The Conviction to Protect the Unborn -- Arlen Specter vs. Janice Rogers Brown

Last week President Bush signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (a.k.a. "Laci and Conner's Law"). The law, which makes harming a fetus a separate offense in a federal crime against a pregnant woman, barely made it through the Senate and raised the ire of many a liberal. They claimed that this law will strip women of their collective "right" to abortion if not overturned. Of course, these arguments are the type we've heard from the pro-abortion Left for years -- and will for years to come.

On Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that a perpetrator can be convicted for two homicides in the killing of a pregnant woman, even if he is unaware of the pregnancy. The decision, which strengthened the state's own version of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, stated that "there is no requirement the defendant specifically know of the existence of each victim."

Involved in these events were two individuals whose future political careers could hinge on their positions regarding fetal homicide laws -- in the Senate we have liberal Republican Arlen Specter and in California we have conservative Justice Janice Rogers Brown.

For Arlen Specter, the Unborn Victim of Violence Act was probably a tough call. Rarely shirking the positions of the pro-abortion lobby, the liberal Pennsylvania GOPer first voted for the Feinstein "poison pill" amendment, which would have undermined the bill and likely resulted in its ultimate demise. Specter then turned around and voted for the bill in its final form, sending it to the President for his signature.

Not surprisingly, politics surrounded his vote: Specter is locked in a tough primary fight with conservative Rep. Pat Toomey for the GOP nomination for Specter's own Senate seat. A vote against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act surely would have hurt him in the polling booths of a state with one of the most pro-life senators in Washington (Sen. Rick Santorum).

Of course, Specter's vote will likely be treated with kid gloves by the Left. They know that the bill would have passed without the liberal senator's support, so they won't criticize him too harshly since they need Specter in the Senate to help promote the pro-abortion cause -- especially since Specter is likely to be the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee. From that perch, the liberal senator would have significant power over the judicial confirmation process, making it all the more difficult for a Republican president to see conservative judges confirmed to the federal bench, and more importantly, to the Supreme Court.

In California, Janice Rogers Brown may have sealed her fate in the quest for her confirmation to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia when she supported the decision that gave a boost the California's fetal homicide law. Brown, who was nominated for the Appeals Court by President Bush on July 25, 2003, has been blocked from confirmation by Senate Democrats and labeled "unqualified," "out of the mainstream," "unfit to serve," "notoriously conservative," "radical," "extreme right-wing," "hostile to constitutional rights," and "arch-conservative."

Some of Justice Brown's most vocal critics have been from the pro-choice crowd, and they've done their worst to see her nomination tanked by their liberal cohorts in the Senate. But that did not stop Brown from not only voting with the majority in the California Supreme Court on Monday, but also writing the decision for the majority.

Telling, isn't it? One person votes contrary to his traditionally pro-abortion stance in what likely can be described as an attempt to garner votes in an upcoming all-important primary vital to his career's future, and one person votes in accordance with her pro-life stance without regard to the likely negative impact it will have on her career's future.

If the Republicans lose the Senate over the short sighted people pushing this, the big picture implications will be huge.

Are you saying the bill is short-sighted? Or getting rid of Specter is short-sighted? Or . . . what? Sorry, I'm a mite dense I guess.

I read somewhere yesterday that some doctor said fetuses can feel pain after 20 weeks. I'm not a doctor so I won't try to argue the scientific point of just EXACTLY when a fetus becomes a living being but I'll give you a relative example.

My grandfather used to be a commercial farmer. He planted tomatoes. One spring, two weeks after he'd planted, he got a flood to beat hell. His top soil was carried away and it would take a year for him to recover. His crop insurance paid off as though his entire crop had been ruined -- and hardly a sprig had broken the surface. The adjustor said the seeds had "germinated" so, legally, his company was obligated to pay under what he called an "Act of God" clause.

If that holds true for tomatoes, doesn't it make sense that AT THE VERY LEAST the same should hold true for the sanctity of human life? That as soon as the wily spermlet fertilizes the tantalizing egg, human life becomes "possible" so that's when the LEGAL clock really starts ticking?

This next part is a bit off the subject . . . but I tend to spend most of my life on the fringes . . . LOL. Please humor me.

I'd be willing to bet that I'm one of the few male FReepers who has actually witnessed an abortion. No, I wasn't in the operating room . . . but I saw enough when the nurses scurried in and lot. I saw the Vacuum Cleaner used. I saw the . . . please excuse my graphic language but there's no other way to describe it . . . I saw the Human Sludge that used to be a fetus. I saw the blood. I saw the gore. I saw the devastation it caused a girl I loved like no other.

This was in 1972. Abortions weren't legal in Texas then. But they were in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Two terrified teenages hocked everything they owned, stole a gas credit card from the boy's mother, and drove from Lubbock, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico -- sleeping in a 1965 VW Beetle and eating and drinking nothing but Pork Rinds and a six-pack of Dr. Peppers for three days.

I was a hippie then. I was Mr. Cool. I was a senior in high school, Mr. Top Athlete, Mr. Brainiac, Mr. Ain't I So Damn Cool, and I was 100% certain that the woman's vote on whether or not to have an abortion was the only vote that counted.

Standing in a Santa Fe hospital hallway, right outside the surgery room door, I changed my mind.

The baby, by the way, wasn't mine. The girl was a year older than me and man oh man was I gob-smacked with her. We'd only been "going together" for a month but I'd lusted after her for six years -- we're from the same hometown. She was a freshman at Texas Tech. A beautiful, gorgeous, intelligent, talented gal. I'm 50-ish now and walking away from her is without a doubt the biggest mistake I ever made. I've wished a thousand times that we had married like we'd planned. God help me, even now I miss her.

But we didn't marry. I'd only gone with her after she'd promised me we'd tell her parents when we got back. I didn't elicit this promise out of some noble cause. My parents weren't rich. They'd unknowingly financed the trip. Her parents were rich. I wanted my parents to be repaid.

So we told everyone. Her father lunged before she could finish her story. He missed twice . . . but I didn't. I broke his nose. She barely managed to yell that I wasn't the father just as her mother pulled and cocked her handgun.

Things only got worse from there.

We tried to stay together . . . but I finally decided the hassle wasn't worth it.

That was the worst decision I ever made. So to those who think the decision to have an abortion only affects the mother, I say . . . "You're wrong. I know. I've been there."

God I miss her.

What happened to her? She's an MD. Pediatrics is her specialty.

The repercussions from those days are still affecting us . . . even now. And it's been nearly EXACTLY 32 years ago.

Now if you're talking about Specter . . . well . . . I personally prefer to be able to identify and count my enemies so I know what I'm up against. Some FReepers counter with the valid argument that at least having the (R) by Specter's name helps us hold the majority. Okay, fine. What has this accomplished for us? We can't get conservative judges approved. We can't get "clean" budgets approved -- although it seems Republicans don't know how to do that either since pork has gone up and up under their watch. But at least we could ID and isolate the "pork-spending" Senators and hold them accountable if we had a filibuster-proof majority.

THAT is the key to me. Having 60 Republican Senators in our stable. 60 DEPENDABLE Republican Senators. With Specter, Snowe, Chaffee, Collins, and perhaps the biggest wild-card of all -- Senator "ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME" McCain, being schizophrenic at best, we never KNOW how a vote will go. I'm not saying all Conservatives should dance to the same music . . . I just wish they played harmonic instruments so Frist could at least attempt to push a Conservative agenda.

Did I cover your short-sighted comment? If not, man oh man, didn't I waste a lotta time? LOL.

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