

I can just hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the pro-abortion ranks.  "This is awful!  Giving women facts so they can make an informed CHOICE [gag] is heinous!"

The ignorant consumer is an abortion pusher's best friend.  


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Reader Comments (6)

I don't support abortion, but neither do I think that having the State play doctor by defining (and playing with) scientific terms is the best way to go about things. From the decision:

The disclosure actually mandated by § 7(1)(b), in concert with the definition in § 8(4), is "[t]hat the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," § 7(1)(b), and that "human being" in this case means "an individual living member of the species of Homo sapiens . . . during [its] embryonic [or] fetal age[]," § 8(4). The State's evidence suggests that the biological sense in which the embryo or fetus is whole, separate, unique and living should be clear in context to a physician, cf. Gonzales, 127 S. Ct. at 1627 ("[B]y common understanding and scientific terminology, a fetus is a living organism while within the womb, whether or not it is viable outside the womb."), and Planned Parenthood submitted no evidence to oppose that conclusion.

Note that the Court bases its opinion, in part, on the pure biology of the question. The funny thing is that they even admit that they're using a narrow definition outside the public perception:
The State's evidence suggests that the biological sense in which the embryo or fetus is whole, separate, unique and living should be clear in context to a physician (Emphasis added)

While this statement is scientifically true, even physicians disagree on whether this 'whole, separate, unique and living' is a "person" as the general public uses the term. Now, many abortion opponents believe that an embryo is a legal "person" from the moment of conception, and this legislation seems to compel physicians to esposue that principle through the use of particular language.

I understand the legislature's opposition to abortion, but this really does strike me as playing word games to prove a political point. This legislation seems to assume that women don't know that pregnancy leads to a baby, so we must compel physicians to use particular phrases, with a fairly good estimation of how the unscientific ear will interpret them.

In that sense, this ranks right up there with calling creationism a "theory."

June 28, 2008 at 10:10 | Registered Commenterwesmorgan1

"...a fetus is a living organism while within the womb, whether or not it is viable outside the womb."

To argue that point is about as scientific as to argue that Goofy can run off a cliff and not fall, as long as he doesn't look down.

June 28, 2008 at 12:48 | Registered CommenterRedbeard

Yeah, but conflating "living organism," "human being" and "person" (and, if you read some of the legislators' comments, they use the terms interchangeably) doesn't seem quite kosher to me. This is particularly true of the latter, since "person" carries a specific legal meaning, notably with Constitutional rights attached.

I have the same problem with fetal homicide laws.

June 28, 2008 at 23:59 | Registered Commenterwesmorgan1

I'm rather glad I don't have any problem applying homicide laws to the killing of unborn children. It makes it easier to face myself in the shaving mirror, knowing that I don't have to go through another day of contorting logic and redefining terms to dehumanize an unborn child in order to justify its killing.

June 29, 2008 at 07:50 | Registered CommenterRedbeard

Unfortunately, when there are political players using this debate to suggest the outlawing of contraception, and there are people who argue that pharmacists should be allowed to refuse service on personal moral grounds, I think that we do have to draw some lines.

June 29, 2008 at 14:17 | Registered Commenterwesmorgan1

No pharmacist should be required to violate their personal moral code. On the other hand, no pharmacist is entitled to a paid position and a state-issued license to perform services to the public that they're not, when it comes down to it, actually willing to perform.

June 30, 2008 at 09:13 | Registered CommenterWinston

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