Nearly three years ago, a Navy wife learned that her fetus was anencephalic: it had no brain. She managed to get the Navy to pay for an abortion, but ever since the government has been suing her to get the USD $3,000 because it's against the law for the state to pay for abortions.
Susan Paynter writes:
"Tragic, very tragic. But the law is straightforward," an assistant U.S. attorney for the government said in a University of Washington traveling courtroom earlier this month. Abortion may be legal but the public paying for it is not. Regardless of the fact that the fetus could never survive, the government's position must be "pro-life."
Pro-Life? There is nothing pro-life about opposing the abortion of anencephalic fetuses. Such a fetus cannot result in a living baby. It was cheaper to pay for an abortion than to pay the costs for delivering such a fetus. This is where an absolutist anti-abortion position leads: human suffering because there are cases where abortion is necessary, but unavailable because of Christian extremists.
She finds the situation particularly abhorrent in the armed services where couples like the Navy husband and wife have no other insurance options. "These men and women are doing what they perceive as their duty to the country. Their lives are very hard. The pay is poor. And the separations are extremely difficult as it is," she said.
In court, Russell listened to the government insist that abortion was not an option under the law because the fetus in question was still alive, had a beating heart, and was considered "viable." And, if the law were changed, where would they draw the line on the so-called "slippery slope?"
Why don't they just adopt the standard of doing what's best for the mother? Anything else is unreasonable.
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