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Bush disagrees with South Dakota abortion ban
AFP ^ | 1 March 2006

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.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: South Dakota
KEYWORDS: abortion; abortionban; deadbabies; freepertimewarp; incest; misleadingheadline; presidentbush; rape; readthearticle; southdakota
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To: mode
What, you thought this was a democracy?

It is a democracy, the best money can buy.

141 posted on 02/28/2006 7:07:44 PM PST by SwordofTruth (God is good all the time.)
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To: Aussie Dasher
"The Life of the Mother"????

That's the excuse every late term abortion doctor writes on the charts to justify most of these late term murders.

The mother just agrees to the idea that the stress of the pregnancy is "life threatening" and she gets to murder the child. The baby could be handicapped, the mom doesn't want a handicapped child because it is stressful, taking care of a disabled child and the doctor gets to diagnose this as affecting "the life of the mother", stress and all!

..but GW knows this.
142 posted on 02/28/2006 7:07:48 PM PST by Esther Ruth (I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee - Genesis 12:3)
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To: Peach
I'm with you on this, Hildy.

Peach and Hildy supporting abortion, I'm shocked, shocked!!!


143 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:10 PM PST by JohnnyZ (Happy New Year! Breed like dogs!)
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To: Aussie Dasher

Are you kidding me?! Even with the best healthcare on the planet, pregnant women die - where exactly do you live?


144 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:15 PM PST by clawrence3
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To: clawrence3
If the quickest (and perhaps ONLY) way to ban all other abortions (the 44 million you refer to) was to allow them for rape and incest (4 per year), what would you choose?

Of course, even though such a law would be wildly inconsistent. But in politics, you have to be pragmatic and take what you can get, even if what you get has absurd contradictions like this.

145 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:32 PM PST by curiosity
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To: basil

You try carrying a baby for nine months. We won't get into what it does to your body...we won't even get into the social stigma and the family dramas. We won't go into how unbelievably life-altering this would be. And all this to the VICTIM of the crime. If you dare say it will build character, I sware I will find out where you live and come and smack you.


146 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:37 PM PST by Hildy (The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth)
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To: curiosity
Why does the woman's trama trump the child's right to life?

Maybe because a first trimester fetus isn't a child.

147 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:44 PM PST by Peach
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To: Hildy; Aussie Dasher

If your argument is down to "you can't possibly understand (abortion) because you're a man", well... FReepers are better debaters than that, don't you agree?


148 posted on 02/28/2006 7:08:58 PM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: jveritas

If it is OK to abort in such a circumstance, why is it not OK in other circumstances?

Either the unborn baby is human, or it is not.


149 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:06 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: JohnnyZ

Get lost, creep.


150 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:23 PM PST by Peach
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To: Aussie Dasher
I could be wrong, but President Bush seems to be going out of his way to antagonize his base this past week or so...

I doubt it. Most of his base are willing to accept these exceptions for an abortion. And I do believe that as long as these exceptions are left out of a state law, Roe is safe.

151 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:26 PM PST by MACVSOG68
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To: soupcon
Forcing a woman to bear the child of the man that violently attacked her seems pretty medieval.

Perhaps, but murdering a child for his father's crime is downright barbaric.

152 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:44 PM PST by curiosity
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To: Aussie Dasher

Nothing...and what has the woman done to deserve her life being ruined?


153 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:46 PM PST by Hildy (The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth)
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To: curiosity

The art of poltics, unfortunately, is compromise - we "accept" a certain number of traffic fatalities every year as a society - more than would ever be aborted from rape and incest.


154 posted on 02/28/2006 7:09:51 PM PST by clawrence3
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To: SwordofTruth
All what I can say for those who are against abortion in case of incest or rape is that I really hope you do not go into a situation of rape or incest in your family. It will be much tougher than what you are saying right now.
155 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:03 PM PST by jveritas (Hate can never win elections.)
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To: soupcon
Forcing a woman to bear the child of the man that violently attacked her seems pretty medieval.

Killing a child because his father was a criminal seems pretty barbarian.

156 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:05 PM PST by JohnnyZ (Happy New Year! Breed like dogs!)
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To: Aussie Dasher

The "base" is not monolithic on this issue. Read the polls. A majority of registered Republicans, or close to it, would favor legalized abortion in the first trimester, as do I. In California, it is over 60% of registered Republicans.


157 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:16 PM PST by Torie
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To: Peach
If you honestly believe that a fetus in the first trimester is a fully formed person, we have nothing to discuss. Making a woman carry the result of a rape is obscene.
I actually do. I feel for a women raped like that, but its an unfortionate situation. If I didn't think that they baby was alive I'd be with you, but its a human being with human rights that nobody can violate for any reason.
158 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:16 PM PST by RHINO369
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To: M203M4
In the same way, if abortion is murder, should abortion doctors and the women who get abortions go to trial for murder?

Yes, it is indeed a tough issue, but I would say yes. Otherwise, then we are saying that some lives are worth more than others. Another issue is that if you charge the doctors with murder, then you would have to charge the would-be mother with accessory to murder....

Should the sentence for abortion be any different than the sentence for murdering someone who has been born?

You mean, rotting in jail for the rest of their lives at taxpayer expense?!?

159 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:20 PM PST by tlj18
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To: Peach

How much you wanna bet we're the only women on this board?


160 posted on 02/28/2006 7:10:25 PM PST by Hildy (The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth)
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