Saturday, April 23, 2005
Faith Based Politics in Action
Concern for fetuses but does not acknowledge hungry and sick children
The Bush Administration, always ready to side the with the pro-lifers, has issued a directive specifically formulated to appease them and to make it more difficult for women seeking abortion as well as the physicians involved in the procedure. There is a strange disconnect between the Department of Health & Human Services' concern for fetuses and its callousness about children who need food, medicine and clothing to survive.
"David Grimes, a licensed obstetrician/gynecologist who previously worked for the abortion surveillance division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the act and Friday's instructions were medically unnecessary.
"I don't see this as a big issue. Physicians are going to do what's appropriate," said Grimes, who now practices in North Carolina. "It's all rhetoric from persons with political views they want to advance."
He said the act's definition of alive is "silly," given that it implies a fetus miscarried at 14 or 16 weeks "with no chance of survival" would be legally identified as a living person. Most medical experts agree that a fetus delivered prior to 23 weeks has little chance of survival, he said."
Link:
Politics of Fetuses
The Bush Administration, always ready to side the with the pro-lifers, has issued a directive specifically formulated to appease them and to make it more difficult for women seeking abortion as well as the physicians involved in the procedure. There is a strange disconnect between the Department of Health & Human Services' concern for fetuses and its callousness about children who need food, medicine and clothing to survive.
"David Grimes, a licensed obstetrician/gynecologist who previously worked for the abortion surveillance division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the act and Friday's instructions were medically unnecessary.
"I don't see this as a big issue. Physicians are going to do what's appropriate," said Grimes, who now practices in North Carolina. "It's all rhetoric from persons with political views they want to advance."
He said the act's definition of alive is "silly," given that it implies a fetus miscarried at 14 or 16 weeks "with no chance of survival" would be legally identified as a living person. Most medical experts agree that a fetus delivered prior to 23 weeks has little chance of survival, he said."
Link:
Politics of Fetuses
