BCT Editorial – 4/22/07

This page was last updated on April 23, 2007.

Shades of gray; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 22, 2007.

When I wrote this critique, the subject editorial was not posted on the Times website. As a result, rather than do a point-by-point critique (requiring me to transcribe the entire editorial), I’ll stick to a couple of points.

One point of concern in the editorial was the allegation the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act provides no exception for the health of the mother. There are two problems with this.

First, during the hearings before the bill was passed, medical witness after witness testified that a partial birth abortion was never medically necessary. Even some otherwise pro-abortion witnesses supported that assessment. Whether or not you accept “never” as correct, the testimony was clear this is not a procedure condoned by the vast majority of the medical community. I’m no doctor so I can’t make an independent medical assessment of the procedure.

Second, allowing exceptions for the alleged health of the mother and leaving the decision to the “woman and her doctor” as advocated by the editorial means a loophole big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through. Effectively, such an exception would render the ban useless.