Exercising Your Constitutional Rights
One of my friends got on a bus last night about 10, and is in our nation's capial today exercising his Constitutional right to protest and lobby the government. I'll be watching the on-line news to see how it's all reported. I suspect that there will be more people than the anti-war protest on Saturday. I also suspect that there will not be any windows smashed, and the amount of litter will probably be less. And the nudity, too.
I admit to not being smart enough to wrap my brain around the entire abortion issue. It seems to me that things have gone too far for the pro-abortion folks. I am totally anti-abortion but I recognize that for the foreseeable future it isn't going away. So, here are the two problems I have the most trouble with:
We're taught as EMT's that babies can survive from about the 22nd week on. To me, that would be the appropriate upper limit for abortions. The ability to abort a baby should end when that baby could survive outside the womb. The sad thing is, and it sent me from the classroom in tears, babies under 22 weeks will look like tiny, normal infants, cry, move, and die because their lungs aren't developed enough. We were taught to let the parents hold such an infant until it passed, to give them closure and comfort. I'm not sure I could do that. I think I'd have to work the resuscitation, as fruitless as it might be. I guess that means for me that the upper age for abortion should probably be when the infant is still clearly not a baby.
The other thing that bugs the heck out of me is the whole minor notification issue. A twelve year old girl can have an abortion, a surgical procedure, and her parents don't have to give permission, nor do they have the right to be notified. She can't legally get her ears pierced, but she can have a procedure that has a significant physical risk to it, as well as a psychological risk. That just isn't right. The governement isn't going to look out for the wellbeing of that minor, and the parents can't know. So, who helps that child?
OK, there is a third problem, but I've been nearly pus*ywhipped out of it. If a guy can get wacked for child support at any time after a child is born. And if a guy can get wacked for child support even when the child is demonstrated not to be his by DNA (as just happened in California). And if a sperm donor to a lesbian couple can get wacked for child support. How come fathers have no say in the abortion decision? Because, you know what, if a woman is the sole person able to choose whether or not to have a child, fairness suggests that she then assume the sole responsibility for that child. But I'm whipped and so I won't suggest anything of the sort. Anyway, they're marching. God bless.
