Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
Light posting today, but I wanted to throw in this quote from the Concord Moniter regarding Senator Sam Brownback’s comments about fetuses with Down’s Syndrome:
Hassan commented also on the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. She pointed specifically to a comment from Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, who opposes abortion, saying 80 to 90 percent of fetuses found to have Down syndrome would be aborted this year.
“It is not Roe vs. Wade that is creating that problem,” Hassan said. “It is a world, instead, that does not support people with disabilities.
Hassan said she has a child with severe disabilities and can relate to concerns over whether a child would have the health coverage, educational support, homecare and social services necessary for someone with Down syndrome. To those legislators who cut those programs and also vote against abortion, Hassan said, “show me that you support a culture of life.”
For me, that is the crux of the problem. All too often, republicans care about what happens before birth much more than what happens after birth. Personally, I don’t like the idea of abortion. I don’t think anyone does. We should do all we can to prevent a woman from ever having to be in the position to consider having an abortion.
Birth control should be free and availble to kids along with comprehensive sex education at a young age. The more unwanted pregnancies we prevent the less abortions will occur.
Pre-natal care should be free as well as comprehensive health coverage for the mother and the child after birth. No one should have to wonder whether they can afford to have a baby. For that matter, no one should have to wonder whether they can afford any sort of medical coverage, but that is another debate entirely.
Vote against Pre and post natal care, vote against education, vote against birth control and sex education? Don’t give me crap about a culture of life.
[powered by WordPress.]
Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
I am a student of political science at the University of Kansas. Contact me with any questions, comments or tips.
21 queries. 0.330 seconds
January 20th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Nate,
Your comment about Republicans (I assume you also mean, conservatives and Christians) not caring about what happens to women and their babies after birth is plain wrong. Your statement is unfair and unsupported by the facts. In virtually every part of the US there are abortion alternative centers that provide free counseling and free material and human resources to pregnant women. I have read that there are more pro-life help-giving centers (3000+ actually) than there are pro-life education and political action centers. And there are more abortion alternative centers in the US than there are abortion clinics. I have seen first-hand that these centers provide free prenatal care, free clothing, baby clothes, furnishings, and other help to women in need. Pro-life families often give free room and board as well as love and support to women in need. Pro-life doctors often volunteer no-cost medical help and pro-life lawyers donate legal aid to help with adoptions, when this is a woman’s choice. Single mother support groups and childcare are offered.
“Comprehensive” sex ed and contraception are not solutions to stemming the demand for abortion. The cause of unwanted pregnancies is not the absence of birth control, rather it is the presence of sexual activity, esp. among teenagers. Even with the wide availability of birth control over the last 30 years the teen pregnancy rate has skyrocketed and the abortion rate is nowhere near the levels prior to the Roe and Doe SCOTUS decisions in 1973. Contraception facilitates the kind of relationships and even the kind of attitudes and moral characters that are likely to lead to abortion.
All women and their babies have access to healthcare. To state otherwise, again is just untrue. This care is available via public hospitals, clinics, bad-debt pools and other provisions. More can be done, yes, but to state that healthcare is not available and thus abortion is justified is just wrong.
As for Sen Brownback’s statement about Down syndrome babies being aborted it is interesting to note that he is sponsoring legislation with Sen Kennedy, yes, Sen Kennedy, dealing with the issue of prenatal conditions. The Brownback-Kennedy Prenatally Diagnosed Condition Awareness Act ensures that pregnant women facing a positive prenatal test result will be more likely to receive up-to-date, scientific information about the life expectancy, clinical course, intellectual and functional development, and prenatal and postnatal treatment options for their child. Kind of doesn’t fit your “Brownback doesn’t care” argument does it? I’m sure you’ll keep digging though.
January 20th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
“Contraception facilitates the kind of relationships and even the kind of attitudes and moral characters that are likely to lead to abortion.”
So you are in favor of the government legislating morality? That’s a slippery slope. Who decides what is moral. All too many people would consider the tenants of the Christian faith to be a standard of morality. Leviticus says not to braid hair or eat shellfish… should that become law?
Additionally, any anti-choice activist who does not support increased availability of birth control and sex education is simply promoting a religious order on government. I can sympathize with those who have a legitimate moral problem with abortion and truly want to reduce the need for it. As I said in the post, I don’t like it and I would like to reduce the need for it in society. Birth control access and sex education are essential in that quest. To be anti-choice and decry them is hypocritical.
“All women and their babies have access to healthcare. To state otherwise, again is just untrue.”
Now Vid, don’t twist my words around. I never said they didn’t have access to it. I only said that it should be made affordable. Would you contest the statement that healthcare for people without insurance (but being a responsible citizen and working) is atrociously expensive? Having a child is extremely expensive, and I think it should be absolutely free. Why do you have a problem with that?
Oh, and where did I say “Brownback doesn’t care”? I don’t see it in my original post. Nor is it in my response. Making up supposed statements doesn’t assist your cause.
I happen to agree that Women who receive an amniocentesis should receive an up to date and scientifically accurate assessment about the fetus’s chances for survival. Women should always receive scientifically accurate information about their health. For example, the crap that anti-choice activists always spout about abortion and breast cancer is completely untrue. Study after study has shown it to be nothing but a scare tactic.
January 21st, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Laws against murder, theft, perjury, adultery (in the military) are all forms of legislating morality Nate. Abortion, SSM, ESCR, human cloning are just a few more. Where is the evidence that contraception leads to fewer abortions? It’s not there. I’m not being hypocritical, I’m being honest. You are assuming too much here about the “wonders” of contraception.
The “Brownback doesn’t care” argument is one you have made in other posts and the jist of the one above is the same as the others. If Brownback cared then he would be for all the “health coverage, educational support, homecare and social services necessary for someone with Down syndrome”, right? You indirectly tie the senator in with Ms. Hassan’s comments. You do not believe that he truly cares about the unborn, it’s just about becoming President. Why all of a sudden do you try to deny it?