Tag: Abortion

French Appeals Court Rules Driver Can’t Be Charged With Killing Pregnant Woman’s Fetus

A French appeals court ruled in February that a driver who caused the death of a pregnant woman and the fetus she was carrying cannot be charged with two counts of manslaughter in the accident.

In October 2003, a van driven by Kevin Germon, 30, struck a car that Florinda Braganca, 34, was riding in. Braganca, who was 22 weeks pregnant, was killed instantly.

Germon was sentenced to one year in jail for his role in the accident, but prosecutors sought to charge him in the death of the 22-week-old fetus as well. They argued that the law should recognize that the fetus was “a human being from the moment of conception.”

But the appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that the fetus could not be considered a crime victim, barring prosecution of Germon on a possible second manslaughter charge.

The oddest thing about this case is the relatively short sentence Germon received for killing Braganca, especially given that drug tests found cannabis in his system at the time of the accident.

Sources:

French unborn death ‘not a crime’. The BBC, February 17, 2005.

French court rejects ‘homicide’ of unborn foetus. Agence France Presse, February 17, 2005.

Virginia House Approves Bill that Would Further Regulate Abortion Clinics

As I’ve said before the best hope for success that those opposed to abortion might have is to regulate abortion clinics to death. Numerous superfluous regulations of businesses have been upheld by courts, and pro-lifers could turn the tables on abortion rights advocates by hiding their anti-abortion views behind a patina of ridiculous regulation. Virginia’s legislature is in the process of doing just that.

In February, the Virginia House of Delegates passed House Bill 2784 which would impose a number of new regulations on abortion clinics. Essentially the bill would require abortion clinics that do more than a very small number of abortions to be licensed under the same rules as hospitals, which would likely force clinics to do expensive remodeling and renovation that few could likely afford.

Supporters of the bill, such as state Rep. John Reid know how to talk the safety regulation talk. Reid told the Richmond Times-Dispatch,

If we are going to have legal abortion in the state of Virginia, we have the responsibility to see that they are performed in as sterile and as safe an environment as possible.

Is this guy a Republican representative or a Public Citizen representative? You can almost see the book coming . . .”Abortion: Unsafe At Any Speed.”

Previous such bills passed by the Virginia House have gone nowhere in the Virginia Senate, however, so abortion clinics are unlikely to face such regulations this year.

The full text of HB 2784 can be read here.

Sources:

VA House Advances Bill that Aims to Close Abortion Clinics. Feminist Daily News Wire, February 1, 2005.

China’s Population Surpasses 1.3 Billion

In January, China’s population officially passed the 1.3 billion mark according to that country.

Oddly enough, China state-run news media used the birth of the 1.3 billion child to trumpet the success of the one-child policy. But, all things considered, the one-child policy has been an abject failure. It did little to slow China’s population growth — most of the decline in China’s birth rate occurred before the one-child policy was instituted, and the birth rate actually briefly increased after the one-child policy was introduced. Certainly other nations in Europe and Asia have demonstrated that very low birth rates can be achieved without such Draconian measures.

Even China’s state-run media makes very modest claims for the one-child policy, claiming that without the one child policy reaching the 1.3 billion mark would have occurred in 2001 rather than 2005. A typically inefficient policy for the Communist state.

The major effect of the one-child policy has, however, been the highly skewed sex ratio. Currently about 120 boys are born in China for every 100 girls — an astoundingly high imbalance that will likely cause severe social shocks and problems. The one-child policy helped exacerbate this imbalance by giving urban residents an incentive to abort female fetuses.

China could have achieved much more rapid economic growth and lower population growth if the dictatorial Communist Party had simply tried a little more freedom instead of micromanaging the lives of its subjects.

China’s population is not expected to continue to grow much longer. Although demographics mean that it will continue to grow even with very low birth rates, China’s population is expected to top off at 1.46 billion sometime in the 2030s.

Source:

China’s population passes 1.3bn. The BBC, January 6, 2005.

Policy Comes of Age as Population Hits 1.3 Billion. Press Release, Family Planning Commission of China, January 6, 2005.

China’s population reaches 1.3 billion. Associated Press, January 6, 2005.

The VP Debate and Abortion

Watched the vice-presidential debate last night. As far as I’m concerned, Dick Cheney’s the only one of the four people involved in the race who would actually make a decent president. He obviously has a much better command of the issues than Bush, and his conservatism is far more libertarian than Bush’s.

Just an observation — I’m subscribed to a bunch of feminist/pro-abortion mailing lists, and I keep receiving press releases about how if Bush wins its the end of legal abortion in the United States, but it’s really odd that the abortion issue hasn’t yet really come up at all. I’m pro-abortion, but I think the anti-abortion movement has really done an amazing job transforming the issue and moving the terms of the debate to areas that are far more friendly to it (such as the whole “partial birth” abortion controversy).

Part of the problem, IMO, is that pro-abortion groups are so far to the Left that their message alienates moderates and libertarian oriented conservatives who might otherwise be more receptive to their message.

U.S. Withholds $34 Million from the UN Population Fund

The United States this month announced it would withhold $34 million allocated to the United Nations Population Fund for the third year in a row.

Under the provisions that the UN Population Fund money is allocated, it cannot be given to the agency if the State Department determines that there is a direct link between the UNPF and China’s practice of coercive abortion as part of its one child policy.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said of the withheld funds,

These Chinese programs have penalties that amount to coercion. THerefore we feel, by funding these programs, we would be indirectly helping the Chinese to improve their management of programs that result in coercive abortion, and that’s prohibited by our law.

Sources:

US cuts UN funds in abortion row. Jill McGivering, The BBC, July 17, 2004.

U.S. Blocks Aid to U.N. Population Fund. Barry Schweid, Associated Press, July 16, 2004.

Population Action International: U.S. Abortion Gag Rule Undermines Health Care Around the World

Population Action International released a report in September charging that the U.S.’s global gag rule on abortion is undermining health care efforts in a number of countries. The gag rule bars any monies being given to family planning agencies that performs abortions or offers abortion counseling.

According to a press release from Population Action International announcing its report,

Conducted by a coalition of reproductive health care organizations, the study documents the effects of the Global Gag Rule in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, and Romania. Health services have been scaled back and closings of reproductive health clinics have left some communities with no health care provider. Because of the gag rule, many family planning organizations have been cut off from supplies of USAID contraceptives, including condoms. Public health evidence shows that lack of contraception leads to an increase in unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.

Population Action International cites the case of a clinic in Mathare Valley, Kenya, which had to shut down after the global gag rule was reinstituted. According to the report, this left 300,000 people in the Mathare Valley with no access to health care.

Similarly, the report found that after Lesotho refused to abide by the gag rule provisions, USAID refused to donate any condoms or other contraceptives to that nation. About a quarter of Lesotho’s population is HIV positive and USAID had been sending more than 100,000 condoms annually to the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association.

Amy Coen, president of Population Action International, said in a press release, “The Global Gag Rule is yet another example of how the Bush Administration is allowing political ideology to trump science. The policy shows no respect for scientific evidence and proven public health practices, and no compassion for the millions of women around the world engaged in a daily struggle for existence.”

The full report is available here.

Sources:

US abortion rule ‘hits Africa women’. The BBC, September 25, 2003.

Bush AdministrationÂ’s Global Gag Rule Jeopardizing Health Care, Weakening HIV/AIDS Prevention and Endangering Lives. Population Action International, September 24, 2003.