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.
"...abortion has been made into something that is a viable guilt-free option for unwanted babies."
Abortion is used as a birth control method. Pretty good, eh? Enjoy your sex and slaughter the child. I wonder how long it will be before they start eating the slaughtered children.
45 million slaughtered since Roe vs Wade was enacted.
LOL!
I better get off to bed.. my smarmy sense of humor.. mixed with "past my bed time".. might get me in trouble! LOL!
Pish-posh. You only left out the word "not."
It should not be a surprise to anyone that Bush is not 100 percent pro-life; his record and statements have been out there before 2000. He has never been the most pro-life candidate, just like he is not been the most conservative candidate running each election either. The Constitution Party candidate has been the most pro-life, conservative candidate in 2000 and 2004.
I never see you at the meetings! (2nd Tuesday at the Ramada...)
yes.
I have, and at some level the trauma will never fully leave her. To force her to carry some some sick-twisted man's seed strikes me as compounding the pain and cruelty.
But killing a child because his father is a rapist doesn't strike you as cruel?
Because some people have deadened their consciences to the point that it is easier to support killing babies than abortionists or rapists.
People seriously have a skewed sense of what is evil and what is not.
It's like liberals who are mad about "panties on the head" but shrug when confronted with Saddam's henchmen bashing babies against the wall.
I never used to TRULY understand the depth of the horrible sin abortion was, until I had a dream where I saw all of the world's aborted babies stacked in a pile, reaching into space. What a horrifying thought. I still can't erase it from my mind.
We don't deserve any blessings. Nothing. What wicked, evil people we are for allowing this to continue.
Apparently so. It's not an insult - but an observation. If reading Bush's position on abortion in this article is a surprise, you don't pay enought attention to politics or current events to have credibility discussing any issue. You have to pay attention to what's going on and have basic knowledge to have credibility when discussing an issue. Unless you just became interested in politics / current events very recently, you have no excuse.
That would have been a lot more politically astute wouldn't it? I have to agree about his consistency. It doesn't raise or lower my opinion of him or his presidency but I wish he wouldn't feed the sharks.
Then again, he may just rope-a-dope the press into losing steam on the ports issue. They'll bite on anything they think will divide his base and those darned lefties are too stupid to see that a little contention on the right, like this, can't do that.
enough
I believe abortion should be very hard to get. But not illegal. That's my position, and I've never lied about it.
AMEN!
Yes, I have a cartoon handy for nearly every topic! LOL!
I also would want the rapist put to death. Rape is a crime guilty of death. Have the baby alive and run a DNA test to have 100 percent genetic proof of the rapist, and then execute him. He'll never rape again.
I envy you.
Incredible dream. I hope your dream comes to more and more of us, because there are many, many Americans who simply don't understand.
Uh, oh, now you've done it.
What nobody is talking about is that the law in SD isn't a big deal. The state posts some of the highest out of wedlock births in the nation, so obviously abortion is frowned upon.
Yes, I do, but I'd still try. I do have that right.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
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