[omegatoo]

Dear Saber,
Imagine a bill that says you may perform amputations but you may not use a saw.
This is that bill.

It is not possible to perform late term abortions by the usual methods without violating this law, so every late term abortion will be suspect. Nearly all of these are feet-first, because the head being the biggest part of the baby is not usually the first thing to come out. The baby naturally slips out to at least the waist. At that point, the belly button may still be inside the mother, but the head and shoulders are still in the womb, and the abortionist can't reach the head to kill the baby. Once the shoulders are out, the belly button WILL be out. So in order for an abortionist to perform a late term abortion by the usual methods, he will have to violate this law.

This does not say that there can't be other methods, but this is the most "convenient", "safest", "quickest", and "most reliable". Which is why it is done. Any of the other methods pose more risks and expose the abortionist to more lawsuits from complications. This law will stop a lot of late-term abortions.

I can also see pro-life nurses now being willing to work in these places again since they might actually catch someone doing something illegal. Until this law, there was no point, because nothing they saw would be reportable.

O2

[Sabertooth]

This does not say that there can't be other methods, but this is the most "convenient", "safest", "quickest", and "most reliable". Which is why it is done. Any of the other methods pose more risks and expose the abortionist to more lawsuits from complications. This law will stop a lot of late-term abortions.

Thanks, and that's at least a reasonable position. And you may well be right that it will prevent some number of late-term abortions.

Even if all that's true, however, I think it's instructive to look for whatever loopholes or shortcomings there might be in this legislation, not necessarily to castigate various politicians, but more importantly, to understand where the next steps need to be taken.

It would be a mistake (would it not?) to consider a partial victory to be a total one, and engender complacency.