Reply #48: Please allow me to elaborate [View All]

[Woodstock]

I thought it was important to clarify your position before the debate proceeded. When I said you are anti-choice, I meant that you seek to restrict a woman's reproductive rights beyond Roe v. Wade. My understanding is that you are strongly opposed to abortion in nearly all if not all cases. Please correct me if that is not or is no longer your position.

And I didn't call you a name, I characterized what I believed to be your political viewpoint using very widely known and accepted terms for the debate. Similarly, one can charactaerize someone's views as pro-civil liberties, anti-gun control, pro-women's rights, anti-environment, etc. as they apply to the individual's positions. If you prefer the term "pro-life" that is certainly your prerogative, and I believe most people would recognize that term and what it entails as well. Again, please correct me if I have mischaracterized your position.

To answer your request for my arguments - I've been writing steadily on this issue on this forum for approximately 24 hours. My views are everywhere.

D & X was an extremely rare procedure almost always used only in critical situations. It was up to the woman and her doctor, not the legsilature, to make medical decisions, as it should be. Roe v. Wade adequately addressed abortion restrictions in late term. Most people in America were fine with Roe v. Wade. This "partial birth abortion" bill was a political maneuver largely to secure religious right support that is crucial to Republican electorial victories. Women's rights are way down the list of their priorities - power and wealth is at the top of the list. This legislation will be used to make abortions in both the second and third trimester illegal. And further legislation will build on this to make abortion illegal in the first trimester. Many women will suffer and die. The men who love them and their families will suffer. Most Americans will NOT be happy about this. So the anti-choice laws will be rolled back after much trauma (and effort that could have been more wisely spent advancing our civilization on earth) and in years to come Democrats who stood firm to the platform will gain significantly from standing up for the reproductive rights that most Americans want.

And now, let me ask you this question. Do you agree with Roe v. Wade?

Roe v. Wade:

* gives American women an absolute right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy;

* allows some government regulation in the second trimester of pregnancy;

* declares that states may restrict or ban abortions in the last trimester as the foetus nears the point where it could live outside the womb. In this trimester a woman can obtain an abortion despite any legal ban only if doctors certify it is necessary to save her life or health.