Jivin J’s Life Links 8-12-11
by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat
- In New Orleans, a man has been convicted of rape and the main piece of evidence was DNA from the aborted child:
Samuel Williams, 58, will be sentenced Aug. 19 to life in prison, after a two-day trial in which DNA evidence from the fetus proved key, along with the ominous presence of the fetus itself.
“This is the greatest thing that has (the girl’s) back,” said prosecutor James Myers, holding before the jury a plastic zip-lock bag containing remnants of the fetus. “Because this right here will point to this man and say: ‘You’re a rapist, you’re a pedophile…'”
- The Arizona Court of Appeals voted 3-0 to uphold abortion restrictions in AZ, including a ban on nurse practitioners performing surgical abortions:
The judges said prohibiting anyone but a licensed physician from surgically terminating a pregnancy does not impose undue restrictions on a woman’s constitutional right to choose.
Judge Peter Swann, writing for the unanimous court, said the facts that nurse practitioners are specifically trained to do the procedure, are available in rural areas where Planned Parenthood does not have doctors, and have a comparable safety record are legally irrelevant.
The court also upheld laws requiring a woman to meet personally with the surgeon 24 hours before an abortion and for parental-consent forms for minors to be notarized, and allowing medical personnel, including pharmacists, to opt out of any participation in an abortion….
The injunction, however, remains in place to allow time for Planned Parenthood Arizona to decide whether to appeal, and for the Supreme Court to decide whether to review the ruling.
But Thursday’s decision, unless overturned, has broader implications.
The appellate court said a law can be struck down only if it places an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion. They said the fact it may place some burden on women is not enough.
- The board of Central Health (a health district in Texas) voted unanimously to stop funding abortions for the residents of Travis County after a new state law passed which would cut off their funding if they continued to fund abortions:
After convening behind closed doors, the board voted, also unanimously, to redirect the $450,000 that had been budgeted for abortions toward expanding other services….
Central Health paid for 720 pregnancy terminations in the past fiscal year , according to the health district.
- The Charleston Gazette has an interesting story of a Marshall University professor who discovered embryonic skeletal bones in a fossil of a plesiosaur, “a large four-flippered water reptile,” which proves they had live births as opposed to laying eggs:
The fossil reveals that plesiosaurs are one of the few aquatic reptiles to give birth to a single, large offspring. That suggests that the creatures may have engaged in parental care, making them similar to dolphins….
The fossilized fetus was found inside its 15.4-foot long mother, and contained a developing body with ribs, 20 vertebrae, shoulders, hips and paddle bones.
[Photo via thenewspaper.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
The board of Central Health (a health district in Texas) voted unanimously to stop funding abortions for the residents of Travis County after a new state law passed which would cut off their funding if they continued to fund abortions:
After convening behind closed doors, the board voted, also unanimously, to redirect the $450,000 that had been budgeted for abortions toward expanding other services….
Central Health paid for 720 pregnancy terminations in the past fiscal year , according to the health district.
Oh. So that means that passing bills that cut funding to hospitals that provide abortions WILL reduce abortion numbers rather than killing grandma, as some other commenters here seemed to suppose. Man, I get so tired of winning sometimes. XD
Awesome for Arizona and also a continued merry 2011 defunding of Planned Parenthood in Texas. :<)
Also awesome that they nailed that rapist/pedophile using the aborted babies DNA. ts
A quote from the PDF of the AZ decision…
PPAZ challenges the requirement that “[a]n individual who is not a physician shall not perform a surgical abortion.” A.R.S. § 36-2153(C). PPAZ argues that because registered nurse practitioners (RNPs) have a comparable safety record when performing some surgical abortions, the requirement does not further the state’s interest in ensuring that abortions are performed safely.
What? In what other medical context is it permissible for an RNP to perform surgery?
Exactly, JoAnna, I was wondering the same thing
Posted on wrong thread. See comment on above thread.
PPAZ argues that because registered nurse practitioners (RNPs) have a comparable safety record when performing some surgical abortions,
So I take it that there are no certified mid-wives in Arizona or that RNP’s cannot assist in childbirth?
Childbirth is not surgery in most cases. Thats not a good analogy.
There are certified midwives in AZ; however, they cannot perform surgery. RNPs can ASSIST in childbirth but they cannot actually “catch” the baby unless it’s an emergency (the OB hasn’t arrived yet and the baby is emerging from the birth canal, or similar).
During my second pregnancy, I was diagnosed with a first-trimester missed miscarriage. At the time, I was seeing a certified nurse-midwife in a hospital setting. She had to refer me to an OB for the D&C; she was not permitted to do it herself.
Can you answer my question, CC? In what other medical context is it permissible for an RNP (or a CNM, for that matter) to perform surgery? Neither RNPs nor CNMs have ever been able to legally perform surgery, in any state, so far as I’m aware, although since PPAZ says there’s precedent perhaps that is the case in other states.
JoAnna, I don’t remember which states, but I do know there are a couple of states that allow RNP to proform surgical abortions. That is the precedent PP has refered to previously. But outside of abortion there isn’t a surgery they are allowed to do. Heck, they can’t even do a biopsi in most places! And some hospitals (states? Not sure) won’t even let nurse practitioners take *out* stiches, much less put them in!
Oh, and if the jury found abortion remains to be a strong stand of evidence, just think how strong a nursling would have been! How incredibly sad that it had to be the babies remains and not his presence that stood for his mother’s justice!
Undeniably it would have been a better result if the baby hadn’t been killed. But sweet justice is the fact that the baby’s presence (back from the dead) in the trial is what convicted the perp.