McCormick's House Bill 813 which would allow the state to prosecute women who have an abortion was stripped from legislation and set aside the anti-abortion measure without a vote. As sponsor of the bill, McCormick said he was satisfied the bill will start the debate of "when life begins" which he says is at conception.
McCormick is ignorant concerning "when life begins" decision in Roe v. Wade and or ill-informed on the matter because the debate of "when life begins" was debated and addressed 49 years ago in the Roe decision and in the 1992 Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Some of the findings in Roe are as follows: (1) The unborn have never been recognized in the law as persons in the whole sense. (2) States view the constitution protections begin at conception. (3) The constitution does not provide a definition of "a person." (4) It is not up to the states to define when "life begins." (5) We do not agree that by adopting one theory of life, Texas may override the rights of the pregnant woman that are at stake. In the Planned Parenthood case, the courts settled on the "fetus viability" factor based on the fetus ability to survive out side the womb which was 28 months and could be 24 months.
So the debate "when life begins" has been ongoing for the past 49 years and the courts recognized all those years that different people, states and religions have different views. Many in the anti-abortion crowd opposed McCormick's Bill 813 because they can see how dangerous and extreme it is and what it could lead to down the road. And there are some in the group who oppose abortion in total, even if to save the life of the Mother.
McCormick and the extreme want to punish women over the abortion issue. What about the men who fail to use protection and impregnate the women? Don't they have a responsibility? Are there any cases where they are stepping forward asking the woman to carry the fetus to term? That he will financially support her and the child? Maybe even offer marriage. How did he react when told his mate was pregnant? Maybe the men are republicans who are only looking for sex and then walk away and want to punish the women like the republican party has been trying to do the past 49 years.
The abortion issue lacks the debate about the man's culpability, but Politidose Blog commented about the issue more than a year ago while the regular media has been AWOL. And of course the anti-abortion crowd won't talk about it. They just want to punish women and call people like Nancy Pelosi pro abortion when Pelosi choose life over abortion and brought 5 children into this world. Part of the abortion shame over the past 49 years falls to state government because they failed to take advantage of the role states can play in regulating abortions as outlined in Roe v. Wade. Instead, they choose to make abortion a political issue.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
Note: Roe v. Wade set out the criteria for states to manage abortion in their comments about the three trimesters which identified the courts thinking on "when life begins."
