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Commentary
Women legally earn information
By Eric O'Link
Published:
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Monday was a landmark day in Minnesota for both pro-lifers and pro-choicers.
Only a few hours after the Minnesota Senate approved the "Women's Right to Know" bill, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed it into law.
Scheduled to be phased into effect after July 1, the law requires doctors to give specific information to women considering an abortion. The information includes the medical risks and possible psychological problems linked to abortion, the medical risks of childbirth, an estimation of the fetus' gestational age, whether the fetus will feel pain as a result of the procedure and if the woman decides against the abortion, the financial responsibilities the baby's father will have.
The law also directs that the state create a Web site where anyone may access the above information, and it requires doctors to report their compliance to the state or face financial penalties if they refuse to do so. Perhaps one of the most controversial parts of the law attempts to define when "life" begins - at conception, it says, not later in the pregnancy term.
Those against the legislation were vocal about their dissatisfaction with the new law in Tuesday's newspapers.
The Star Tribune said opponents of the law called the "life begins at conception" definition "politically and religiously motivated." According to the Pioneer Press, Tim Stanley, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League said that by signing the bill, Gov. Pawlenty had "restricted the reproductive rights of Minnesota women."
And SCSU's own Julie Ingmire Seminitis, a graduate student and the founder of Students for Choice, told the St. Cloud Times, "It implies we (women) do not think hard about the decisions that we make, that we're just emotional and irrational."
Wait a minute; are we hearing ourselves here?
This law is not about restricting abortion, intimidating anyone or stomping on women's "reproductive rights." It's about INFORMATION; it's been created to make sure women have ready access to important information to make well-informed decisions; probably one of the hardest decisions of their lives.
People have been quick to blast the "life begins at conception" definition in the bill but did the legislature have a better option to word this important section? Doctors and scientists seem unable to determine when exactly the fetus becomes "living." Yet, when conception occurs, the possibility and probability of a new human life is created. To avoid vague or confusing language, it makes sense that the legislature accepted this definition in the bill.
As for the argument that "women already think long and hard about abortions," I can't help but ask myself, "Do all women really?" What about teenagers, who become pregnant, get scared and have an abortion just to get rid of the "problem?" Would they be so quick to act if they were given the above information and a day to think it over?
Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, told the Star Tribune that after a similar law was passed in Louisiana, the number of abortions in that state dropped 50 percent. That, the Star Tribune said, "could translate into 7,500 fewer abortions in Minnesota, where about 15,000 abortions were performed last year."
Think about that; that's not just 7,500 fewer abortions in Minnesota; that's 7,500 children each YEAR who are given a chance at life.
When you consider this law's life-saving potential, giving women specific information about abortion and giving them a day to think it over seems a small price to pay.
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Eric: it must be so nice to be you...... (4/17/03)
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