By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 9:54 AM
The U.S. Senate passed a bill yesterday that would make it a crime, punishable by up to a year in jail, to transport a minor across a state line to obtain an abortion. Labels: Health, U.S._Senate
Locally that means that teens from East St. Louis, Belleville, or Centralia, for instance, would have more limited access to St. Louis abortion clinics. Missouri senators Kit Bond (R) and Jim Talent (R) voted in favor of the law, Senate Bill 403, while both Illinois senators voted against it.
12 Comments:
Rather than ban abortion outright, which Congress cannot due because of Roe v. Wade, Congress can limit access to abortion so long as it does not place an "undue burden" on the mother.
Sandra Day O'Connor established this undue burden tests in Planned Parenthood v Casey. Previously, with a 5 person "liberal" majority on the court, this typically kept abortion accessible, albeit with more limits. Since the GOP now controls all branches of government, they may find otherwise limiting attacks on abortion as perfectly acceptable, since "undue burden" is ambiguous. Such subjective language makes for a great legal fight, one that I believe this country needs to end.
Roe v Wade was far too overreaching. The trimester framework established in Roe has already been thrown out, and the basis for abortion, the right to privacy, was stretched very far to encompass the right to abortion. While I might agree that abortion is a right, and comes from the right of privacy, many will disagree. Such controversial decisions by a Court which some believe as overreaching only divides our society. Stenberg v Carhart struck down the ban on Partial Birth Abortion, because the law did not have an exception for the health of the mother, which is an undue burden. Gonzales v Carhart is going to be heard by the new Conservative Court, and we will have to see if they overrule Stenberg, or concur with its ruling. What is for certain is that this debate is never-ending, and tiresome.
7/26/2006 9:26 AM
Isn't this already illegal in many states--to transport a minor from that state to another for the purposes of obtaining an abortion? Further, with the access to Metrolink, such that a minor could provide her own transportation, this wouldn't appear to limit metro east minors too heavily in obtaining their own medical procedures. Finally, I expect to see major tests of Roe v. Wade in the next couple of years with the decidedly conservative Supreme Court now empaneled. And with Justice O'Connor having departed the bench, her burden test might be easily forgotten.
7/26/2006 9:50 AM
With staire decisis, it will not be forgotten. Judges want continuity in order to maintain a clear rule of law. Even with the new conservative court, it will be quite a while before the abortion debate is ended either way. It has been over 20 years, and this is still going on. I think it will continue well into the future. I don't think the undue burden test will be removed, since it is very new, and because it can be easily stretched to protect the states interest, which the new conservative court will probably favor. Creating yet another framework for abortion would be unnecessary, because either side can manipulate the existing undue burden test. This is why I am not becoming a lawyer.
7/26/2006 10:03 AM
Actualy Illinois has the Hope Clinic in Granit City for abortion services.
7/26/2006 10:11 AM
Why is it that people with no uterus always have a say in what us women do with our bodies? Its no ones business but ours.
7/26/2006 10:25 AM
This law will have the most harmful impact in places like Mississippi, which has only one abortion clinic left in the whole state.
7/26/2006 11:09 AM
As someone who came out of a woman's uterus, I think it might have a little bit to do with me.
And as someone whose own son or daughter will come out of another woman's uterus, I think it has a lot to do with me.
Parental rights and reproductive issues are not exclusive to females. Males are also parents of those unborn children as well as fathers to the young girls having abortions.
There are lots of angles to take on the abortion debate, but I must say that I really do resent the "none of your business" approach.
7/26/2006 11:16 AM
well Antonio, I'm sorry if I offended you, but the people in office were the main ones I was referring to. They(themselves) I'm sure have never been in such a situation. To be a poor young adult with no one to turn to. I feel these young women are making the right decision, no matter if you are pro-life or pro-choice. If they feel they cannot fully support these children mentally, finacially etc.. why bring them into poverty? Are the government officials going to rear these children? I think not. It will be left up to the tax payers to finacially support them.
7/26/2006 12:11 PM
Antonio:
All I can say to you is thank you. Far too often in this and other discussions it is forgotten that fathers can be caring parents as well. I know that in some communities there are irresponsible fathers, as there are also irresponsible mothers. What is not remembered, though, is that there are fathers out there, such as me, and I am sure you will be the same when you have children, that will be fully involved in their childrens' lives, or to the extent allowed by the archaic, one-sided laws in our state.
Unfortunately, fathers are seen as second-class citizens when it comes to allowing involvement and making decisions about our children. There is nothing sadder than wanting desperately to be fully involved with your child's life, but to be partially or fully denied by the state because you don't possess certain organs. The stereo-types about fathers, families, and gender need to change, and so do the laws relating to fathers' rights. We need to encourage men to be in their childrens' lives, not dissuade them. I know this is a bit off-topic, but thank you for indulging me, as this is a topic that is dear to my heart.
7/26/2006 2:37 PM
I believe fathers can be good parents, I'm married to one and am the daughter of one. I also hope that all the good men out there who wish to make this an issue they care about are willing to help convince other men that with rights come responsibilities. Men should be part of their childrens' lives, and if men had to think as hard about the repercussions of having sex as women do they might think harder about whether that night of fun was worth it. Frankly, I'd like to see every father for the next, say, three years, get custody in all divorce and paternity hearings. I bet by the end of it every workplace would have flex-time, parental leave policies, and a lot more leniency toward those who have to miss a day of work when a child is sick. Then let's see if women still feel such a need to choose abortion.
I know that I took Travis' comment and took it even farther off-topic, sorry. Back on topic--Roe v. Wade was just bad law (I'm not saying I disagree with the result, I'm saying it's a bad case, that's not the same thing), and I would expect this new court to try to do something. Unfortunately, I think two wrongs won't make a right. If the SC had stayed out of it in the first place and let the states battle it out, we would have had opportunity to really test the will of the people and see where we ended up.
7/26/2006 4:46 PM
I believe Illinois has no parental consent requirement for minors obtaining abortions, while Missouri does.
But Hope Clinic, fearing legal repercussions, no longer performs abortions on minors from Missouri without parental consent.
I think it's a ridiculous Federal law. But it will have little to no effect on Missouri-Illinois cross-border cases as a result of Hope's current policy.
By the way, I believe there's only one single abortion provider in St. Louis City and County: RHS.
The merits of parental consent laws can be debated. But at least Missouri is still sensible enough to have no spousal consent requirement. Even the Supreme Court ruled against that provision in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision (1989).
7/26/2006 5:11 PM
Im sure glad I can bang all these chicks and avoid having to be a parent, or child support, we need abortion because cats like me would be broke if I had all them kids! I like to "spread the luv" If you know what I mean!!!
7/26/2006 5:35 PM
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