1. The vast majority of abortions take place early in pregnancy. “Only 1.5% of abortions occur after 21 weeks of pregnancy,” notes Vanessa Valenti at Feministing. She’s right. Women and clinics deserve credit for acting earlier and keeping that number down. Still, 1.5 percent of 1.2 million abortions per year is 18,000 very late abortions. How long should the abortion decision clock be allowed to run?…
5. The Gosnell case isn’t about abortion. Several bloggers make this claim. Most argue that since Gosnell induced delivery before killing the babies, what he did wasn’t abortion. But this doesn’t affect the question of gestational age. The grand jury report alleges hundreds of cases in which women came to Gosnell for abortions beyond 24 weeks. One way or another, they wanted their pregnancies terminated. Should these requests have been honored?
6. If late-term abortions are outlawed, only outlaws will do late-term abortions. That’s the quip headline (almost) on Amanda Hess’ blog post at TBD. It’s true that abortion laws make back-alley butchers like Gosnell more likely. But the same argument has been made about female genital mutilation: If you don’t let parents obtain it legally, they’ll go to unlicensed underground practitioners. Is there some point at which a decent society must simply forbid a practice? If killing a viable fetus—a baby that no longer needs a womb to survive—isn’t such a practice, what is?
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