THE ABORTION wars are raging anew on the American domestic front. And the latest fuel to flame the fire is the controversy over what is commonly known as partial-birth abortion. The GOP-controlled Congress recently passed legislation banning the procedure and, of course, the pro-choice lobbyists were immediately up in arms with their holy trinity of abortion defenses: The safety of women, the horrible consequences of rape and the fear of returning to the dark days of back alley doctors.
None of these defenses, though, is a valuable argument for the defense of partial-birth abortion -- nor are they even completely accurate.
So what exactly is "partial-birth abortion," medically known as intact dilatation and extraction? The procedure, performed in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, consists of first forcing a woman's cervix to dilate and then rotating the fetus to a footling breech position. The baby is then brought out of the uterus, just like in real childbirth only feet first. The base of the baby's skull is then punctured so that the head collapses. Usually then, the contents of the skull are suctioned out enough so that the head can easily pass through the cervix.
If it sounds gruesome, that's only because it is. Not only that -- it's not a viable solution when a pregnant woman's health is in danger. Research, backed up by the liberal American Medical Association, shows that it is safer for a woman that late in her term to continue the pregnancy to the end and deliver by caesarian than to undergo the partial-birth abortion. There is no reason that a partial-birth abortion would ever be performed for the sake of the health of the mother.
Secondly, pro-choicers constantly plead about the horrible plight of raped women faced then with an unwanted, traumatic pregnancy. It's unquestionable that rape is one of the greatest offenses to a human being, if not the greatest besides murder. Regardless, though, rape does not vindicate the gruesome death of a child.
Nor is it even a feasible argument in the left's vain attempt to justify partial-birth abortion. First, any woman who reports to a hospital following a rape is immediately offered the option of a morning-after pill that will kill any chances of conception. Even those that do not report their assault still have the option of the pill at various anonymous treatment centers such as Planned Parenthood. The options are so numerous and so readily available that rape is a non-issue when it comes to the partial-birth abortion.
Furthermore, rape is the cause of only one percent of all abortions in America (http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html). One percent -- that's absolutely nothing. Yes, for those women that had to endure the horrors of rape and then the further insult of pregnancy, that one percent is everything. But in the grand scheme of political policy and protecting the sanctity of life, that one percent is not substantial enough to justify the slaughter of thousands.
So if rape and the mother's health don't make partial-birth abortion acceptable, at least pro-choice advocates still have that tired and true argument of the danger women are put in when abortions are not readily available to them. It has been argued over and over that doing away with partial birth abortion is the first step in the overall reversal of Roe V. Wade and a return to the gory days of women trying home made abortions and "doctors" injuring, even killing, girls wishing to terminate their pregnancies illegally.
While women should never again have to face the ghastliness and utter loneliness of backroom abortions, it really is not even a very plausible outcome in today's society.
Women who seek abortions out of shame and fear of reprisal are not nearly as prominent in today's society as thirty years ago. A pregnant teen, an unwed mother -- these are no longer pariahs of society but everyday characters in the changing moral landscape of America. Girls are no longer shipped off to boarding schools for the unwed, because while some may feel the wrath of their parents' embarrassment over a teen pregnancy, it's become so commonplace that it's rare when it's even noticed that a child is born out of wedlock.
Without the fear of reprisal from family and society, it is hard to imagine that any woman would subject themselves to the gross travesties of a backroom abortion.
More importantly, however, it's even harder to imagine that partial- birth abortion is indeed a stepping stone to an all-out ban on abortions. Americans as of late are unwilling to defend their own values and beliefs in a constant fear of offending others or being labeled as close-minded.
With such a charged and sensitive issue as abortion, it's doubtful many Americans will actually stand up and defend their beliefs or that all three branches of government will in fact agree to the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The fear of a return to the dark days of abortions is completely moot if in fact only one type of abortion is banned.
The big picture regarding abortion, however, remains. The ban on the partial-birth abortion only offers salvation to a small percentage of those killed every year.
The pro-choicers of America still have several choices open to them. Having sex is a choice. Using proper contraception is a choice. Adoption is a choice. Life is full of choices -- but ending life never should be one of those.
(Maggie Bowden is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at mbowden@cavalierdaily.com.)
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