Reproductive Politics

As one might suspect, there has been a rather dramatic decline in the number of abortion clinics nationwide in the past few years. Pro-life activists attribute this decline to three things (the first two, I think, having a real and concrete impact): State legislatures passing "TRAP" laws (targeted regulation of abortion providers) that require unnecessary and expensive changes to abortion clinics, which the clinics cannot afford. TRAP laws also sometimes require clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, which local hospitals refuse to provide.  State legislatures "defunding" family planning clinics (that also perform abortions) by passing laws ensuring that no state money goes to places that perform abortions.  Prayer vigils and other forms of direct action at clinics themselves, like the 40 Days for Life campaign.  Because abortion services in the United States are so heavily dependent on the clinic system, attacking clinics legally ...

Chen Guangcheng is the Chinese lawyer and human rights activist who famously managed to escape house arrest and the country of China to land in New York City and a fellowship at New York University to study law. The fact that he is blind (and quite telegenic in his dark sunglasses) made his escape even more remarkable and compelling. The American dream honeymoon is over. He is leaving New York University after a year and he is looking for a new position, and there are conflicting stories as to what happened. What is more clear is that Mr. Chen is struggling to adjust to the polarized atmosphere of American politics and how that polarization is represented by, and intensified by, divisions over reproductive politics. Mr. Chen's story involves reproductive politics because of his activism against forced abortion and government abuses associated with China's one-child policy. Pro-life activists strongly oppose China's one-child policy in itself. They also are outraged by ...

In Nevada, a county judge was fighting with the parents of a mentally-impaired adult woman over whether she should abort her pregnancy. I wrote an earlier post summarizing the case and the issues involved.  The Associated Press now reports :      A Washoe County district judge has decided against forcing a mentally impaired Nevada woman to have an abortion after all the parties involved reached a tentative agreement to help her through her high-risk pregnancy.        The 32-year-old woman's legal guardian told KRNV-TV on Wednesday that Judge Egan Walker had agreed that the woman wants to carry the pregnancy to term and that the evidence doesn't show it's medically necessary to abort the baby.        After taking the abortion option off the table, Walker said he plans to hold additional medical evidentiary hearings in the weeks ahead to determine the safest way to proceed. It is hard to know what motiva...

A sad and complicated legal case is brewing in Nevada. Elaine Bauer is a mentally-disabled woman in her early 30s who has the mental capacity of a six-year old, epilepsy, and additional health problems. She lives in a group home in Reno. She is thirteen weeks pregnant. The circumstances under which Ms. Bauer became pregnant are unclear. Apparently, Ms. Bauer "has a history of wandering away [from the group home] and having sex. . . . In the past, the woman had been given a birth control injection, but its side effects presented her with health complications, so it was discontinued" ( Reuters ). Articles published in LifeSiteNews (links below) go into more detail about Ms. Bauer's daily life and offer a slightly different take: For whatever reason, they report, she was allowed to leave her group home, and when she did, she would go to a local casino and a truck stop. Assuming this to be accurate, I cannot for the life of me understand why someone with the mental cap...