Comments off the Lincoln Madison blog
In Stenberg v. Carhart (2000), Justice Breyer writes that it's unconstitutional to ban abortion at any time, even minutes before natural birth if the law doesn't protect the woman's "health".
With that vague test you could say a woman's health is in question at any point during a pregnancy, therefore anytime a doctor says a woman's health would be affected by having the child, you could not ever prevent her from having an abortion, even a partial-birth one.
As for Roe, the trimester test you mentioned was thrown out in 1992 when the Supreme Court adopted the "undue burden" test. Trimesters are now completely irrelevant.
Lincoln,
You might want to do a little more research on Ponnuru than watching a 5-minute segment on the Colbert Report before calling him "an ignorant, lazy fool." Doing so, makes you appear ignorant and lazy.
For example, you could read his book and educate yourself about what "health" means with regards to abortion. His book explains how the extremely broad definition of health in Doe v. Bolton (another abortion case decided on the same day as Roe) allows for abortion on demand. Health is defined by "the medical judgement may be exercised in light of all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors maybe relate to health."
You should probably also do some more research about how Ronald Reagan felt about the unborn (for example you could read his book "Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation") instead of relying on how parts of his family feel.
Stenberg and Casey both forbid the placement of an "undue burden" on the abortion of a nonviable fetus. Also, quoting from Breyer's majority opinion in Stenberg, "By no means must a State grant physicians 'unfettered discretion' in their selection of abortion methods." Further, the "medically necessary" exception is not a complete carte blanche to physicians. Breyer specifically highlighted the quote from Casey, quoting Roe: "subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."
To state that the Supreme Court has required that abortion on demand be allowed up to the moment of natural delivery, is intellectually lazy and foolish.
As to Ronald Reagan, it suffices to say that his closest family members have the right to point to the fact that embryonic stem-cell research might well produce a cure for Alzheimer's, sparing other families the agony of watching their loved ones slide into irreversible dementia. Saying "this research might have saved his life" is entirely valid, and makes a case for both Republicans and also true conservatives to reconsider their blanket opposition to the research.
Lincoln,
Read the quote you're using again:
"subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."
That takes us back to how "health" is defined by Doe v. Bolton, doesn't it?
To deny that abortion is legal after 6 months and or viability for any reason a woman can think of and an abortionist will agree to is simply trying to ignore the broad definition of "health" in Doe.
Ronald Reagan's life could have never been saved by embryonic stem cell research. Reagan died two years ago. Even though hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars have been spent on embryonic stem cell research, no treatments are anywhere close to even being tested. To say Reagan, a man who died two years ago, could have been cured is obviously not true.
You might also like to know how embryonic stem cell researcher Ronald McKay describes the claim that embryonic stem cell research will cure Alzheimer's. He calls it a "fairy tale."
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