. . . has now taken possession of my uterus.

I'll send them codeine to go along with it for the cramps that used to occur monthly, and now take place whenever my body decides on them . . .

I would have been down with those who insisted that there be an exception for the preservation of a woman's health, if I didn't know from first-hand experience that "health" is interpreted to mean "mental health," and "mental health" is generally regarded—within certain segments of the health-care community—as "not having given birth to a child one didn't plan to conceive."

Had the phrase been "physical health," I would have felt better about the insistence on including that language. As it is, Kennedy essentially invited that modification:

Kennedy acknowledged continuing disagreement about the procedure within the medical community. In the past, courts have cited that uncertainty as a reason to allow the disputed procedure.

"The medical uncertainty over whether the Act's prohibition creates significant health risks provides a sufficient basis to conclude ... that the Act does not impose an undue burden," Kennedy said Wednesday.

While the court upheld the law against a broad attack on its constitutionality, Kennedy said the court could entertain a challenge in which a doctor found it necessary to perform the banned procedure on a patient suffering certain medical complications.

The law allows the procedure to be performed when a woman's life is in jeopardy.

This should be interesting to watch. I wonder whether it'll make a difference as a practical matter: there really are those to whom the "right" to terminate a pregnancy is as essential to human existence as oxygen and fresh water.

I do think abortion should remain nominally legal, but it's way too widespread and casually-undertaken right now. In fact, the major abuses all go the other way: young women get buffaloed into this major procedure, without any counseling about how it will affect them for the rest of their lives.

If I'd heard anyone say that when I was 20, I would have laughed and said they were merely being sentimental.

I know better now.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:52 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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