There's a new article over at Huffington Post by Frank Schaeffer, a by all accounts decent guy who helped create the religious right wing movement. He defected 25 years ago and has since campaigned for intelligent and rational government policies. He used to write incendiary books, obliquely stating that abortionists should be 'dealt with the same way people would deal with Hitler.'
Mr Schaeffer is the only person I've seen step up and apologize for whatever role he may have played in Dr Tiller's death.
Unfortunately, in his post, he also stated that late term abortion should be illegal. Because I often find myself elated at seeing his name atop a new article, I was disappointed to read this statement of his because it shows a misunderstanding of late term abortion.
There are a few things wrong with the late term abortion argument.
1) Late-term abortion does not occur because the mother doesn't want the baby. If the mother didn't want the baby, she would've chosen to have an abortion much, much earlier on. It's not like the mother just forgot that there was something growing in her and didn't remember to get an abortion until the third trimester.
2) No, and I mean no, doctor would perform an abortion on a viable late term pregnancy. Late term abortions are performed because the fetus' brain didn't form correctly or because the heart only has one chamber or any number of horrifying problems that can come up during pregnancy. These are completely non viable, and in most cases would die the second they leave the mother. In many other cases, the child will live for a few days, maybe a week, and die painfully. Even without all that, the life of the mother is often at risk.
3) Late term abortions are not entered into lightly. As I've said, the mothers and fathers were happily expecting a child, only to discover far too late that there is a debilitating and dreadful problem with the fetus. I doubt anyone can comprehend the pain and horror of that situation. Not to mention the lasting effects for those poor near-parents, who after the operation will be told by 'pro-life' activists that they are murderers.
Late term abortions have been focused on by the religious right because it makes a good story, a story that makes it near impossible to support late term abortions.
And while this isn't on the topic of late term abortions, I have yet to see an anti choice activist step up and fight for low-income housing, universal health care and comprehensive sex ed, all things which would almost certainly reduce the amount of abortions. Could it be that the goal isn't truly to reduce abortions but simply to control women?
Adding...here's a brief listing of the diseases that would cause a late term abortion. Keep in mind that these are just a few of many.
Anencephaly
Spina bifida
Hydrocephalus (this one's particularly nice; there's barely any brains, just water, and the head is massively oversized.)
Potter's syndrome
Lethal dwarfism
Holoprosencephaly
