Monday, March 06, 2006
THE GAUNTLET IS THROWN
VIA just about everybody:
South Dakota Governor Signs Abortion Ban
Fox does its usual good job recapping:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186961,00.html
The bill criminalizes the performance of an abortion unless it is necessary to save the mother’s life.
It is of course a blatant challenge to the precedents and policies predicated on Roe v Wade…
Bob Cesca over at the Huffington post takes exception to the law’s lack of an exception for rape in a downright ugly posting:
“South Dakota: Where Rapists Live Forever”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/south-dakota-where-rapis_b_16237.html
The first few lines pretty much sums up his opinion…
“The great state of South Dakota. The Home of Rapist Bastard Children! That's right, Rapists. If you want your twisted, evil chromosomes to live forever, South Dakota welcomes you with open arms.”
Which is probably a good example of the kind of rhetoric which will now be forthcoming…
I don’t know. I think abortion bans are the worst possible kind of butting in: If that sort of meddling is “Constitutional” it shouldn’t be. On the other hand, the Roe decision was a mess… And it must be kept first in mind that overturning Roe won’t criminalize abortion. Overturning Roe will turn one fight into fifty-one – one on every State and one in Congress.
And if you want to see the great American middle stampede left, just try to pass something like this on the Federal level.
So there are two possible outcomes.
1) Roe will be reaffirmed. If this happens expect the religious right to consume itself with fury. This is the promised land in the political desert – if the Republicans don’t deliver this time the only thing left to hope for is Anne Coulter slipping past the guards at the Supreme Court…
2) Roe will be tossed out. Then the fight is on in most all of the States. If I recall correctly, seventeen States legalized abortion before Roe. The question will become a hot-button issue in every State that formerly banned the procedure. I would expect most of them will legalize first-trimester abortion again at least. Until they do, there is the potential of a lot of very angry women suddenly finding a new meaning for a rock and a hard place…
South Dakota Governor Signs Abortion Ban
Fox does its usual good job recapping:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186961,00.html
The bill criminalizes the performance of an abortion unless it is necessary to save the mother’s life.
It is of course a blatant challenge to the precedents and policies predicated on Roe v Wade…
Bob Cesca over at the Huffington post takes exception to the law’s lack of an exception for rape in a downright ugly posting:
“South Dakota: Where Rapists Live Forever”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/south-dakota-where-rapis_b_16237.html
The first few lines pretty much sums up his opinion…
“The great state of South Dakota. The Home of Rapist Bastard Children! That's right, Rapists. If you want your twisted, evil chromosomes to live forever, South Dakota welcomes you with open arms.”
Which is probably a good example of the kind of rhetoric which will now be forthcoming…
I don’t know. I think abortion bans are the worst possible kind of butting in: If that sort of meddling is “Constitutional” it shouldn’t be. On the other hand, the Roe decision was a mess… And it must be kept first in mind that overturning Roe won’t criminalize abortion. Overturning Roe will turn one fight into fifty-one – one on every State and one in Congress.
And if you want to see the great American middle stampede left, just try to pass something like this on the Federal level.
So there are two possible outcomes.
1) Roe will be reaffirmed. If this happens expect the religious right to consume itself with fury. This is the promised land in the political desert – if the Republicans don’t deliver this time the only thing left to hope for is Anne Coulter slipping past the guards at the Supreme Court…
2) Roe will be tossed out. Then the fight is on in most all of the States. If I recall correctly, seventeen States legalized abortion before Roe. The question will become a hot-button issue in every State that formerly banned the procedure. I would expect most of them will legalize first-trimester abortion again at least. Until they do, there is the potential of a lot of very angry women suddenly finding a new meaning for a rock and a hard place…
