Supreme Court Upholds Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
The court's putative conservative majority held together long enough to permit Congress to outlaw partial-birth abortions. This is a victory for the concept of self-government, which is a solid conservative principle. But it stands as a rather pathetic monument to the ineptitude and impotence of the conservative movement in the 21st century. For here we are, after 6 years of Republicans in charge of all three branches of government, and all we have to show for it is a tax cut and a ban on partial birth abortions.
Except for the most blatant quota systems at public universities, affirmative action remains institutionalized throughout the business world and educational systems. Not only are our irrationally high rates of legal immigration still in force but we seem stuck with insanely high illegal immigration. The size of the government has not shrunk one iota - the era of big government has come back to life! Instead of rolling back government, we have embarked on a horridly costly and pointless war that has discredited every major Republican politician who, out of party loyalty, has been compelled to support it.
As far as the partial-birth abortion issue itself, I'm a bit ambivalent. While it seems like a particularly barbaric practice, it's not much more gruesome than a standard procedure on a fully formed fetus. Smothering a newborn infant strikes me as far more humane. But while infanticide is a long way off (though I'd have thought the same about gay marriage just a few years ago), the abortion genie was let out of the bottle a long time ago, and we're never going to get it back in. There's little point in conservatives continuing to fight that battle - it only serves to antagonize and alienate many who would otherwise be allies.
Except for the most blatant quota systems at public universities, affirmative action remains institutionalized throughout the business world and educational systems. Not only are our irrationally high rates of legal immigration still in force but we seem stuck with insanely high illegal immigration. The size of the government has not shrunk one iota - the era of big government has come back to life! Instead of rolling back government, we have embarked on a horridly costly and pointless war that has discredited every major Republican politician who, out of party loyalty, has been compelled to support it.
As far as the partial-birth abortion issue itself, I'm a bit ambivalent. While it seems like a particularly barbaric practice, it's not much more gruesome than a standard procedure on a fully formed fetus. Smothering a newborn infant strikes me as far more humane. But while infanticide is a long way off (though I'd have thought the same about gay marriage just a few years ago), the abortion genie was let out of the bottle a long time ago, and we're never going to get it back in. There's little point in conservatives continuing to fight that battle - it only serves to antagonize and alienate many who would otherwise be allies.
posted by ziel | 4/18/2007 11:30:00 PM
6 Comments:
Good article, Ziel. This is the main reason why anti-abortion laws will never be allowed by the Supreme Court: Hispanic women have abortions at 2.5 times the rate as white women; black women have abortions at 4 times the rate of white women.
Minorities use abortion as birth control. And we sure as hell don't want to discourage them from using birth control, do we?
We ought to be paying minorities for it! Cheaper than me paying for the next generation of degenerates.
The Republicans in charge for the last 6 years were never about the conservative movement. But that shouldn´t come as news to you Ziel, certainly not from me. Face it; you´ve been used like a pyramid scheme.
Got to agree with JImbo here, as I'm happy to do when I can.
This administration has simply imported the Democratic welfare system to Iraq, at a cost much higher than domestic programs as it has entailed the loss of a completely unacceptable number of Americans.
While we could have spent the money here on improving education, housing and defending our borders against illegals we are, instead spending it on providing cell phone service, cable tv & internet (to a few) by paying a non-bidding, convicted overbilling company. What is the dividend?
Do you feel safer going into Newark each day knowing Saddam is dead but Osama is still out there? Is it the reduced (or even stabilized) gas prices?
You've got the same administration trying to force unsupportable children into the society but not willing to use embryos for research to work towards reducing or eliminating deaths of the existing population.
No wonder the Texas Rangers always sucked under Bush.
McCain is dead in the water for his support of Bush & the war. Mit is too wishy washy (and a Morman), Guiliani is too liberal with too much baggage, Thompson may be the guy. If the Dems can come up with a relatively moderate candidate (forget Hillary & Obama), they will coast. Money now is on Edwards, though I hate him as a money grubbing, plaintiff lawyer, which makes him a great actor and possibly able to fool the public.
We shall see but a Republican win would get great odds in Vegas.
If abortion supporters are allies then there is no conservative movement. It will only be a long slide into liberal hell.
Its amazing how the right has convinced the Christian Conservatives that abortion is the end-all-be-all of politics. How many abortion-ending amendments have repubs submitted in the past 8 years?
hear the crickets chirping?
Karl Rove doesn't personally give a damn about abortion except for the fact that he can excite his base with it. If it were ever totally outlawed by a constitutional amendment, the Repubs could no longer use the issue to get religious conservatives to vote for them
They'll never REALLY push for it.
And if you want the truth, the democrats know abortion is bloody murder of the foulest kind, but since in their hearts the white lefties are massively racist, they want abortion legal so their precious bohemian districs dont' get overrun with brown and black people. They dont fool me at all. Margaret Sanger is all you need know about abortion.
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