2 weeks Ago
The intentional polarization of American politics complicates self-government. No where is this truer than in the debate over abortion. On the one hand, Democrats historically supported abortion as a woman’s right up until the infant’s viability outside the uterus (traditionally assumed at 22 weeks, a period now challenged with the survival of Curtis Means in 2020 born at 21 weeks, one day).
On the other hand, Republicans used to agree that instances exist where “passing a law” isn’t the solution, and policemen aren’t who save the baby’s life. That tends to be the case when the mother’s life is in jeopardy, or when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. In such instances the mental and physical condition of the mother is more determinative of infant survival than whether politicians correctly crafted what should be “illegal.
” But those reasoned boundaries have now disappeared. There are Republicans who advocate forcing attempts at live birth even when such “force” itself risks the health of both mother and child. And there are Democrats who now advocate abortion up until and through the ninth month of pregnancy, where children are born with a greater than 90% survival rate.
Up until 2019, Virginia’s stringent laws prohibited late-term abortion. A sweep of Democrat wins elevated Kathy Tran in the Virginia House of Delegates. She introduced HB 2491 to allow late-term abortions if a doctor finds motherhood “damaging to the mental state” of the pregnant person.
In debate on the bill Delegate Tran was asked “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified? She’s dilating.” “My bill would allow that,” Tran replied. This forced Virginia’s Democrats to defend against horrifying “what-ifs”.
Former Governor Tim Kaine was asked if this new “mental health rationale” bypassed the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002.” He didn’t think so, but fellow Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill closing a “raising-that-brat-is-psychologically-traumatizing” infanticide exception. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam was asked in a radio interview what would happen if the abortion failed and a sedated but living infant exited the womb.
His reply was, “the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” Northam’s answer shocked the nation and sent the Democratic National Committee scurrying for damage-control. Their best effort produced the following: “The conditions underlying the question to Northam never occur.
It just doesn’t happen.” While not a “satisfying” answer, the DNC knew it would be hard to refute. The best U.
S. abortion data is kept by the Guttmacher institute, an abortion proponent who reported that, in America in 2023, the number of legal abortions increased slightly to 1,026,690. Of these, only one percent, or about 10,000, occurred after 21 weeks of pregnancy.
The most common late-term abortion procedure is “dilation and evacuation.” D&E abortions are tracked by the National Institutes of Health and reported with a 98% “success” rate. Does that suggest 200 unsuccessfully aborted infants were “born alive?” Not really.
Too much bleeding, incorrect healing, excessive pain, and adverse reaction to anesthetics are all included as reasons a procedure might be reported as “not successful.” So, in reality, we simply don’t know if a failed abortion means a living infant died. Northam’s answer might be more practical than hypothetical.
It highlights why data is not collected or reported: it’s just too dang close to murdering a fellow innocent human being..
