Grammatical awkwardness aside, is he suggesting people (including politicians) aren't arguing over second-trimester abortions already?

And, not to sound like a broken record, but how many Canadian women are running to the abortion clinic at nine months?

You know, anti-abortion rhetoric sounds an awful lot like some of the arguments used to question women's claims of rape - Why didn't you protect yourself? How did you get in that situation? Were you a virgin? Do you deserve this abortion/trial?

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"...is that Americans aren't permitted to debate anything else" - those of us who are concerned about these things called "rights" are aware that there is a First Amendment that protects, among other things, our ability to debate pretty much anything. Just because states have limited abilities to regulate something doesn't mean we as Americans have been issued a gag rule on the entire subject. It's not like we can't talk about abortion at all or anything...

"Arguments about whether and how to restrict abortions in the second trimester - as many advanced democracies already do - would replace protests over the scope of third-trimester medical exemptions." Disingenuous and just plain incredibly untrue. This nation already does restrict abortions in the second trimester and, as previously stated, the right to argue about it has not been infringed. (Nor has the right to peaceful protest, I might add.) Also, let me make this clear: the type of person who puts a bullet through an abortion doctor's head is not going to stop because we've imposed stricter regulations on abortions or narrowed the scope of what abortions can be performed. A rational compromise, if that is indeed what he is espousing, will never prevent wackos and extremists from deciding the gun is mightier than the pen, or at least more effective in the short term. The wacko in question will not stop until there are no more abortions preformed ever, and then he will switch to a different perceived wrong to fixate his mania upon.

I think we do everyone a disservice by treating these self-appointed assassins as anything other than nutjob zealots.

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What frightens me is because it's in the NYT, this will be accpted as the utmost truth, fact and logic. Because, you know, it's the TIMES.

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There can be no denying that intellectual snobbery is its own reward, as outlined by your spiteful and inflammatory rhetoric in regards to the legality of abortion and the death of Dr. Tiller. It is clear you are not interested in the welfare or rights of others, only imposing your own self-satisfying, hypocritical, egocentric morality on others.

As a man, it's easy to sit in the comfort of your belief system and claim yourself to be a prophet on abortion. You do not possess a uterus, and therefor will never bear a child. You have means, and therefor will never be poor and low on options. You are a man, and the likelihood is that you will never feel the hot sting of rape, followed by the woe of becoming pregnant by your beast of an attacker. You will never been in the same situation as the millions of women who become pregnant when they were not prepared to be, and must wrestle with the decision of keeping the baby. You will never have to make that choice.

Nor will I.

The difference between us, however, is that I can put the needs of others ahead of my own pride and morality. I can suspend judgment, where judgment is not called for. And I will never ask a woman to do anything she is not prepared to do, simply because I feel it's best.

Before your next barbaric screed on the subject, take a good, long look in the mirror, and remember that it is always easiest to stand at the edge of the road and throw stones, than to reach out a hand.

NefariousNewt

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Not only does this minimize the immense impact that mental health can have on one's ability to make large, life-changing decisions (like bringing a child into the world!), it also stigmatizes mental health as a totally made-up thing that's used as an "excuse."

Bad, bad, bad taste in my mouth.

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I don't buy into your whole god, soul, etc. theories. Your god notion is super insecure and neurotic. I don't want any of you fools legislating in this theory's name on my behalf.

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You should be seeing this hitting the news soon -- the attorney for Tiller's family has said that they are permanently closing his clinic.

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I'm kind of ashamed of that, and I don't plan to be friendly with either of these men ever again.

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I still can't wrap my head around the idea that this is the single biggest threat to the religious right. Not hunger, poverty, or abuse of God's creatures that can breathe on their own.

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Strawman?

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