Okay, so I took the advice of one of Calandria's readers and researched Obama's vote on the Partial-Birth Abortion issue.
**The description is taken from a reliable source, but it is also graphic. If you get queasy easily, you may want to stop reading here.
According to HealthAtoZ.com, the procedure for partial-birth abortion, also called intact dilation and extraction, is as follows:
- The body is given a series of medications to force the cervix to dilate, usually over a matter of days.
- The fetus is rotated to a footling breech position.
- The fetus is drawn out of the body until only the head remains inside the birth canal.
- Using an instrument, the physician punctures the base of the fetus' skull, causing the head to collapse.
- Often, the contents of the fetus' head are suctioned out, causing the head to reduce enough for the dead fetus to be pulled out of the birth canal completely.
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was a movement to, as it says, ban this practice. It was passed in Congress in 2003. The law says that "Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both" (Wikipedia.com).
Senator Obama, while still in the Illinois Legistlature voted "Present" on this Act in 1997. In the IL Legislature, a vote of "present" is equivalent to a vote of "no" because there is a required majority of "yes" votes to pass a bill. Congressmen use a vote of "present" usually to avoid a vote of "no" on an unpopular bill. This means he was against banning partial-birth abortion. In my opinion, although it is not worded the same as voting for the practice of partial-birth abortion, he is in every essence seeking the same result.
To read the blog entry and comments that inspired this entry, go here. To read more of the article in HealthAtoZ.com about partial-birth abortions go here. To read the Wikipedia entry on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 go here. To read the Act itself, go here. To read more on Barack Obama's opinions on abortion, go here. To view Senator Obama's voting record in his current office, go here. These links are the exact sources I used in writing this entry.
Although I included my own opinion, it certainly doesn't mean I am not open to the views of others. So, any thoughts?
3 comments:
Very informative Mal. I wonder if the procedure is still done much here in the US, and what kind of doctor would be able to do that? Disgusting and disturbing huh.
I read this same article when the postings wer flying on Calandria's spot. I hate that politicians can do things like vote "present" instead of "yes" or "no". It's just one more things that obfuscates the reality of what people really believe. I understand that it must be hard to vote in a way that serves the interests of your constiuents (knowing that a lot of the people you represent didn't vote for you anyway) and having to come to terms with the fact that that may be against what you believe personally.
I did find this piece interesting about the partial-birth abortions.
"In 1997, Obama voted against SB 230, which would have turned doctors into felons by banning so-called partial-birth abortion, & against a 2000 bill banning state funding. Although these bills included an exception to save the life of the mother, they didn't include anything about abortions necessary to protect the health of the mother. The legislation defined a fetus as a person, & could have criminalized virtually all abortion."
I wonder if some of the voting "no" ends up being against the "doctors as felons" or the no state funding aspect?
In that case, a person could be against partial-birth abortions but not vote to ban them because of certain clauses that they felt they could not support because of other reasons. Often when candidates are accused of voting a certain way on an issue, they'll say that they had to vote the way they did because of a rider or a clause.
I honestly don't know if that's the case here, but I'd be interested in knowing.
That would be interesting to find out. Either way I guess, it's time to support Obama, as much as some of his beliefs out right irritate mine.
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