Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Small, but Mighty

On May 30 my local newspaper had a large picture of a small infant accompanying a front page headline that said, “SMALL BUT MIGHTY, BABY BEATS ODDS; Premie born at 8.6 ounces is the tiniest infant ever to survive.” The infant was delivered by C-section at 23 weeks gestation in December, 2018 because of the mother’s life threatening preeclampsia. The story goes on to detail the various reasons why premies this small usually do not survive, but this premie girl beat the odds and has gone home. To me this story on the front page is somewhat oxymoronic for this ultra liberal local newspaper that usually leans far to the left on just about anything. Could this represent a small, but potentially mighty change in the attitude of this liberal “paper.” Highlighting that a 8.6 oz. 23 week gestation premie is alive, well, and now home is a bit odd in the context of the recent continued leftward-shift on abortion being promulgated by various state legislatures.

As pointed out by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List:“Take for example the sweeping abortion billDemocrats in the Illinois legislature are trying to ram through in the last days of their session. This bill would create a “fundamental right” to abortion, wiping out all sorts of modest limits Illinois has on the books and effectively expanding abortion on demand (already paid for by taxpayers) through the moment of birth and even infanticide. It repeals the state’s ban on grisly partial-birth abortions; since the federal ban still applies, it seems this was intended to make a statement about values. It also allows non-doctors to perform abortions, removes conscience protections for pro-life health care workers, and would force all private health insurance plans to cover abortion – including religious organizations. This bill is even more radical than the law signed by New York’s Governor Cuomo and the failed bill proposed by a Virginia legislator earlier this year.”

According to the latest polling (May 17-20,2019) 45% of Independents believe that abortion should be generally available to those who want it, while 36% think that abortion should be available but under stricter limits than it is now, and 17 % feel that abortion should not be permitted. These Independent stats have not changed much over the last 15 years, but now the more radical abortion laws these different state legislatures pass (e.g. Illinois), the more the Independents will back away. With more radical things like partial birth abortion, and infanticide, it’s easy to predict a shifting of the of Independents’ thinking more toward abortion with stricter limits than it is now. A small, but potentially mighty change. For those of us who are against abortion this shift can only be good.

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