An "American Genocide"

is what Rep. Brinkman of the Cincinnati area called abortion in America yesterday during House hearings on his bill that would ban all abortions in Ohio. I thought I'd do a little press round-up of the coverage from today's Ohio papers, with, of course, commentary throughout, as warranted:

From the Plain Dealer :
"One abortion-rights ( gotta love that jargon! ) supporter countered [an earlier woman's testimony] with her own harrowing tale of life before Roe . Bill opponent Taba Aleem told lawmakers about her illegal abortion performed in 1968 by an Akron factory worker who demanded sex before using a coat hanger and a piece of rubber tubing. She asked lawmakers to vote the bill down, saying she was speaking "for the poor women and African-American women" with "limited financial means." ( OK, so we solve poverty by killing our babies? Ehhh?? Seems rather, um, barbaric to me. If you can't afford to get pregnant, then don't!)
Said Gary Dougherty, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio in his testimony: "laws that criminalize abortion are bad for women's health, bad medicine and bad public policy." ( well, geez. I guess being vacuumed out of the womb is good prenatal health, though.

From the Dispatch :
This bit talks about a woman who runs a pro-life organization and how the tide has turned on abortion politics:

" 'I used to walk thesehalls and people would hide,' Folger said of the Statehouse. 'But they realized: Guess what, it turns out there are more of us then there are of them - not to mention the fact that our folkds have been having children whole the other side has been aborting them.'
The remark drew loud groans from many of the 160 people who packed the third-floor hearing room, where women outnumbered men about 2-1...House Bill 228, which opponents say is dangerous to women's health and imposes a particular religious view, would bad all abortions in Ohio... ( so it's a particular relgious view to say that we shouldn't kill kids? Yeah, I would kind of hope we could all be in agreement on that. Apparently not. )

Dayton Daily News :
"Gary Daughtery, executive director for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio, said: 'banning abortions will not stop abortion.' Instead, it'll lead to unsafe illegal abortions that put women's health at risk, he said. ( When things are banned, you generally see a decline in usage. I'm sure that a ban would drastically reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. How many women wouldn't have sex so casually if they knew that they couldn't have an abortion? How many young girls would practice abstinence instead? As for putting women's health at risk, don't tell me that an abortion is a safe proceedure for the mother. It's a major medical procedure, which carries inherent risks. So let's not act like this is akin to a teeth-cleaning, shall we?

From the Enquirer of Cincinnati:

(Remember Ms. Aleem from the P-D? She shows up a lot in these stories...here she is again...)

"Aleem, who was 20 at the time [of her abortion], said she was not ready to be a mother and felt this procedure was her only choice." ( Methinks she made the choice around the time she had sex...but that's just me )

"Dr. John Willke of Cincinnati who helped found the Right to Life movement in the early 1970s, said life begins at conception. To a lawmaker's question about supporting single mothers, Willke said poverty cannot be solved "by killing the children of the poor." (Amen!)

"Kathy Helmbock of Oakley, a member of NOW since 1972, testified that "abortion should be safe, legal and rare." ( OK, I don't get that. Good medical procedures are never called this. You don't hear anyone saying appendectonmies or tonsillectomies should be "safe, legal and rare." If it's truly safe and beneficial, then it should be legal. If it's not- and abortion isn't- then it should be illegal, therefore also making it rare, since illegality tends to make things rare. )

From the Blade , one of my favorite papers! (ha, ha)
A great quote: "The United States Supreme Court decision in Roe V. Wade began the American genocide of some 40 million lives." --Rep. Tom Brinkman.

An exchange from Pastor Russell Johnson, who compared abortion to the Holocaust, and Rep. Redfern (also chair of the ODP...how exactly does that work?):

" 'Are you trying to equate members of this standing committee to those who allowed the Holocaust to occur?' asked state Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island), chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.
'I believe that God will hold us accountable for standing on behalf of the least of these little children,' said Mr. Johnson."

And more from Ms. Aleem of Akron..."'I didn't feel I had a choice.'" See above....

The Canton Repository has an exchange on rape:

" Most of testimony covered territory familiar to both opponents and proponents of abortion. John Willke, a Cincinnati doctor and former National Right to Life president, said he saw no reason to permit abortion in cases of rape.

'I don't see killing a baby for the crime of his father,' Willke said."

"Nationally, about 32,000 rape victims become pregnant each year and forcing the women to carry the [baby] deepens and prolongs their trauma, said Corrina Lohse of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

'We believe choice was taken away from the survivor when she was raped,' Lohse said."

All right, I'll give her that. She sure didn't have much choice. But why compound a sin with another? One crime for another? It's certainly not the baby's fault. And with the evidence we have of the psychological trauma of abortion, why would any woman want to compound the mental agony?

Finally, the Akron Beacon Journal weighs in, with more from Ms. Aleem...

"Aleem and her allies fear her story will be repeated in the future for the state's girls and women if the legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Tom Brinkman becomes law.
Abortion opponents disagree. 'We don't want any exceptions,' Brinkman said. 'Women deserve better than abortions.'
....

Taba Aleem doesn't want a return to [days of abortions in back rooms with unsterile conditions]. She has four grown children and is a director at Planned Parenthood forr Summit, Medina and Portage counties. "

Well isn't that nice. One of the other articles I read said that she also went to college, something she "wouldn't have been able to do" as a single mother. Well, as Mother Teresa said, "It is a crime that a child must die so you may live as you wish."

Indeed.