By Mary Lou Greenberg, 4/18/07
“I consider the Supreme Court Ban on one type of abortion
procedure to be an annexation of Women’s Wombs by the U. S
Government and as such should be viewed by all people of conscience as an act
of war against women.”-Merle Hoffman,
founder, Choices Women’s MedicalCenter, Queens NY on
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Wednesday’s Supreme Court Decision is a horror for
women and everyone who cares about the future!
One of the most disastrous and cruel rulings ever issued by
the U.S. Supreme Court came down Wednesday morning, April 18th. This will affect the ability of women across
the country to get safe abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and has dire
implications for the continuing legality and accessibility of abortion for all
women.
In opposition to its own previous rulings, the Supreme Court
upheld the Federal Abortion Ban – passed by Congress and signed by Bush in 2003
but unenforceable until now – that outlaws a particular surgical procedure used
after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (the first trimester) and threatens
doctors with two years in federal prison if they are convicted of performing
it, even if they think it is necessary to preserve the woman’s health! This is the first time any abortion
restriction, and there are many, does not contain a health exception and the
very first time Congress has seen fit to judge the legitimacy and necessity for
any medical procedure.
The procedure, intact dilation and extraction (called
“partial-birth abortion” by anti-choice fanatics who made up this
totally un-scientific name to play on people’s emotions), is considered by some
doctors to be safest for some women in the second and third trimesters of
pregnancy. In addition, the law is
written so vaguely that it could be used to ban the most common abortion procedure
used for women after the first trimester. While over 90 percent of abortions are done in
the first trimester, this law is a disaster for the other 10 percent, as well
as having ominous implications for all women of childbearing age.
It will have a chilling effect on physicians who perform
abortion and gives the green light to states to pass additional abortion
restrictions. It is a major victory for
those who want to outlaw all abortions and even birth control, and force women
to bear children against their will.
We are seeing in this ruling the fruits of the Democratic
Party leadership’s decision not to filibuster to block the appointments of
Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court last year, and the expressed desire of
the same leadership – and too many others – to find “common ground with
fascists and religious fanatics,” to quote from the Call for The World
Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime. Nancy
Pelosi said the Democrats would bring a new “civility” to
government. But for anyone to promote
“civility” in the face of this fascistic court decision that raises
to a new hideous level attacks on women’s basic right to control their own
reproduction, is to be complicit.
While attacks on women’s reproductive rights did not begin
with the Bush regime, they have reached new heights under it. The Federal Abortion Ban presents one more
urgent necessity to drive out the Bush regime this year and reverse the whole
horrendous direction of things!