Thursday, May 29, 2008

“A little bitter, eh?”

That’s what I thought after reading this RH Reality Check post by Alexa Stanard on the passage of the partial-birth abortion ban in the Michigan House. What I truly love is the contradictory arguments against the ban. On one hand, the legislation is horribly cruel because it doesn’t have a health of the mother exception and supposedly is worded so loosely it could apply to different second trimester abortion procedures. On the other hand, the legislation is worthless because it mirrors the federal legislation.

Notice how Stanard never says what the final vote tally was. She notes that “Thirty-two legislators were brave enough to stand their ground and not cave into manipulative political maneuvering” but fails to note how 74 legislators including around 20 Democrats in the Michigan House voted in favor of the ban.

Stanard also laments the time the legislators spent on the bill as if her pro-choice standard bearers weren’t the sole cause of this waste of time. Legislation which passes with 74 votes (out of 110 seats) isn’t legislation which takes a long time to pass unless those opposed to it try to stop it from getting a vote.

No comments:

Post a Comment