The American Spectator

/p>

I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.

br> Except that Doe v. Bolton , the companion case to Roe v. Wade , defines a woman’s health as “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient.” The Freedom of Choice Act, which Obama co-sponsors and has promised to sign into law as president, upholds this standard and requires mental-health exceptions to late-term abortion bans. p>So then Obama backtracked : br> /p>

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 is important to emphasize and understand.

br> Except there is no known “feeling blue” provision in American abortion jurisprudence. Martin Haskell, the inventor of partial-birth abortion, told the American Medical News