USA Today lamented in an editorial on July 2nd the likely “short-lived” victory of Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) who, according to the editorial board, became “an overnight social media star among liberals,” as she filibustered a late-term abortion ban that would also require higher safety standards for abortion clinics.
Though the editorial board admits the U.S. must prevent murders like the ones committed by convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell in his West Philadelphia abortion clinic, it has decided that bans on abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy, such as that in Texas, will “create more tragedies that they prevent.”
The most striking of the board’s named “tragedies” is that 20-week abortion bans will make it harder for women to abort unborn babies who are diagnosed with Down syndrome. In other words, Down syndrome babies may be permitted to actually live.
The board writes:
While some genetic conditions, such as Down syndrome, can be detected with amniocentesis at 16 to 22 weeks, even then it can take two weeks to get results. Add specialists, research and time to reflect, and a 20-week ban forces women and couples to make heartrending decisions against a ticking clock.
In some cases, they’d have no opportunity at all. Some of the most serious impairments — the failure of kidneys to materialize, or the development of organs outside the body — aren’t discovered before couples at low-risk for problems have routine ultrasounds, at about 18 to 20 weeks.
The USA Today editorial board describes abortion as a “personal choice:”
Should a politician in Washington or a state capital have the power to force a woman to carry a fetus that will be stillborn or die shortly after birth? Or order a woman to give birth to a baby she knows will suffer greatly?
Then again, shouldn’t a child with Down syndrome, be allowed to live?
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