Following the murder of Kansas abortionist George Tiller on May 31, 2009, public attention has again focused on the issue of partial birth and late-term abortion. Tiller’s assassination was a heinous act; that much is clear. His murderer should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But the issue which Tiller’s death has brought to light is not that of abortion rights. It is more specifically the issue of late-term abortion.
Scott Holleran, an Objectivist writing for Capitalism Magazine (capmag.com), wrote an article-- Abortion and the Death of Dr. George Tiller--in which he never once mentions the fact that Tiller specialized in late-term abortions—abortions where the viability of the fetus was often not in question. He correctly defends abortion as a woman’s right to control her own body, but completely glosses over the fundamental question of fetal viability.
Dr. Mary L. Davenport, M.D., a former abortionist herself, writes that "contrary to the assertion of abortion rights supporters that late-term abortion is performed for serious reasons, surveys of late abortion patients confirm that the vast majority occur because of delay in diagnosis of pregnancy. They are done for similar reasons as early abortions: relationship problems, young or old maternal age, education or financial concerns." Davenport cites a statement by Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, who admitted in 1997 that the vast majority of partial-birth abortions were performed on healthy mothers and babies.
"The very fact that the baby of an ill mother is viable raises the question of why, indeed, it is necessary to perform an abortion to end the pregnancy,” says Davenport. “With any serious maternal health problem, termination of pregnancy can be accomplished by inducing labor or performing a cesarean section, saving both mother and baby."
Glenn Woiceshyn, another Objectivist writing on behalf of the Ayn Rand Institute, made the following statements in several articles dealing with the controversial topic of so-called "partial birth abortion":
" 'Partial-birth' abortion, most commonly known as intact dilation and extraction (D&X), is designed primarily to be used in the case of 5- and 6-month-old fetuses that are dying, malformed, or threaten the woman's health or life... “
"Anti-abortionists coined the term 'partial birth' to suggest that the partially removed fetus is no longer "unborn," and, therefore, Roe vs. Wade no longer applies (so they allege). But linguistic manipulation can't create an essential distinction when none exists. A woman has a right to her own body, and, if she chooses to abort, then all effort should be made to protect the woman from injury. To rule otherwise is to negate this right."
"Banning any type of abortion to 'protect the fetus' necessarily grants rights to the fetus -- an utter perversion of individual rights... Properly, an infant's rights begin after the fetus is removed from the mother's body and its umbilical cord cut..." Ban on "Partial-Birth" Abortion Would Be a Blow to Individual Rights (9-25-03)
The fact is that there are essential distinctions to be made here, but Woiceshyn (and, by his silence on the issue, Holleran) want to deny this. Banning the abortion of a viable fetus in favor of safely removing it from the womb in no way violates the mother’s rights. Anti-abortionists claim that this issue reveals the hypocrisy behind the claims of pro-choice advocates that they want to stand on the principle of a woman's right to control her own body. The cavalier sanction of late term abortion, when the viability of the fetus is in question, suggests that whim-worship, not self-determination, is what the supporters of pro-choice are really defending.
Where a clear threat to the health and safety of the woman can clearly be established, late-term abortion may well be justified. But Woiceshyn defends abortion in a way that implies a woman can blithely choose to destroy the fetus until the moment the umbilical cord is cut. He contends that to do otherwise is to open the door to an eventual ban on all abortions. But there is no slippery slope if the line is drawn at the point of fetal viability.
The opposite is true: the failure to make crucial distinctions regarding the developmental stage of the embryo or fetus totally undermines the pro-choice position, and lends credence to the pro-lifer's contention that all abortion represents the devaluation of human life.
Woiceshyn argues that the opponents of "partial birth abortion" are trying to "create an essential distinction when none exists." Well, since he is writing under the auspices of the Ayn Rand Institute, he might have investigated what she had to say on the subject:
"Never mind the vicious nonsense of claiming that an embryo has a 'right to life.' A piece of protoplasm has no rights—and no life in the human sense of the term. One may argue about the later stages of a pregnancy, but the essential issue concerns only the first three months. To equate a potential with an actual, is vicious; to advocate the sacrifice of the latter to the former, is unspeakable.” Ayn Rand, The Ayn Rand Letter, A Last Survey--Part I, Vol. IV, No. 2 November-December, 1975.
Ayn Rand obviously considered the first three months of a pregnancy to be essentially distinct from the subsequent stages. There is every reason to believe she may well have opposed late-term and ‘partial-birth’ abortion.
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