Carhart’s expansion plans boomerang on abortion industry
I wrote in my Thanksgiving week WND.com column I was thankful to abortionist LeRoy Carhart for providing an opening for pro-life activism in the states where he announced he was expanding his late-term abortion business – Indiana, Iowa, and Maryland.
So read these lovely headlines from the past 2 days…
From the National Catholic Register, December 8:
… Carhart has been forced by Nebraska’s tough new anti-fetal pain law to expand his practice to 3 less restrictive states.
But in a kind of reverse-domino effect, pro-life activists in IN and IA are already working with supportive legislators to enact laws as tough as NE’s Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act….
IA Right to Life’s executive director, Jennifer Bowen, thinks the pro-abortion groups do not see Carhart as their best advocate in the public forum.
“It’s funny how he seems to be doing a really bad job for them by raising awareness of late-term abortions,” Bowen said….
Carhart is clear about his motivation: He needs to stay in business and can’t do so in NE under his current business model. “I need to have a place where I can practice,” he told The Associated Press….
From the Chicago Tribune, yesterday:
IA lawmakers are drafting a bill similar to a restrictive NE abortion law to prevent a NE doctor who performs late-term abortions from opening a clinic just across the states’ border in Council Bluffs….
Several anti-abortion lawmakers in Iowa said they’re writing legislation to toughen the state’s abortion laws. They are motivated by Carhart’s announcement and gains Republicans made in the mid-term election, where they took control of the IA House and closed the gap in Senate.
From the Des Moines Register, yesterday:
Diocese of Des Moines Bishop Richard Pates today released a letter urging people to work against a late-term abortion doctor from NE from expanding into IA.
The letter was written in November and first sent to parishioners. It was released to the general public today in response to news coverage of a legislative effort to pass a law that further restrict late-term abortions in IA.
From the Indianapolis Star, today:
The need to add abortion to the priorities took on a new urgency, [Republican state Sen. Greg Walker] said, because a NE physician who performs late-term abortions, Dr. LeRoy Carhart, reportedly said he will open an abortion clinic in Indianapolis.
That, Walker said, is why IN needs to follow NE”s lead in passing a law to ban abortions after the 20th week.
From the Maryland Daily Record, yesterday:
The arrival in MD this week of a doctor who has been frank about his performance of abortions late in pregnancy has not only spurred public protests in the local community, but also prompted legislators to propose new laws that would ban the practice in the state.
Del. Don Dwyer, R… said Wednesday that he is planning to introduce new legislation that would ban abortions late in pregnancy in MD.
All good examples of showing that Carhart is a catalyst for action! No pro-lifer worth their salt is going to sit idly by and let an abortion circuit rider like Carhart increase the numbers of abortions in their State. In going through Nebraska’s reporting forms we realized Carhart was responsible for the majority of abortions here. That will change soon~!
As I have followed the antics of Carhart, the circuit riding late term abortionist, and the pro-life rallies and news coverage in Iowa, Indiana and Maryland, I have been in hope that pro-life state legislators in these states will be able to pass a law similar to what Nebraska did earlier. I know the chances are now better in Iowa after Republican gains in the state legislative bodies in the November 2, 2010 election, but I am withholding any certain prediction as to what will unfold in the upcoming 2011 legislative session. Liberal Democrats still have strong influence in the Iowa State Senate for example and have for some years not allowed a traditional marriage amendment to be voted on by the populace.
It has been my intuitive sense that the Carhart episode has not been good press for the pro-abortion movement. However, it is important that pro-life bills result from all of this coverage.
But the response can’t be purely, “Let’s thwart Carhart!” We need to be presenting information about perinatal hospice, about care for women with physical problems, etc. We have to say what we’re FOR, not just what we’re against.
I completely agree Christina! We need to care
for mother and child. If we
are to save the child, we need to reach out to the mothers.