From: kauff@neit.cgd.ucar.edu (Brian Kauffman)
Subject: Re: Other Flip-Floppers on abortion
Organization: NCAR, Boulder CO
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:52:26 GMT

>>  = dsh@odin.ece.ncsu.edu (Doug Holtsinger) writes:
>   = rja@redwood26.cray.com (Russ Anderson) writes:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> The Democratic party supports Roe v. Wade, which is essentially unrestricted 
>> abortion on demand throughout the term of pregnancy.
>
>WRONG.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                                ROE v. WADE
>            410 U.S. 113; 93 S. Ct. 705; 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973)
> 
>     Mr. Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court, saying in
>     part:
>[...] 
>          This means,  on the other hand, that, for the period of preg-
>     nancy prior to this "compelling"  point,  the attending physician,
>     in  consultation with his patient, is free to  determine,  without
>     regulation  by  the  State,  that  in  his  medical  judgment  the
>     patient's  pregnancy  should be terminated.  If that  decision  is
>     reached,  the judgment may be effectuated by an abortion  free  of
>     interference by the State.
>          With respect to the State's important and legitimate interest
>     in potential life, the "compelling" point is at viability. This is
>     so  because the fetus then presumably has the capability of  mean-
>     ingful life outside the mother's womb. State regulation protective
>     of fetal life after viability thus has both logical and biological
>     justifications.  If  the State is interested in  protecting  fetal
>     life  after viability,  it may go so far as to proscribe  abortion
>     during  that  period except when it is necessary to  preserve  the
>     life or health of the mother.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>>    Mark Tushnet, "The Supreme Court on Abortion: A Survey",
>>    Abortion, Medicine, and the Law, Third Edition, 1986, pg. 162
>> 
>>   "The final stage of pregnancy under Roe v. Wade occurs after the
>>    fetus becomes viable[4]. After viability, the state could regulate
>>    or prohibit abortions unless they were ``necessary, in appropriate
>>    medical judgement'', to preserve the life or health of the woman.
>>    This standard must be read, however, in light of the Court's
>>    decision the same day in Doe v. Bolton, that clinical judgement
>>    ``may be exercised in light of all factors -- physical, emotional,
>>    psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the
>>    well-being of the patient[5]. Thus, the Court nominally allowed
>>    the state to prohibit post-viability abortions except in apparently
>>    limited cases, but it actually defined the limitation in a way
>>    that bars the state from prohibiting such abortions if physicians
>>    are willing to perform them."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roe v. Wade:
"If  the State is interested in protecting fetal life after viability, it 
may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period except when it 
is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother"

Doe v. Bolton:
"life or health of the mother" might mean "all factors -- physical, 
emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to 
the well-being of the patient"

WRT "abortion on demand throughout pregnancy", 
it seems a distinction must be made between
(Roe v. Wade), (Doe v. Bolton), and (Roe v. Wade + Doe v. Bolton)

-Brian
Newsgroups: talk.abortion