“Mental Distress” Redux
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on July 7, 2008 at 3:30 PM in Abortion, Barack Obama, Pandering, WORMs
If you didn’t see this coming, you have no one to blame but yourself! In The Swamp in yesterday’s Baltimore Sun is another interview with Barack Obama as he “clarifies” his abortion stance – again – in terms of a woman’s “mental distress.” You don’t say – once again, “What Obama Really Meant” is the news du jour (and tip of the hat to BTF at TalkLeft.com). I can scarcely keep up. (Hmm – maybe that is his plan – keep changing his mind a gazillion times so that every single person will THINK he agrees with THEIR position. No doubt, they will be able to point to some time and place in which he said exactly what they believe.)
This time, in response to the reporter’s question regarding if mental distress should count in considering a late term abortion, WORM said this:
Obama: “My only point is this — historically I have been a strong believer in a women’s right to choose with her doctor, her pastor and her family. And it is ..I have consistently been saying that you have to have a health exception on many significant restrictions or bans on abortions including late-term abortions.
In the past there has been some fear on the part of people who, not only people who are anti-abortion, but people who may be in the middle, that that means that if a woman just doesn’t feel good then that is an exception. That’s never been the case.
I don’t think that is how it has been interpreted. My only point is that in an area like partial-birth abortion having a mental, having a health exception can be defined rigorously. It can be defined through physical health, It can be defined by serious clinical mental-health diseases. It is not just a matter of feeling blue. I don’t think that’s how pro-choice folks have interpreted it. I don’t think that’s how the courts have interpreted it and I think that’s important to emphasize and understand.”
Well, golly gee willikers – I don’t think that is a whole lot better, there Obama! Still waffling, still trying to appease all sides, and still acting like women: 1. should CARE what you thinks; and 2. like we need your patronizing permission on ANY of this, especially since YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR! Or a PASTOR! OR a WOMAN!! There are LAWS about this already, there, Skippy, and you don’t have to like them or agree with them, but they exist. There isn’t just “Roe,” there is also “Doe,” which deals directly with the whole “mental distress” provision.
Sheesh.
There are two very good posts on this I would like to commend to you, one by Ann Althouse, an attorney, and the other the author of Fausta’s Blog. They can both be accessed through This Link.
I wonder what flip-flops today will bring?? Oh, I can hardly WAIT!!!






















