Posted on 02/28/2006 6:36:43 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
US President George W. Bush signalled his opposition to a South Dakota abortion ban that forbids the procedure even in cases of rape or incest, saying he favors such exceptions.
But Bush declined to predict the outcome of any legal challenges to the legislation, which would make it illegal to terminate a pregnancy except in rare cases when it may be necessary to save the life of the mother.
"That, of course, is a state law, but my position has always been three exceptions: Rape, incest, and the life of the mother," the US president told ABC news in an interview.
Asked whether he would include "health" of the mother, Bush replied: "I said life of the mother, and health is a very vague term, but my position has been clear on that ever since I started running for office."
The bill, which recently gained final approval from South Dakota's House of Representatives, directly contradicts the precedent set in 1973 when the US Supreme Court ruled that bans on abortion violate a woman's constitutional right to privacy.
The bill grants no allowances for women who have been raped or are victims of incest. Doctors who perform abortion would be charged with a crime. It also prohibits the sale of emergency contraception and asserts that life begins at fertilization.
The governor of South Dakota has indicated he is likely to sign the bill.
A leading pro-choice advocacy group has already vowed to challenge the ban in federal court. But that seems to be exactly what many promoters of the legislation seek.
Advocates of the ban do not deny they aim much higher than South Dakota, a rural and socially conservative state, which even today has only one abortion clinic.
Instead, they are hoping the bill will offer a full frontal assault on legal abortions now that the balance of power in the Supreme Court appears to have shifted with the confirmation of conservative jurists John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both of whom are seen as pro-life.
Yes you do; just in an optional one for unborn children conceived through rape.
"In the case of rape, it's usually the perpetrator who wants the abortion. The victims want to have the child, and it's usually their only way out of the situation. The perpetrator wants to "destroy the evidence." It's great we are so sensitive to the needs of those who commit incest."
It makes sense.
I support the death penalty for rapists as well. Rape and murder to me are two acts worthy of capital punishment.
And that would be your OPINION, and it is based on what, exactly???
Do you think you should pay for the crimes of your parents?
But how do you deal with going around trying to explain to others - including your own children, if you have any - that that particular baby wasn't worth keeping alive? Do you understand that if a person becomes pregnant after a rape, and to use the example of a married woman with children. she has others to think about besides herself?
Would you want to tell your children that this baby or that wasn't good enough to be born? Kids don't get that, they will think that if mom can get rid of this baby, then maybe she'll get rid of me. how do you bring them up to believe that abortion is wrong if they see you advocating abortion for some circumstances?
Adoption is a better option if the woman really can't do it, but even then.. if she's got other children already, how to best explain to them that this sibling won't be in their family? They don't really care about biological parenthood, they care about a baby and if you can get rid of one, what's to say you won't get rid of them if you are angry at their father?
Sorry, been there. I went through months of having people look at me like I was lower than dirt because i was pregnant and didn't have my husband around. I went through having even my family think I had been stupid because I was ashamed of having been taken in by a bad person and I didn't want my family to feel sorry that they hadn't been able to protect me or weren't able to read between the lines and see what was really going on. I am not a very strong person, I've thought about giving up in life more than once. To have the burden of having murdered a baby would have been too much for me to take. Other people's opinions about my morals are not important.
Maybe it's different because I've lost too many babies to miscarriage, I don't know - but those were all babies to me long before they could have been born alive. The parentage of the baby doesn't make him or her less of a human being.
Millions of women have had abortions...you're saying that millions of women are walking around damaged because of abortions? I'm saying your wrong. Women who choose to talk about it in that way are, and I will go out on a limb and say that some women who have abortions, or lots of sex without a stable relationship are damaged anyway and their abortion provides a very convenient excust. But there are many more who have their abortions and go on with their lives and it has no effect on them. You might not like that, it doesn't fit into your world view, but it's the truth.
Really, every woman..huh?
Ohio, I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at, but with all due respect I was NOT reiterating dogmatism. I was simply confirming what is quite explicitly stated in Scripture, and it was hardly even an interpretation it was the straight facts from Scripture. Christians from all ages have disagreed with what carries over from the OT and what doesn't. That's hardly dogmatism anymore than believing that Christ is the only way to salvation is dogmatism. I'd venture to say that there's some things you follow wholeheartedly from the OT and some things you don't. There are some things so distasteful in the OT that I can hardly comprehend it, and yet there it is. And those things were given by the God you and I serve. It was obviously what He wanted His people to live by. Whether or not we should live by them today (excluding the sacrifices) I admitted that I do not know. But sometimes I DO wonder if we wouldn't be better off as a society if we did.
All I am saying is that we need to be very careful that we don't impose our own interpretation of debatable issues on others, and come across as though we have it all figured out, and everyone else is wrong. (I'm talking to myself here too).
There are certain things that we can be absolutely sure about.......that Jesus is divine, that He was God incarnate, that He was born, died on a cross, and rose again, ascending to heaven where he reigns and is coming back again.
Being dogmatic about a death penalty for adulterers is NOT included in that list of things we can be certain about.
I think I've made myself pretty clear, and anything else would be repetition of what I've already said.
God be with you on your journey of faith, Truth.
The legitimate question is, is it right to compound the pain of rape with the guilt of allowing your own child to be murdered?
(scoff)
I believe that I have also made myself clear and if you still believe that I was being dogmatic (I can't tell if you, but it doesn't really matter) I'll leave that to you.
Blessings to you, Ohio.
He made the biggest mistake a politician can make: he thinks it's about HIM, but it's about US, the folks who PUT HIM THERE.
Out of all his advisers someone should have smacked him on the head and said: "It's not about YOU, Mr. President!"
Slither back buffmonster to your liberal cesspool, troll.
Thanks Father Peter-Coleus.
A lot of women will have no regrets whatsoever about terminating a pregnancy, especially when it's done very early. I know a couple of women who had abortions when they were young, and later married and had children. They don't regret it. They know the only reason they're able to provide a decent life for the children they did have was because they didn't screw up their lives and education and finances by having a baby when they were in no position to raise it decently. Some women do have regrets, but it's hardly a given.
I seriously doubt there are many women who have regrets about having aborted a pregnancy that was caused by rape or incest, or would have any trouble telling their daughters about it. Most mothers would prefer that their daughters not have to live with the fear that the horror of a rape could then be followed by 9 months of the horror of being forced to carry the rapist's baby to term.
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