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Deep in the Hearts of Texas Babies
Townhall.com ^ | September 7, 2021 | Cal Thomas

Posted on 09/07/2021 4:45:35 AM PDT by Kaslin

In the matter of a new Texas law banning abortions six weeks after gestation, when a fetal heartbeat can usually be detected by vaginal ultrasound, suppose the headlines had been different? Instead of words like "most restrictive in nation" (The Wall Street Journal) and "Supreme Court refuses to block Texas law" (The Washington Post), along with four stories splashed across the front page of The New York Times that seemed to be written from the perspective of pro-choice writers, what if the headlines had instead reflected another point of view that took the side of babies and the women who carry them?

Those headlines and stories might have read: "Supreme Court decides to protect babies, recognizing Thomas Jefferson's writing about endowed life coming from God." Or, if that's too long for headline writers, how about "Supreme Court takes side of the unborn"? Might that have changed the perception about abortion by people who are on the fence, or conflicted? Information, including sonograms for abortion-minded pregnant women, has been shown to change minds. So has compassionate counseling and adoption services at pregnancy help centers.

Much has changed since 1973 when a court majority found in Roe vs. Wade that a "penumbra" was hidden in the Constitution, which translated into a "right to privacy" so that a woman could legally terminate her pregnancy without interference from anyone, including the father. Since that ruling, the "right" to an abortion has been extended to include second-trimester abortions and to cover babies born alive after an attempted abortion.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA), a pediatrician, has suggested that a baby who survives an abortion should be "kept comfortable" and "resuscitated" and then "a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother." Does this not infanticide?

The definition of "penumbra" is revealing: "the partial or imperfect shadow outside the complete shadow of an opaque body." If that sounds unclear when applied to the Constitution, that's because it is. Then-Justice Harry Blackmun, who used the word, clearly was not a textualist in the way Antonin Scalia was. It appears he read his own bias into the Constitution when he could find no justification for abortion elsewhere.

Judges reading into the Constitution their own biases, even prejudices, has long been a problem. It is a power the Founders never intended the courts and especially the Supreme Court to have.

The Texas law will still be challenged in other ways, as will a Mississippi law the Supreme Court has decided to hear this fall. That law, if passed, would ban most abortions after 15 weeks.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA), a pediatrician, has suggested that a baby who survives an abortion should be "kept comfortable" and "resuscitated" and then "a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother." Does this not infanticide?

The definition of "penumbra" is revealing: "the partial or imperfect shadow outside the complete shadow of an opaque body." If that sounds unclear when applied to the Constitution, that's because it is. Then-Justice Harry Blackmun, who used the word, clearly was not a textualist in the way Antonin Scalia was. It appears he read his own bias into the Constitution when he could find no justification for abortion elsewhere.

Judges reading into the Constitution their own biases, even prejudices, has long been a problem. It is a power the Founders never intended the courts and especially the Supreme Court to have.

The Texas law will still be challenged in other ways, as will a Mississippi law the Supreme Court has decided to hear this fall. That law, if passed, would ban most abortions after 15 weeks.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: abortion; prochoice; prolife

1 posted on 09/07/2021 4:45:35 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Post needs editing. It is garbled.


2 posted on 09/07/2021 5:03:12 AM PDT by bjc (Show me the data!)
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To: Kaslin

Women have to have that abortion SO they can be immoral and not have to deal with the consequences. Say it. Men who are sleeping around need to be dealt with as well. Say it.


3 posted on 09/07/2021 5:39:24 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Somehow,it has become one of those except able double standards.
Like when 25-30 y/o men fool around with 15-16 y/o it’s a big deal.
But if the 25-30 y/o is a women everyone has a good laugh.


4 posted on 09/07/2021 5:45:06 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Somehow,it has become one of those except ACCEPTABLE double standards.
Like when 25-30 y/o men fool around with 15-16 y/o it’s a big deal.
But if the 25-30 y/o is a women everyone has a good laugh.


5 posted on 09/07/2021 5:46:25 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Somehow,it has become one of ACCEPTABLE

Ughhh!


6 posted on 09/07/2021 5:47:27 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: Leep

I don’t laugh about any of that. If we don’t stop that, we’re going to be destroyed as a nation. READ history.


7 posted on 09/07/2021 5:55:21 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Alot of women use sex to keep their man. Just like alot of men use money and power to keep their women. Trophy wives and cuckold men. Lots of issues.
....and the innocent baby destroyed cause the two who conceived it had ulterior motives. Not shocking. Was proscribed in ancient days. Never perfectly followed.
Now we are so advanced we have gone back to the point before proscription, and kill the offspring. So advanced....?
Best one can do is rail and work against the evil and not fall into the trap either.


8 posted on 09/07/2021 6:50:48 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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