Brutal partial birth abortion banned and woman in Florida given right to live

October 21^st will go down in history as a banner day for life.  The United States Congress finally passed the ban against partial birth abortion and the state of Florida acted with lightning speed to protect the life of a woman who could not speak for herself.  The fight to preserve innocent life is far from over, but for the first time in many years our nation is moving in the right direction.

The ban on partial birth abortion, a practice so barbaric that describing it is more akin to a horror film than a medical procedure, has been in the works for seven years.  Passed multiple times by Congress only to be vetoed by former President Clinton the ban will finally become law following approval by Congress and a promised signature by President Bush.  Upon passage of the bill the President said, “This is very important legislation that will end an abhorrent practice and continue to build a culture of life in America.”  Opponents disagree.

Liberal women’s groups lined up to decry passage of a ban on a procedure that the vast majority of the American people see as ghoulish and wrong.  Planned Parenthood announced their intention to seek an immediate injunction against the law and Kim Gandy, the President of the National Organization for Women claimed that the ban is “a political game in which lawmakers in the pocket of the anti-abortion rights movement are using women's health and lives as the pawns to further a regressive agenda."  Luckily all women’s groups were not so suspect in the motives to outlaw killing perfectly viable children.

Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, has been supporting a ban on partial birth abortion for a decade and applauded the Congress for passing the ban and the promise from President Bush to sign it.  Sandy Rios, president of the group, said, “When people saw the pictures of this so-called medical practice they realized this was something we wouldn’t do to our puppies, but it has taken 10 years to dispel the painful lies of the abortion lobby and set the truth into law.” 

Women may be divided on the procedure, but for the first time since Roe v. Wade in 1973 the United States of America has passed a law affirming a right for children not to be brutally tortured and killed after being partially delivered from their mother’s womb.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush acted less than an hour after the Florida legislature approved a law to allow him to direct a woman be kept alive who had previously been ordered to die by a judge.  Terri Schiavo, 39, has been in the center of a battle between her husband and her parents over whether or not she should be allowed to die after being in a vegetative state since 1990.  Schiavo’s husband fought for the right to remove her feeding tube saying that his wife would not have wanted to live in a vegetative state.  Her parents, however, oppose any effort to allow their daughter to starve to death; unfortunately a judge sided with the husband.

The public outcry of allowing a woman who is seen in family videos interacting with her mother and father, but unable to verbally communicate forced the Florida legislature to intervene in the matter.  Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister, was visiting her sister after the feeding tube was removed and said, “I have to believe that somebody is doing something, somewhere to stop this judicial homicide."  Her prayers were answered as the governor of Florida intervened to stop what she accurately called murder.

Lawmakers in Florida were divided on whether or not they should become involved in the issue at all; in the end, however, the Florida Senate passed the measure 23-15 while the House voted 73-24 in favor.  Supporters of the law had mixed feelings about it, but voted in favor of life even while expressing concern, “I keep on thinking 'What if Terri didn't really want this done at all?' May God have mercy on all of us," said Senate President Jim King, a Republican.  Many Democrats said the legislature overstepped their authority by passing the law, “This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head," said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat.  Fortunately for Terri Schiavo some Democrats joined Republicans in saying that sometimes the courts are wrong and when they are the legislature must act.

"The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state," said Rep. Sandy Murman, a Republican from Tampa. "Who is protecting this girl?”

The question posed by Florida Representative Murman is one that should be asked about all issues dealing with life and death.  Schiavo didn’t have a living will or any other written directive dictating how she should be cared for in the event that doctors declared her in a vegetative state.  When family members disagree about whether to keep a person alive or to let them die, as is the case in the Schiavo family, then surely nobody would argue that life should be relegated to second place. 

It is the responsibility of government to preserve life and when there is a conflict or error to be made the error should always favor life.  Thankfully, the people of Florida, through their governor and legislature, decided that preserving the life of a woman who cannot speak for herself was more important than allowing her husband to remove her feeding tube that would result in her having to suffer a horrible death by starvation.  We don’t starve criminals or animals to death, what possesses judges and loved ones to think that starving a human being is humane?

The American people are evenly divided on the practice of abortion, but strongly agree that limitations should be placed on their frequency and availability.  Partial birth abortions are not supported by many people in the United States – mostly the militant wing of the feminist movement who don’t believe that parents should be notified if their minor child wants an abortion or that partially delivering a child and killing it in a brutal fashion is perfectly alright – and it is timely that brutal infanticide has been banned.  There should come a time in America where contraception is so fool proof that abortions will be unnecessary all together and the barbaric practice of killing children in the womb is purged from our national sensibilities.

There is nothing more precious than life and October 21^st is a day to remember, but banning partial birth abortion and keeping a woman alive who is not ready to die is just the beginning.  When a nation adopts a viewpoint that encourages people to be murdered by judicial fiat and mothers to kill their children all the while we are fighting against dictators who violate human rights we adopt a hypocritical philosophy that will one day be revealed as the duplicitous immoral wrong that it truly is.

Hopefully that day will be soon.