"How did it come to pass that an opposition's measure of a president's foreign policy was all or nothing, success or "failure"? The answer is that the political absolutism now normal in Washington arrived at the moment--Nov. 7, 2000--that our politics subordinated even a war against terror to seizing the office of the presidency." - Daniel Henninger - WSJ 11/18/05
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"the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." - George Orwell
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Twisting the Abortion Debate to New Lows

Reposting of previous post due to publication issues; sometimes free comes with costs!


Gloopity glop,” was the story change from Christy Freeman of Ocean City, MD earlier this week when confronted by police after being found bleeding. Police believe she caused the stillbirth of the “26-week-old male fetus” found wrapped in a towel covered in blood under the bathroom sink in her home. Police found additional bodies of babies on her property.

In a post earlier this week, “Asking How Much Jail Time for Women Having an Abortion if Roe Were Overturned?” based upon an essay by Anna Quindlen in Newsweek, regarding the “gobsmacked” look on pro-life activists protesting outside an abortion clinic in Libertyville, IL when asked the question.

When posed this way, Quindlen asserts:

“there are only two logical choices: hold women accountable for a criminal act by sending them to prison, or refuse to criminalize the act in the first place. If you can't countenance the first, you have to accept the second. You can't have it both ways.”

This post is just a follow up to this new angle in the “discussion.” How much jail time should Freeman get since abortion is legal?

According to “legal experts:”

“the details of the case revealed so far are covered by the state law's exemption for "an act or failure to act of a pregnant woman with regard to her own fetus."

Maryland's law, like those in at least 35 other states, includes a provision shielding pregnant women from prosecution for actions that result in their own fetus' death.”

Baltimore attorney Andrew D. Levy said:

‘"It may turn into a war of experts, with the prosecution experts saying the fetus was viable and the defense experts saying the fetus was not viable, or it's impossible to know whether the fetus was viable."’

The video in question that prompted Quindlen’s essay has been taken down from YouTube for some reason, but is available HERE, as well as some interesting comments.

One comment of interest:

“How can you possibly protest an issue without thinking it all the way through? This video shows what happens when people follow blindly in the name of God. Herein lies the real danger.”

Forgive my ignorance as I don’t track this debate too closely, but for how long has the question “how much jail time” been a large part of the debate that those in favor of “reproductive rights” been part of the discussion? If it is fairly new, cannot the same thing be said of them?

Anyone on either side of the “debate/discussion” can argue logically depending upon what they choose to address and the majority of the time that is what takes place.

Last night I followed some links/hits to Monday’s post; two are here:

RH Reality Check and this search string.

Please feel free to comment if you wish; my lack of comments back aren’t for a lack of spine or anything like that, but I haven’t really seen any comments where the point in commenting is worth the bother. Also please feel free to address or feel how ever you want to regarding my reason(s) for not commenting back; I truly do not care.

A prime reasons for this are one; I rarely comment (although I do at times) back to comments to posts here as often with so little time available for posting here does not allow for it if I ever want to get another post up; two, my less than perfect comment here to the essay at RH Reality Check quickly devolves into the main reason that I see very little point.

To me, the “how much jail time” question is yet another facet to a very explosive issue that too often isn’t what everyone is talking about as there is too much evasion involved in the real questions.

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