Abortion was one of the many hot-button issues that came up during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings last week as she's been nominated by President Joe Biden to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Perhaps no other senator brought it up in such a hot-button way than Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who often makes abortion and the pro-life issue a focus of his time when he questions prospective judges and justices. It wasn't just that Sen. Lee brought up the issue, specifically in the form of the particularly gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure, that is worthy of attention, but how pro-abortion journalist Aaron Rupar, of Vox, covered it, or, more accurately, didn't.
Rupar was tweeting about the hearings, complete with clips and transcripts. He purposefully didn't include Sen. Lee's comments about the partial-birth abortion procedure, though. "Mike Lee is now graphically detailing abortion procedures. I'll spare you the clip," is what he had to say about that.
Such a purposeful omission received considerable attention on Twitter, which Twitchy picked up on and shared some examples of those taking issue with Rupar keeping his followers in the dark. Many who called Rupar out offered that if abortion is no big deal to someone who is pro-abortion as he is, then it shouldn't be a big deal to discuss the method.
Sen. Lee's office sent out a transcript of his remarks, which are also available on the senator's website.
"In the absence of circumstances where the baby posed a threat to the life of a mother. Now to be clear that the law prohibited a procedure where the abortionist causes an unborn baby to be partially delivered by the mother," said Sen. Lee, speaking of a Nebraska law that wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2000 case of Stenberg v. Carhart.
Sen. Lee himself acknowledged that it was a gruesome procedure to have to describe, but felt it was necessary to do for the sake of context. "And then the abortionist intentionally kills the baby outside the womb by puncturing its skull with scissors and then collapsing the skull. This is gruesome and I don't like having to quote this, but it is relevant to the topic we're covering here," Lee said.
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He went on to quote then Justice Anthony Kennedy, who described the method as follows in his dissent: "When scissors are inserted into the back of the head, the fetus’ body wholly outside the woman's body and alive reacts as those startled and then goes limp."
Sen. Lee then asked Judge Jackson "can you distinguish these cases for me?" Jackson offered that "I think it had to do with the method of extraction, the fact-finding related to the procedure. In one case the district court had made some findings in, and the court felt bound by them. And in another there was considerations beyond those that previously relied upon. So there were distinctions that the court looked at and considered in the cases."
The Nebraska law making the partial-birth abortion procedure was found to be unconstitutional, with concerns being that the law did not include exceptions for health. In 2007, however, the Court found a federal ban on the procedure to be constitutional, with Gonzales v. Carhart.
The Carhart in both cases is the same, by the way, late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart who had used such a method. He's also expressed a willingness to perform elective abortions into the third trimester of pregnancy. He has had a litany of complaints against him, including botched abortions that have injured and killed women.
Justice Breyer, whom Judge Jackson would replace, should she be confirmed, and whom she also clerked for, voted against upholding those laws banning the procedure both times.
Abortion procedures, particularly those as gruesome as the partial-birth procedure, also known as intact dilation and extraction (IDX or D&X), are difficult to hear. But the truth is difficult to hear. If one wishes to support abortion, one ought to know what it is that they are supporting.
Most of the country, according to various polls, identifies as pro-choice. Most of the country also believes in various abortion regulations and restricting it to the first trimester of pregnancy, which takes place in the first three months.
The United States stands apart from most of the rest of the world though, including and especially European countries, which the Left emulates so dearly and wants to become. Along with just six other countries, including human rights abusers like China and North Korea, the United States is one of the few to allow for elective abortions past 20-weeks, which is halfway through pregnancy.
The tide is turning, though. States have considered and passed a record-high amount of pro-life laws over the past recent years, and they're showing no signs of stopping. These states are poised to pass even more, in fact, especially if the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion on demand in all 50 states.
The Court heard oral arguments last December in Dobbs v. Jackson, which examines the constitutionality of previability abortion bans, in this case, Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. While one can never be too cautious when making predictions about what the Court will do, there's reason to be hopeful that the Court will overturn Roe. A decision is expected in late June.
The pro-abortion Democratic Party, however, is moving in the opposite direction. Last month, the U.S. Senate voted on but failed to pass the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would not only codify Roe v. Wade into federal law, but invalidate all the pro-life successes at the state level mentioned above. While the bill passed the House last September, it failed in the Senate, thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate pro-life Democrat, and the filibuster.
During a press conference about the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made some of the most disturbing comments about abortion, but also some of the most truthful when it comes to pro-abortion politicians like himself.
"In the last year alone, we saw the most abortion restrictions passed in a single year," Schumer said, highlighting the momentum and success of the pro-life movement. He then went on to shockingly and falsely claim that "these new restrictions largely fly in the face of public opinion, common sense, and frankly, common decency."
The partial-birth abortion procedure has been illegal for decades now, but we can very safely say the American people would oppose the method, especially since those same polls show that so many oppose late-term abortions, which is when the method would have been performed.
It could be said that someone is pro-choice on abortion because they don't know the truth about what abortion entails. I do believe in giving pro-choice people the benefit of the doubt, which is a major reason why I distinguish between those who are pro-choice and pro-abortion.
It's also why I know that educating others on that truth is so important. I have mixed feelings on the use of graphic images of aborted fetuses, but Live Action's "Abortion Procedures" project offers highly educational videos using animation and narration from Dr. Anthony Levatino, who used to perform abortions, to describe various methods.
By keeping his followers in the dark, including and especially pro-choice ones who might benefit from learning the truth about abortion methods, Rupar is engaging in pro-abortion behavior of some of the worst kind.
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