Defending the Truth

Power-hungry bureaucrats want to force imprisoned women to bear children, then take the children from them because they are inadequate parents. Hello? Any thinking people there?

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2...-womens-rights

"The case arose when a young woman beginning a four-year sentence in Missouri was told she could not have an abortion. This represented a change in policy for the prison; in the past, women who could come up with the money were taken to a clinic for abortion care. Then in 2005, with a new anti-choice governor in office, the prison administration and the Department of Corrections reversed course, adopting a policy that categorically denies women access to abortion....
For more than twenty years, courts have ruled that incarcerated women retain their abortion rights, and yet for all those twenty years, jails and prisons have continued to violate those rights. Across the country, women have been told by sheriffs to get a judge’s permission, something that takes time, money, and the services of a lawyer. Women are routinely told that they must pay not only for the abortion, but for the costs of employees’ time and of transportation, down to turnpike tolls, even though people in prison have a constitutional right to medical care. In many cases, these requirements are unwritten and ad-hoc, reflecting the whim of local officials. From California to New York, from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, women have wound up carrying pregnancies to term because jail officials stood in their way until it was too late to have an abortion – or until they gave up."

I think medical care is a right but abortions aren't. I don't think an abortion is "medical care" unless there is some danger to the mother. Getting a "convenience abortion" should not be carried out by the taxpayers.
It would be akin to giving the woman a boob job.

There is always some danger to the mother. Incarcerated women have had to pay for their abortions in the past, including paying for transportation and salary for a guard to transport her, even including road tolls. Comparing an abortion to a boob job demonstrates that you have little understanding of the demands of pregnancy/childbirth on a woman's body. Do you think it is justice to force an imprisoned woman to continue her pregnancy and then remove her child from her custody because she cannot provide care while she is imprisoned?

Actually the part of my post that you should have paid attention to were the parts where I said that I didn't consider an abortion care or where I said taxpayers shouldn't be forced to provide abortions. Those were the important parts. The comparison to boob jobs was related to whether taxpayers should pay, not a comparison to an abortion. But of course, I'm sure you knew that.

If a woman has the means for the abortion though, she should be allowed to have one. But all costs should be paid by the prisoner.

As for justice, I don't think it's justice to kill a developing human in the first place, so my justice and yours are already on differing planes.

Nothing in the article said that taxpayers were going to have to foot the bill. Taxpayers should provide the woman access to the clinic though, including transportation, since it is taxpayers who placed the woman where abortion is now inaccessible.


If the woman doesn't surrender her child for adoption, taxpayers will be forced to support the child until adulthood. If the woman is eligible for medicaid, she would eligible to have her abortion paid for if it is a result of rape, incest, or threatening her life. Is an imprisoned woman not entitled to the same medical care as a non-imprisoned woman?


You didn't answer the question.

Taxpayers footing the abortion bill, in this case, is a LOT less expensive than taxpayers paying for the obstetric care and then the birth.

Just sayin...

Aren't there Constitutional restrictions on cruel and unusual punishment?!?!

Forcing you to continue a pregnancy, full knowing that the state will be FORCING you to give your child up, to me, is extremely cruel. And no man could ever FATHOM the depth of feeling women have for their child after 9 months of pregnancy. That is much crueler then any abortion.

That's the thing.

They are not. It says in the article that just as always, the woman has to come up with the money.

I forgot....Let's do it again. Here's your question.
"Do you think it is justice to force an imprisoned woman to continue her pregnancy and then remove her child from her custody because she cannot provide care while she is imprisoned?"

My answer to your question is yes, it is justice if the pregnancy wasn't the result of rape. Imprisonment is not a good reason for murder/killing/homicide. In fact if the baby was wanted, ending the life would actually result in incarceration in many states. Which brings the theoretical question of should a pregnant woman convicted of vehicular feticide be given an abortion if she's sentenced to prison?

Are you suggesting that because the number of rape victims abortion is small compared to the overall number, it is insignificant and therefore OK to force the woman to continue the pregnancy? If so, you have a warped sense of justice. Taxpayer money is for the benefit of the entire population and spending it to rear unwanted children that could have been aborted instead is wasteful in the extreme.

A Pitiless Plan A: Denying Plan B Emergency Contraception to Victims of Rape
"Nationally, over 300,000 forcible rapes are reported each year. Twenty-five thousand of these women will become pregnant. If these victims have timely access to Plan B emergency contraception, an estimated 22,000 pregnancies—almost 90 percent—could be prevented."



We are not talking about forcing women to have abortions. We are talking about allowing them to have the choice, a choice they would normally have had if the taxpayers had not imprisoned them. Now they have no choice about giving birth and no choice about giving up their resulting children. Are you planning on using prisons as a breeding farm to produce babies for those wanting to adopt?