So, since Texas passed the recent bill in regards to abortions and abortion clinics, it seems like everyone keeps talking about the clinics that will be closing and how this restricts women's choice and health options.
I sit here and read these claims and think to myself, so why are they really closing? The MSM likes to keep claiming they are closing because of the ban on 20+ week abortions. The clinics claim that Texas is anti-woman and anti-choice. The pro-abortion (I won't call them pro-choice) crowd says to leave their bodies alone and to let them have the choice. Others try to use Roe v. Wade to say that the state can't do this.
Well - - - - -
I call the droppings of a male of the bovine species on all of these claims!
According to the CDC's Abortion Surveillance report from 2009, Texas had 77,603 abortions performed in which weeks of gestation were known. Of these, only 435, or 0.6%, were after 20 weeks of gestation. Yes, you read right, barely half of one percent of all abortions in the state of Texas during 2009 were after 20 weeks of gestation!
Nationally, from that same report, there were a total of 558,792 abortions where the weeks of gestation were known (out of the known count of 784,507.) Of those abortions, 7,206, or 1.3% were after 20 weeks of gestation.
So, the state of Texas, on average, is under 1% of abortions where the gestational period is known, and less than half of the national average. The excuse that clinics have to close because of the 20 week ban is patently ridiculous given these numbers.
As for Texas being anti-choice, the state had 77,603 abortions out of the reported 784,507, or 9.89% of all abortions performed in the United States in 2009. There population in 2010 by U.S. Census Bureau's estimate was roughly 25 million, versus U.S. population at 309 million, meaning that Texas had approximately 8.09% of the U.S. population in 2010. With an abortion percentage higher than their population, obviously abortions are well available to the residents of Texas and visitors.
The Roe v. Wade excuse is not a good one either as the Supreme Court themselves in the decision stated that the right to do with one's body what you will is not an absolute right, and that the state does have interests that they have a right to regulate abortion based on:
"appellant and some amici argue that the woman's right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses. With this we do not agree. Appellant's arguments that Texas either has no valid interest at all in regulating the abortion decision, or no interest strong enough to support any limitation upon the woman's sole determination, are unpersuasive. The Court's decisions recognizing a right of privacy also acknowledge that some state regulation in areas protected by that right is appropriate. As noted above, a State may properly assert important interests in safeguarding health, in maintaining medical standards, and in protecting potential life. At some point in pregnancy, these respective interests become sufficiently compelling to sustain regulation of the factors that govern the abortion decision. The privacy right involved, therefore, cannot be said to be absolute. In fact, it is not clear to us that the claim asserted by some amici that one has an unlimited right to do with one's body as one pleases bears a close relationship to the right of privacy previously articulated in the Court's decisions. The Court has refused to recognize an unlimited right of this kind in the past." Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113, 153.
This is the portion of the Roe v. Wade decision that leads to the state of Texas being allowed to put a ban on abortions over 20 weeks of gestation, and to impose on the clinics the medical standards normally applicable to facilities that provide surgeries. And let's not be dissuaded here, abortion is a surgery more often than not. According to the CDC Abortion Surveillance report, linked above, among states that report the procedure used for abortion, 82.3% were by currettage (surgical procedure) versus the remainder being by non-surgical procedures.
Any state that would NOT require physician's and facilities to meet their own standards for surgical facilities and licensing are doing a disservice to the community and to the very women that everyone wants to protect. Without proper facilities, procedures, and inspections, these abortions clinics are not guaranteed to be any better than the back alley abortions that everyone wanted to get rid of after Roe v. Wade was decided.
There are other claims made regarding the cost of abortions, the income level of the mother, and that by the time they save enough to pay for an abortion, they have moved into another gestational period requiring more money (Media Matters), yet these very people are the ones that the Democrats and Liberals rely upon for their continued existence in politics. The poor that rely on government assistance. By continuing to support these people at a level that is not sufficient to take care of a family, they continue the cycle of abortion and poverty that they get stuck in. Why aren't Democrats working on reducing unwanted pregnancies amongst the poor, instead of supporting more and more access to abortions that the very people they are trying to "help" can't afford?
I would love to see the actual reasons for 20+ week abortions, rather than anecdotal claims by a few that these are necessary, ProLife OB/GYNs have a good article showing that not every claimed reason for a 20+ week abortion is valid, and many can be mitigated. The actual number of late term abortions are not well identified to the actual reason, and the ProLife group's article leads me to believe that many of these are from mis-informed or under-informed doctor's or misleading interpretation of the results of testing done during the pregnancy.
I conclusion, if the clinics want to continue to claim that the reason for their closing is because of the 20-week ban, they are being quite untruthful. The real reason for their closing is that they don't want to pay to upgrade their facilities to meet the state's standards for surgical facilities and to provide proper medical care to the women seeking abortions. With 20+ week abortions being only 0.6% of their business, they aren't losing enough revenues to justify closing for that reason. It is all about the level of care they would be required to provide, and not about anything else They want to continue on with the level of care they currently provide, in facilities that may very well be below the level needed for reasonable care of the patients.
Amendment Guy
Twitter @amendment_guy
No comments:
Post a Comment