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New rhetoric in SCOTUS abortion ruling (Ginsgerg: Stop calling a 2nd trimester "fetus" a "baby")
Associated Press ^ | 04/19/07 | PETE YOST

Posted on 04/19/2007 9:56:32 AM PDT by presidio9

Ever since Roe v. Wade in 1973, graphic descriptions of abortion have been staples of abortion opponents. Abortion rights advocates have preferred more scientific terms. Neither is by accident.

The Supreme Court adopted the more graphic approach Wednesday as a conservative majority of justices upheld a nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure.

"The way in which the fetus will be killed ... is of legitimate concern" to the government, the majority said.

In opinions after Roe v. Wade, the decision saying a woman has a constitutional right to abortion, clinical terminology has been the order of the day at the court.

All that changed in 2000, when Justice Anthony Kennedy described abortion procedures in painstaking detail. He did so as a dissenter in Stenberg v. Carhart, the ruling striking down Nebraska's ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortions.

"Repeated references to sources understandable only to a trained physician may obscure matters for persons not trained in medical terminology," Kennedy wrote in 2000. "Thus it seems necessary at the outset to set forth what may happen during an abortion."

Kennedy then explained abortion procedures in explicit terms that hadn't been seen previously at the court. The break with tradition prompted Justice John Paul Stevens to note in a concurring opinion, "Much ink is spilled today describing the gruesome nature of late-term abortion procedures."

Kennedy returned to form Wednesday when he wrote the decision of the court.

"It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns ... what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child," Kennedy wrote.

In a forceful dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested that Kennedy's word-choice goes too far.

"Throughout, the opinion refers to obstetrician-gynecologists and surgeons who perform abortions not by the titles of their medical specialties, but by the pejorative label `abortion doctor,'" wrote Ginsburg. "A fetus is described as an 'unborn child,' and as a 'baby;' second-trimester, previability abortions are referred to as 'late-term.'"


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; partialbirthabortion; prolife; ruthbaderginsburg
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1 posted on 04/19/2007 9:56:33 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9

Has anyone ever actually seen Ginsberg with anything but a scowl on her face, under any circumstances?

She seems to be a rather miserable human being.


2 posted on 04/19/2007 9:59:54 AM PDT by Badeye (The worst thing in the world is being talked about. The Second worst is not being talked about.)
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To: presidio9

So Ruth, abortion is all about terminology. Does it make you feel all warm and cozy inside to promote killing a “fetus” instead of a “baby”?


3 posted on 04/19/2007 10:00:42 AM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: presidio9
second-trimester, previability abortions

It interesting that the Court's self-appointed expert justice on medical technology and terminology is unaware that second trimester abortions are previability abortions no longer.

I also wonder: if Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara had been born at 35 weeks of gestation, would Ginsburg have told her friends: "My daughter just gave birth! I'm on my way to vist her and the new fetus!"

4 posted on 04/19/2007 10:02:00 AM PDT by wideawake
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To: cpforlife.org; Coleus; TexasCowboy; Polycarp IV; wagglebee; cgk

Pro-Life Ping


5 posted on 04/19/2007 10:02:05 AM PDT by presidio9 (Suspended for posting an article about Scalia and Arthur Miller arguing at SCOTUS. Seriously.)
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To: presidio9

I’d say that SCOTUS should endeavor to use clear, common language as much as possible, so that the people its ruling affects have a hope of understand them.

Give the following common phrases:
“When is the baby due?”
“What sex is the baby?”
“What are you going to name the baby?”
“The baby just kicked!”
“The baby is pressing on my bladder.”

...then referring to the third trimester viable fetus as a baby is most clear and correct.


6 posted on 04/19/2007 10:03:49 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: Badeye

I thought I saw Ginsberg sitting behind home plate at the Red Sox - Blue Jays game Tuesday night. But it was Geddy Lee from RUSH. If you look like Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg are you still really a Rock Star?


7 posted on 04/19/2007 10:04:43 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: presidio9
"The way in which the fetus will be killed ... is of legitimate concern" to the government, the majority said.

The way this is worded by the majority seems to imply there is a right/approved way of killing a fetus.

8 posted on 04/19/2007 10:05:25 AM PDT by IamConservative (Any man who agrees with you on everything, will lie to anyone.)
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To: Badeye
Has anyone ever actually seen Ginsberg with anything but a scowl on her face, under any circumstances?

Those are those times she is falling asleep.

9 posted on 04/19/2007 10:05:30 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: presidio9

Ginsburg is an unviable tissue mass.


10 posted on 04/19/2007 10:06:03 AM PDT by N. Theknow ((Kennedys - Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat - But they know what's best.))
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To: Badeye

“She seems to be a rather miserable human being.”

She’s hated life since Foghorn Leghorn dropped her.


11 posted on 04/19/2007 10:08:31 AM PDT by tumblindice
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To: presidio9

Buzzy didn’t have problem when the Court played “scientist” on the CO2 ruling fiasco.


12 posted on 04/19/2007 10:09:26 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Encourage illegal immigration! Maybe you too can be hit and killed by a drunk driver!)
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To: massgopguy

“If you look like Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg are you still really a Rock Star?”

See any member of the Rolling Stones, draw your own conclusion.


13 posted on 04/19/2007 10:09:29 AM PDT by Badeye (The worst thing in the world is being talked about. The Second worst is not being talked about.)
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To: massgopguy

It just occured to me that nobody has ever seen Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Geddy Lee in the same place at the same time.

But then I remembered that Ginsburg wears glasses, and Geddy does not, so they can’t possibly be the same person.


14 posted on 04/19/2007 10:10:03 AM PDT by presidio9 (Suspended for posting an article about Scalia and Arthur Miller arguing at SCOTUS. Seriously.)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: Always Right

“Has anyone ever actually seen Ginsberg with anything but a scowl on her face, under any circumstances?”

“Those are those times she is falling asleep.”

Thats gas, my friend.


16 posted on 04/19/2007 10:10:20 AM PDT by Badeye (The worst thing in the world is being talked about. The Second worst is not being talked about.)
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To: Always Right

17 posted on 04/19/2007 10:11:35 AM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
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To: Badeye
You asked for it:


18 posted on 04/19/2007 10:13:52 AM PDT by AntiGuv ("..I do things for political expediency.." - Sen. John McCain on FOX News)
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To: presidio9
My FETUS, I mean sister, is a 7th month preemie(Now 50 years old, or so)..
Bader Gingberg's agitprop should be called that by the Chief Justice..
19 posted on 04/19/2007 10:14:13 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: presidio9
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested that Kennedy's word-choice goes too far

Ginsgerg should know that nobody likes legalese and we're going to keep possession of the language regardless of opinions of how far syntax is bent to the needs of the day.

20 posted on 04/19/2007 10:14:59 AM PDT by RightWhale (3 May '07 3:14 PM)
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