In the third and final U.S. presidential debate of 2016, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump discuss their stances regarding the landmark 1973 supreme court case, Roe v. Wade.
The National Review blog post by Alexandra DeSanctis, shortsightedly discredits Hillary Clinton's defense of the supreme court decision in Roe v. Wade, in spite of the fact that the U.S. court system has upheld Roe v. Wade in hundreds and hundreds of legal challenges over the last 43 years. DeSanctis makes the argument that democrats defend a woman's right to make health choices for her own body over the rights of citizens not yet born. She claims the partial birth citizen has more of a right to life than the woman giving birth, whose life may be endangered by the pregnancy. DeSanctis justifies defunding Planned Parenthood (PP) because their clinics might offer this option to women even though, less than 3% of Planned Parenthood funding pays for abortions. The other 97% of PP funding goes to pay for STIs/STDs testing/medication, contraception, cancer screenings and other women's health and family planning services.
Clinton argues women have the right to make their own health care choices in private discussions with their own doctors and families without the government interfering. She appropriately acknowledges these as difficult and highly personal decisions where government has no right to intrude. She also notes that no government funding pays for abortions (see Hyde Amendment).
Although Alexandra DeSanctis is a graduate of Notre Dame and credentials as a journalist for the National Review, she overlooks the second class citizenship of women in the world, while defending the priority rights of unborn fetuses. Imagine if a man who impregnated a woman had to decide if he would risk his life if his unborn child threatened his health and well being, rather than just letting the woman take all the risk. I do not think we would be talking about Planned Parenthood's ability to provide abortions or birth control, we would be talking about enhancing Planned Parenthood's family planning services, which mandated men's inclusion. If men got pregnant instead of women we would be having a completely different discussion now. Abortion would probably be legal everywhere, under all conditions.
DeSanctis, Alexandra. "Hillary's Appalling Defense of Partial-Birth Abortion." Web log post. National Review. N.P., 20 Oct. 2016. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment