Typo in the Mexico City tidbit!

Boy, my pregnancy lasted 9.5 months, and I thought that was pretty long...I think at the 12-month mark it would just be considered a C-section.

The UPI story (from the Bend Weekly News, Bend Oregon, about a New York State matter) on which this story is based has at least two obvious errors. The story says

The governor's office said the law would also classify abortion as a matter of professional and medical discretion and remove a statute "that criminalizes, among other things, providing nonprescription contraception to minors."

Uh, I believe I've seen condoms sold in vending machines in men's restrooms in New York State. Condoms are nonprescription contraception, and if they're in vending machines in men's restrooms, they're available to minors.

The bill follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which prohibits late-term abortions.

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (S.3) does not"prohibit late-term abortions. It prohibits a described method of abortion. You can read the bill summary on the Thomas website at

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN00003:@@@D&summ2=m&

These errors were overlooked by the original UPI writer, by UPI editors, by the Bend Weekly News editors, by Tracy Clark-Flory, and by Salon's editors. Isn't anybody paying attention?

represents an act of terrorism which targeted Americans on our own soil. Let's see what measures George W. Doofus takes to counteract the kind of terrorism engaged in by the Rethuglican-voting yahoos on Eric Rudolph's and Antonin Scalia's side of the culture wars.

Michigan sillyness...

Bill would boost reporting of abortion complications

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

By Tim Martin

The Associated Press

LANSING -- A state lawmaker said Tuesday he believes doctors and clinics underreport the number of health complications from abortions in Michigan.

Rep. Kevin Green, R-Wyoming, has introduced a bill that would allow anyone with knowledge of an abortion complication to report it to the state Department of Community Health.

A Michigan law requires doctors to report when a complication arises from an abortion. But Green said based on statistics, he doesn't believe all doctors, hospitals and clinics are obeying that law.

Green said there is a "sad and serious enforcement problem" with the law.

Department of Community Health records indicate there were five immediate complications and nine subsequent complications reported from 25,209 abortions in 2005.

In 2004, there were 13 immediate complications and 12 subsequent complications reported from 26,269 abortions.

In a memo to House lawmakers, Green said that if those statistics were accurate, "abortion would be among the safest medical procedures performed each day. This simply cannot be true."

He cited a 2004 case in which a Michigan woman died as a result of an abortion complication. Green said her death was not reflected in the abortion complication report for that year.

The bill would include penalties for people who file false reports about abortion complications.

T.J. Bucholz, a spokesman for the Department of Community Health, said his department will review the bill.

"We don't fabricate statistics on abortion," he said.

Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, who previously was executive director of MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan, said first trimester abortions may have fewer complications than a dose of penicillin or a tonsillectomy.

Warren said she is concerned about possible implications of the bill.

"We have a law in place that requires physicians to report this information, and they do report this information," Warren said. "It makes me nervous to start witch hunts in our doctors' offices."

http://www.mlive.com/grandrapids/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-35/1177512673129890.xml&coll=6

I guess it's interesting that the bill contains protections against false reports but I wonder if it would work both ways. Would those that seek to artificially boost the numbers through false reports also feel the wrath of this 'legislation'?

An explosive device was found Wednesday in the parking lot of an Austin, Texas, women's clinic that provides abortions.

This is about the first place I haven't seen such a clinic referred to as abortion clinic, full of abortion doctors, where the abortion receptionists make you sit in abortion waiting rooms first.

Well, gotta go pick up the kid. She's at a state-mandated, federally-funded "accidental pregnancy" class.