[Cboldt]

Ellis Hennican is a little pencil-necked, unserious dweeb. Too harsh?

Hennican asserted the case was husband consent, but it really was husband notification. The DEMs will lie, twist and misdirect. It will take calm repetition to undermine their shrill misdirection from the debate at hand.

[LRS]

Hennican asserted the case was husband consent, but it really was husband notification. The DEMs will lie, twist and misdirect.

It will be presented as a rape and a forced pregnancy before too long...

[Condor51]

***Hennican asserted the case was husband consent, but it really was husband notification***

Not to split hairs but the pencil neck geek, Hennican, was 'kind of' correct:

"the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982: 3205, which requires that a woman seeking an abortion give her informed consent prior to the procedure...

But there were other parts of the law too. Informed consent of one parent for a minor was one.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF SOUTHEASTERN PA. v. CASEY, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)

[romans828]

This is absolutely correct. The so-called "controversial" section of the Act struck down in Casey is about husband notification, not husband consent (although husband consent is a perfectly valid idea).

There was an exception when the husband was not the father (although there is always the legal presumption that the husband is the father of any pregnancy in a marriage) or if the pregnancy was the result of a marital rape that had been reported to the authorities.

This Dem talking point (what if she was raped, what if the husband was not the father) is already out there so we need to have facts on our side.

copied from Rehnquist's dissent in Casey: (I don't know how to create clickthrough links here but the url is http://www.abortionfacts.com/court_cases/casey/rehnquist_2.asp on the Heritage House Abortion Facts site)

Section 3209 of the Act contains the spousal notification provision. It requires that, before a physician may perform an abortion on a married woman, the woman must sign a statement indicating that she has notified her husband of her planned abortion. A woman is not required to notify her husband if (1) her husband is not the father, (2) her husband, after diligent effort, cannot be located, (3) the pregnancy is the result of a spousal sexual assault that has been reported to the authorities, or (4) the woman has reason to believe that notifying her husband is likely to result in the infliction of bodily injury upon her by him or by another individual. In addition, a woman is exempted from the notification requirement in the case of a medical emergency. 18 Pa.Cons.Stat. § 3209 (1990)