So it’s as ridiculous as a war on caterpillars? Now this story has surfaced:
Nebraska’s new abortion law forced one woman to give birth to her terminally ill, premature baby who she then helplessly held dying in her arms.
Danielle Deaver gave birth to one pound, ten ounce Elizabeth last December and could do nothing but hold and comfort the baby with her husband, Robb, as the newborn struggled to breath and died fifteen agonizing minutes later.
Deaver rushed to hospital when her waters broke at only 22 weeks into the pregnancy but doctors told the couple that their baby had almost no chance of surviving.
They explained that a lack of fluid would cause muscle tissues to shorten, affecting the baby’s developing lungs. They would likely never develop beyond the 22-week point and the baby would not be able to breathe.
With this heartbreaking information the couple decided to have an abortion to avoid the baby going through any pain.
However a new law in Nebraska, the only one of its kind in America, bars abortion at 20 weeks except in specific situations when the mother’s life is in immediate danger….
…Julie Schmit-Albin, who heads Nebraska Right to Life, believes the tragic outcome was still better than an abortion.
‘We acknowledge the tragedy that occurs with a poor prenatal diagnosis for the baby. But isn’t it more humane for the baby to die in a loving manner with comfort care and in the arms of her parents than by the intentional painful death through abortion?’
Deaver believes that such a decision should belong to her and her husband.
‘It was very frustrating and added to our grief because the waiting compounded everything,’ she said.
People on both sides will debate this and the always controversial issue of abortion itself, but herein is the problem for the GOP:
Sooner or later one of the major newspapers will do a story collecting all of the impacts of women being on the short end of the stick due to new in laws passed by Republican legislatures, signed by some Republican governors, and policies advocated by some Republican candidates. This will be a problem for the party in 2012. It’s clear now in elections that many Democrats will just vote for any Democrat, many Republicans will just for any Republican and the battle is over independent, voters, which is not a monolithic vote.
Once the media starts collecting the impacts of some of these law changes, Republicans will be on the defensive since many of these impacts will not be good news stories.
It is not a partisan issue. It’s an issue about laws and policies seemingly targeting one segment of America — laws that could have or already have an adverse impact on this segment of America.
I suspect some GOPers will be vocal — as we’re already starting to see happen:
The men in the Republican Party may not think they’re fighting a “war on women,” but its female senators certainly do. Yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Kay Bailey Hutchison in criticizing the GOP’s push for legislation to restrict access to contraception and other basic health care services:
“It makes no sense to make this attack on women,” she said at a local Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “If you don’t feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters.
Someone needs to let these three know that this is all a media and Democratic Party manufactured narrative — as crazy as talking about a war on caterpillars or Rush Limbaugh demonizing a female law student for three days.. .
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.