Posted on 03/08/2015 9:33:43 PM PDT by Morgana
[JURIST] The West Virginia Legislature [official website] on Friday overrode the governor's veto, passing a bill [text, HB 2586] banning abortion after 20 weeks. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin [official website] said he vetoed the law because of concerns over its constitutionality and would have preferred a later gestational period for banning abortion. The bill excludes [AP report] certain cases of medical emergencies and is set to take effect in May. West Virginia is now the 11th state to ban abortion after 20 weeks. The legislation is based on the premise that fetuses can feel pain starting around 20 weeks, a concept which is heavily debated. The legislature passed a similar bill last year, which was also vetoed by the governor. The legislature passed [JURIST report] the current bill on Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at jurist.org ...
How long before a Federal Judge strikes it down?
I wonder what folks would think of the morality and constitutionality of legislation that said it was okay to kill them as long as they didn't feel any pain, or as long as their murder was committed before Christmas?
it’s not EV. it’s all wrong. but i think you’ve got to save ‘em—one baby at a time.
I’m with you 100% EternalVigilance.
Good job!
I am sure DOJ will be there tomorrow morning.
A couple of hours after they open on Monday?
Indeed, it should be debated. The nervous system--which processes pain and awareness--is one of the first bodily systems to develop, which first starts forming around 2-3 weeks after conception, and which is present in a rudimentary functional form (recognizable as a brain and nerves) by 5 weeks after conception. Since all bodily systems function as soon as the specific cells that form them appear, there is no reason to think that the ability to feel pain is not present until 20 weeks in, some 15-18 weeks after the nervous system develops. The ability to feel pain and process information is intrinsic to the nervous system. There is no magic switch that flips on at 20 weeks, conferring an ability that did not previously exist. We are biological organisms, not electrical devices.
“How long before a Federal Judge strikes it down?”
So what? At least it clarifies where the problem is.
Sadly, the utilitarian approach doesn’t actually “save ‘em” though. All it does is reinforce and perpetuate abortion on demand, because it gives up the only real moral, constitutional and legal argument against abortion, which is equal protection under the law for the supreme unalienable individual right.
I fear that I won't live long enough to see that happen, and if a goodly number of late-term babies can be saved from dismemberment in the meantime, I'll take that as a good thing.
if i thought you were absolutely right in this case, that lives wouldn’t be saved by this means, i’d go along with you. but i believe that third trimester abortion is a demonstrable *fact.* thus your position is incorrect as a reality. lives would be saved by this law. you are also incorrect, i believe, when you say that we give up the moral and legal argument against abortion by doing this. i say this because we live in the world where man’s law (all of it immoral to some degree) holds sway.
perfect godly, principle can never be realized completely in this fallen world. but God’s law is clear. man’s law can *never* trump God’s law. and God’s law is eternal and can never be “given up” as you say. thus i believe we are justified by compromise when that compromise brings us closer to the perfect law of God and our heart is pure in this belief.
thus, if a life that would have been lost is saved by this form of the “lessor of evil” (and no further lives are lost that *would not have been lost anyway under the old regime*) then i’ll take this lessor of this evil over the greater evil. because i believe this law will bring us into closer conformance with God’s ultimate law, i’ll take this lessor evil because innocent life saved at the moment approaches (in my opinion) the commandment of God.
it’s tough. i might add that each lessor of evil choice must be analysed separately, and i’d always rather take the greater of the good. sadly, that is rarely, if ever, achieveable in this world. God bless and thank you again for all that you do!
Amen
The Constitution requires equal protection for every person, without exception. Every officer of government, in every branch, is required by Article Six to swear an oath to support and defend that Constitution.
If you understand the self-evident truth that babies are persons, and can see the simple fact that these bills fail to provide equal protection for each and every one of those persons, I don’t know why there is any more debate about it among conservatives.
yes, i interpret the Constitution the same way as you do. and this law is certainly unconstitutional under my interpretation and i believe God’s as well. so i gather you don’t believe, as i do, that the Constitution can sometimes be defended morally, case by case, as an incremental approach to God’s law in a fallen world.
I don’t know what you mean.
All I know is that there is no possible way to save the country unless and until we compel our representatives in government to support and defend the Constitution they swear to uphold.
okay, FRiend. i can accept and support your position, while pursing mine in practice. they are not in conflict for me, except in specific cases.
and i can certainly wish we both lived in a world where the Constitution was accepted and practiced by all politicians as the law of land as it should be.
It is good that the states are taking up the issue of abortion. I think that for too long we waited for Washington to make the decisions. Well the Democrats didn’t want to stop abortion and who knows maybe some of our “conservative” politicians probably had cold feet about going against the harpies in the Democrat party and Planned Parenthood. I think debating the issue on the state level will bring the politicians out of the woodwork, they will have to take a stand which is a good thing. People in West Virginia are a conservative people, I believe they will support the pro-life side.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.