Originally posted by: shira
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: shira
Again, stop putting words in others mouth. Why don't we just read the actual statute and come to our own conclusions. It's pretty short, and here it is:
(a) In determining the meaning of any statute or of any rule, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative agencies of this State, the words "person", "human being", "child", and "individual" include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.
(b) As used in this Section, the term "born alive", with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after that expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.
(c) A live child born as a result of an abortion shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law.
So lets analyze:
This bill defines
any living fetus outside the womb, at any stage of development, a person.
That statement alone makes it clear why this bill is totally unacceptable to anyone who is pro-choice: If a fetus (even a one-week-old fetus) happens to survive extraction from the womb, then killing the fetus thereafter is murder. And if the fetus cannot be killed absent fear of prosecution for murder, that means
it's the abortion clinic's responsibility to fight to keep the fetus alive. regardless of cost.
Thank God Obama opposes this bill. It has nothing to do with protecting babies. It has everything to do with outlawing abortion.
Oh yeah? How many 1 week old fetuses can even been recognized much less survive outside the womb in that description? Breath, heart beat? Maybe you need to reread when the heart starts to pump. It isnt in the 1st week.
It is clear this is in regards to partial birth abortions. Where babies are born in the 3rd trimester and have a real chance to live outside the womb if delivered. Now how does one survive partial birth abortion? I'd say sloppy workmanship by the doctor where the baby is fully delivered instead of just partially with the head still in the birth canal where its brains are sucked out. And it sounds like a nurse witnessed such a delivery only to let the baby die on its own. Simply ridiculous.
If a baby survives an abortion you better damn well give it basic human rights. It was born under some of the most disgusting circumstances one can think.
In-vitro-fertilized zygotes can live for days. What makes you think that an extracted early-term fetus couldn't be kept alive for hours or even days, given the right laboratory conditions? And therein lies the rub: If the fetus is alive, for however short a time, it's a "person" under the terms of this bill. Thus, the physician who performs the abortion is guilty of killing that "person" - aka "murder" - when the fetus dies a few minutes after extraction unless that physician and the facility in which the physician practices make every possible effort to keep the fetus alive. This bill would require that the entire current post-abortion protocol change on the off-chance that the fetus was living: instead of just discarding the tissue, there would have to be all sorts of required procedures, tests, and documentation to make sure there wasn't a "person" to be protected and/or to PROVE that the best possible efforts were made to keep the "person" alive.
This bill is a slimy attempt to criminalize abortion and/or make it so burdensome on practitioners and facilities that they can't afford to perform abortions. Why else define a fetus "at any stage of development" to be a "person" if it's alive outside the womb, and link that status of person-hood to "the meaning of any statute or of any rule, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative agencies of this State"? This is clearly a set-up to make performing abortions so risky for doctors and clinics that they're forced to stop.
You can't possibly be so stupid that you don't recognize why this bill has been drafted.
Edit: Note the amazingly dishonest wording Santorum used in the attack on Obama: "Who would oppose a bill that said you couldn't kill a baby who was born?" And then there was, "The act simply prohibited the killing of a baby born alive." Santorum should be shouted down from the tops of mountains: "Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!"