Life Links 7/18/13

I would suggest women stay far away from Jessy Jordan Holtzkamp if he ever gets out of prison.

From Pierce County Jail

Holtzkamp, a second-year high school senior, told an officer he was too young to be a father and wanted the unborn child to be aborted or not be born alive, according to the complaint.

When the officer told Holtzkamp his situation would be worsened if Alters-Meulemans suffered a miscarriage, he replied, "Why I wanted that to happen; I would love for that to happen," according to the complaint.

After he was advised he was being booked into jail on suspicion of attempted first-degree homicide of an unborn child, Holtzkamp "started making himself out to be a celebrity, stating, 'We got a murderer up in here,' " and then started singing a song about killing the baby, the complaint states.

When an officer asked him if he felt any remorse for trying to kill the fetus, he replied, "Hell naw," according to the complaint. 

Mary Kate Cary on legislation to regulate abortion clinics like surgical facilities. 

What does having a doorway 32 inches wide have to do with having a safe abortion? Not a thing, say abortion rights advocates. In fact, they argue that state restrictions on abortion clinics are arbitrary, cosmetic and aimed at ending women's access to reproductive health care services. But that 32-inch rule isn't from out of the blue: it is in the Life Safety Code (LSC), which is now part of the U.S. Code and was originally written by the National Fire Protection Association. The LSC regulates everything from exit signs to sprinklers to revolving doors to elevators – you name it – in day care centers, health clinics, hotels, schools, prisons, businesses and homes across America. Alabama's latest abortion law, for example, doesn't mention 32-inch doors anywhere; it simply says abortion clinics must abide by the LSC.

And so when I read that several states have required abortion clinics to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers – with doorways wide enough for ambulance gurneys, in case things go wrong – that didn't strike me as "extremist" or a "war on women." It struck me as common sense. I've been in a situation where a gurney couldn't fit through a door to help save someone who was dying, and it was horrendous. It's also common sense to have nurses on duty, a safe blood supply, and a hospital within 30 miles. Having a doctor with hospital admitting privileges, so there won't be an hourslong wait in the emergency room, seems like a good idea too.
   

Former rock singer and bass player Suzi Quarto still thinks about her abortion after more than 40 years.

The former rocker fell pregnant shortly after striking up an affair with a married man at the age of 18, and she decided not to keep the baby.....

"I would have loved to have had that baby. Not a year goes by when I don't think about it - what that child would be like, how old they would be," she told Britain's Daily Mail.