Texas state senator Wendy Davis, famous for her 11-hour filibuster in support of late abortion, recently told the Dallas Morning News she could possibly support a 20 week abortion ban with exceptions for fetal abnormalities or risks to the mother’s health. Broad exceptions for the “health of the mother” have long been used by pro-abortion advocates to render pro-life legislation as virtually meaningless.
In response, SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser gave the following comment:
“National and Texas-based polling shows Wendy Davis’ extreme abortion position is repellant to voters, including women, young people, and Hispanics. Most Americans simply can’t stomach the brutality of late abortion and are moving towards compassionate, common ground limits. Only political desperation could cause Davis to try to give the appearance of moving with them, while at the same time maintaining abortion as her ‘sacred ground,’ and eviscerating the goals of the legislation.”
There are roughly 18,000 post-20 week abortions per year in the United States. According to the abortionists themselves, the majority of late-term abortions are for elective reasons, not due to fetal abnormality.
Dr. Martin Haskell, the pioneer of the “partial-birth abortion” procedure brought this issue to the attention of the nation, when he said that 80 percent of the abortions he performed this way were purely elective. Only 20 percent involved fetal defects. James McMahon, another late-term abortionist, told researchers that, while slightly more than half of the late abortions he performed were for fetal health reasons, that term included easily correctable conditions such as cleft lip.
