Infanticide and Guilt By Association

January 30, 2019

One week ago (January 23rd, 2019) the government of the state of New York enacted a bill legalizing abortion all the way up to delivery and legalized leaving infants to die who survive a botched abortion. The One World Trade Center was lit up in pink to celebrate this legislation, with the morbid irony that it has a monument to all the unborn children killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Yesterday a Democratic delegate to the Virginia State Assembly defended a bill she submitted to the assembly that would allow abortion up until the moment of delivery, even if the baby is full-term and the mother is dilated.

Here is the exchange:

Gilbert: So how late in the third trimester would you be able to do that?

Tran: It’s very unfortunate that our physician witnesses were not able to attend today.

Gilbert: No, I’m talking about your bill. How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?

Tran: Or physical health.

Gilbert: Okay. I’m talking about the mental health.

Tran: Through the third trimester. The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks.

Gilbert: Okay. But to the end of the third trimester?

Tran: Yep. I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.

Gilbert: Where it’s obvious a woman is about to give birth, that she has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that be a point at which she could still request an abortion if she was so certified? She’s dilating.

Tran: Mr. Chairman, that would be a decision that the doctor, the physician, and the woman would make at that point.

Gilbert: I understand that. I’m asking if your bill allows that.

Tran: My bill would allow that, yes.

Today the Democratic governor of Virginia addressed this exchange and then advocated for post-birth abortions. Then stated that the whole discussion has been blown out of proportion. Well.

“When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician by the way. And it is done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that is non-viable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in a labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that was what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

This scenario is not what the proposed bill allows; the proposed bill allows killing the infant during delivery. The scenario presented by the governor permits the family and the physicians to allow a newborn infant to die if they have “severe deformities.” Whatever that may mean.

The Republican Party has many faults, some severe. But when racism becomes explicit in the party it gets rebuked, even if begrudgingly and perhaps inadequately. A critical difference between the GOP and the Democrats comes down this: the evil that infects the GOP is recognized as evil and is either denied to be occuring or rejected, whereas the Democrats defend and celebrate evil.

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