In recent months, the liberal media have depicted Texas’s decision to ban non-medically necessitated abortions after 20 weeks as extreme as well as additional evidence of a Republican “war on women.”
On ABC’s This Week Sunday, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina refuted this claim pointing out that only four countries in the world allow abortions that late – Canada, China, North Korea, and the United States (video follows with transcript and commentary):
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: One of the big ones, Carly, is women. I guess Mitt Romney won married women by about eleven points, but lost single women by almost 50, 46 points. How do you turn that around?
CARLY FIORINA: Well, I think first we have to turn it around by having reasonable discussions around the things that are labeled extreme. Let me just give you a very simple example. First of all, not everyone in the Republican Party is pro-Life. I happen to be pro-Life, but there are many pro-choice Republicans. But, example, when Governor Perry pushed forward legislation in Texas to ban abortion after 20 weeks, it was labeled as an extreme move. That's five months. Five months.
There are only four countries in the world that have, that legalize abortion after five months: China, North Korea, Canada and the U.S. It's actually not a particularly extreme position to say a woman needs to have a choice up to five months, and then there really has to be a medical reason. But it got cast as a very extreme point. I would be willing to wager that there are many, many single women who are pro-choice, who say. “You know what? Five months sounds reasonable to me.”
So I think part of the Republican Party's challenge is to not fall into the trap of having issues cast the way our political opponents want them cast, and be willing and courageous enough to actually have the debate on our terms.
Indeed.
When you look at abortion laws around the world, ours should be labeled as extreme not for their strictness, but for their liberalness.
Consider that in much of Europe, twelve weeks is the limit without medical reasons. The BBC broke down Europe's abortion laws in 2007:
FRANCE
Availability: On request
Gestational limit: 12 weeks
Conditions: The woman must claim to be in a "state of distress" because of her pregnancy. After 12 weeks, abortions are allowed only if the pregnancy poses a grave danger to the woman's health or there is a risk the child will suffer from a severe illness recognised as incurable. If this is the case, two doctors must confirm the risk to the health of the woman or foetus.
GERMANYAvailability: On request
Gestational limit: 12 weeks
Conditions: The woman must receive proper counselling three days before the procedure. The state-regulated counselling is required to inform the woman that the unborn have a right to life and to try to convince her to continue her pregnancy.
The procedure is not covered by public health insurance except for women with low income. The law includes penalties for people who force a pregnant woman to obtain an abortion or who induce a pregnant woman to have an abortion by maliciously withholding support payments.
GREECEAvailability: On request
Gestational limit: 12 weeks
Conditions: Abortions are allowed up to 19 weeks in the case of rape or incest and 24 weeks in cases of foetal abnormality.
As such, the left and their media minions depicting 20 weeks as extreme are badly misrepresenting how the rest of the world views abortion.
They're also ignoring how the American public sees this issue.
A Gallup poll in January found 64 percent believe abortions should be illegal after just three months.
That means the media's unrestricted abortion position goes against what almost two thirds of the nation supports.
It is therefore the media that are extreme NOT folks trying to impose stricter regulations.
