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A Great April for Pro-Lifers in
State Legislatures Part One of Two By Dave Andrusko Part Two analyses the pro-abortion case why there are not enough abortions! Please read that and "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org). And then please send all your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you'd like, follow me at http://twitter.com/daveha. You wouldn't think it, but "strict" and "rigid" and "flawed" and "stringent" and "prohibitive" are among my favorite words. All (and much worse) are used interchangeably when reporters are lamenting pro-life legislative successes. The latest victories occurred this week in Oklahoma, where the House and Senate firmly overrode Gov. Henry's vetoes of two pieces of pro-life legislation.
The lesser known bill-- HB 2656--disallows the ugly practice of "wrongful-life" lawsuits, which start from the premise that a baby with disabilities would have been better off aborted. Specifically, the legislators recognized that "the birth of a child does not constitute a legally recognizable injury," and that legal action related to the birth of a child may not be brought "based on a claim that a person's act or omission contributed to the mother's not having obtained an abortion." The vote was 36-12 in the Senate, exactly the three-quarters majority needed to override Henry's veto. That same 36-12 Senate vote was cast for the Ultrasound bill (HB 2780), Oklahoma's most important pro-life bill this session. The House override margin was much more comfortable--81-14. Both bills take effect immediately. HB 2780 requires that before an abortion can be performed, an ultrasound must be performed and displayed so that the woman may view it prior to undergoing an abortion. Nineteen other states have enacted similar legislation. The Oklahoma ultrasound law is the strongest, most protective law of its kind. Taken in conjunction with Nebraska's path-breaking "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," the breakthroughs have generated a spate of the-sky-is-falling news stories. "Taken together, the two new laws represent some of the most aggressive abortion legislation passed in recent years," wrote Sarah Kliff in the Politico yesterday, "leaving some to wonder: are these new laws isolated incidents or signs of a larger shift?" But it gets better in the very next paragraph. "On the one hand, they're part of an onslaught of restrictions that we see constantly," says Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, of the two new laws. "But, that being said, these are both going farther that what we've seen before." Altogether CRP's "caseload" is "higher than we've seen since the late 1990s," according to Northrup. "It's a total uptick." To her credit, Northup grasps that there is a second front in the pro-life counter-offensive. "The atmosphere around health care reform created a real aggressiveness that energized the anti-choice movement," she told Kliff. (Kliff describes them as "reform-specific bills .") What does not get spelled out is what we discussed earlier in the week (www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/April10/nv042610.html). States are taking advantage of a provision in the health care "reform" bill that allows states to prohibit the inclusion of abortion in the state "exchanges" created by the bill. A number of states are trying to take advantage of this authority. So where are we at? Let's hear from both sides. Ted Miller, spokesperson for NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Kliff, "If it's happening in Nebraska and Oklahoma, it's going to be happening in Ohio or somewhere similar." Mary Spaulding Balch is NRLC State Legislative Director. "April has been a successful month for right to life legislation," she told Kliff. "The activity in states is higher. Pro-lifers really are pursuing these laws very seriously." |
