Post-Schna-ulations

Warning, warning, controversial issue about to be discussed...

U.S. Court in New York Rejects Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

A federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that a federal law banning a rarely used method of abortion was unconstitutional because it did not exempt cases where the procedure might be necessary to protect a woman's health.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said in Washington yesterday that the Justice Department would continue to defend the law vigorously and would appeal the ruling. A department statement quoted President Bush, who had said the law would "end an abhorrent practice and continue to build a culture of life in America."

He found that Congress, in writing the law, had ignored furious dissension among doctors over the safety and necessity of the disputed abortion. The lawmakers had overlooked testimony in their own hearings, he said, and based the bill on the conclusion that partial-birth abortion is "never necessary."

The above are just excerpts from this article. Click the title to read the whole thing.
The thing about this article that struct a particular chord with me was Bush's quote that this partial-birth abortion law would "continue to build a culture of life in America". Does anyone else see the conflict with that statement? By assuming that it is "never necessary" and making this procedure illegal in ALL cases, woman are going to die. And it's likely that in many of those same cases, the fetus will die as well. So the question becomes, how is this promoting a "culture of life" (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean anyway)?
I recognize that this is a controversial issue. I know that, amoung those of you reading, there are people on both sides of this issue. I've made it clear where I stand as well. However, regardless of whether or not a person believes abortion is 'right' or 'wrong' in general, I have a very hard time understanding a belief that does not allow a woman to choose her own life (and in this case, i mean life as in life and death, not quality of life, etc etc) over her unborn fetus, or the potential for her unborn fetus to survive. Why is it that automatically a doctor's first responsibility should be to the child and not the mother?
But law has to be all or none, right? Black or white? You're either totally pro-life, 100 percent no abortions ever or you're gunho abortion, yes, it's awesome! That's bullshit. So bravo to that New York judge, who despite his own personal misgivings about the procedure chose to look at the issue of what Congress has the right to control and at the facts that there are situations in which to save the life of the mother, this procedure is necessary.

posted by Schna @ 8:27 AM