Kevorkian, Ultrasounds, and Inmate Abortions -- Part One of Two

Editor's note. Part One for today will zip through three subjects. Please take a moment to also read Part Two which deals with the "Poster Boy" of Euthanasia in Canada. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

* Against my better judgment, let me take a moment to mention that "Dr. Death"--the not-so-recently paroled Jack Kevorkian--officially announced yesterday he is running for Congress.

The Detroit Free Press, which could never get enough of the man while he was on his assisted-suicide rampage, begins its story thusly:

"He called his candidacy audacious, even outrageous, but assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian will run for U.S. Congress this year, hoping to continue a crusade to fight for individual rights."

How's that for hard-hitting journalism?

"You can't take my innate rights away from me without a fight," Kevorkian told the Free Press, referring to his imaginative reading of the Ninth Amendment. Kathleen Gray helpfully added, "He interprets the amendment as allowing an individual to do anything as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, such as helping with an assisted suicide." (Emphasis added.)

I can't top that one, can you?

He'll run as an Independent in Michigan's 9th Congressional District, for a seat now held by Republican Joe Knollenberg.

Although you'd never know it by the accounts, after nine years, 130 deaths, and six trials, Kevorkian was finally convicted of second-degree murder. Kevorkian was not stopped until Thomas Youk's death by lethal injection (administered directly by Kevorkian) was nationally televised on 60 Minutes.

* Under a new Ohio law, if ultrasound is being used a woman contemplating an abortion will now be offered the opportunity to view an ultrasound image of her unborn baby. Pro-abortion Gov. Ted Strickland signed the Ultrasound Viewing Option Bill, which takes effect in 90 days.

Best guess is that Strickland counted noses--as did the local Abortion Establishment which took no official position--and decided not to fight H.B. 314. Last December the measure passed in the House 73-20. Less than two weeks ago, the Senate approved the bill 24 to 8.

Twelve states now have such laws. In addition, Louisiana requires that for abortions at twenty or more weeks gestation an ultrasound be performed and that the woman be offered the opportunity to view the image of her unborn child.

* Without comment, the United States Supreme Court yesterday let stand a lower court's ruling in the case of an Arizona inmate who had sought an abortion. The justices upheld a variety of courts, including the Arizona Supreme Court, which had rejected a Maricopa County policy that banned off-site "elective medical procedures" without a court order. County officials said they provided transportation only for procedures they deemed "medically necessary."

According to the Associated Press, a Missouri federal appeals court recently issued a similar ruling in a case there.

The Maricopa County situation came to a head in May 2004 when deputies, following the policy established in 1990, refused to bring an unnamed inmate to an abortion clinic without a court order. After having been denied two court orders, "Jane Doe" was granted a temporary restraining order against the policy and had the abortion.

In October 2004 the ACLU challenged the policy. In August 2005 Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Barry Schneider concluded that the policy was unconstitutional, a ruling upheld unanimously in January 2007 by a three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals, and upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court on September 26.

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Part Two