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Born Alive Babies

I mentioned here that Obama opposed a bill in the Illinois Senate that would have required babies born during failed abortions to be provided medical care.

The article mentioned in that post described the measure as a kind of beachhead, or trojan horse, from which standard abortion could be attacked.

I noted that position probably would fly, so long as there were no actual instances of babies being born alive after botched abortions. This is pretty crazy stuff:

A young woman who had undergone just the first cervix-opening phase of a partial-birth abortion gave birth in the emergency room. The doctor placed the 22-week-old baby in a specimen dish to be taken to the lab. According to the report, when Ms. Lowe "saw the baby girl in the dish she was stunned when she saw the girl gasping for air. 'I don't think I can do that,' Ms. Lowe reportedly said. 'This baby is alive.'" Lowe asked permission to hold the baby until she died. She wrapped the child she dubbed "Baby Hope" in a blanket and sang to her. Breathing room air without any other supports, Baby Hope lived for three hours.

Now, two points: (1) it's not clear that this baby was born in Illinois, since the testimony is from the US Senate bill that preceded Obama's election; (2) it's not clear that a law against "murder," or "child neglect" might not cover keeping this baby alive after it's been born.

So on both counts, it's possible Obama's vote can be explained. Still, I wouldn't want to take any chances, given the testimony mentioned above.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on September 19, 2008 (boomark / email).