----- Original Message ----- From: "Warren Ockrassa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 1:47 PM Subject: Re: Abortion and the Democratic Party Re: The AmericanPoliticalLandscape Today
> On May 18, 2005, at 11:29 AM, Dan Minette wrote: > > > As far as I can tell, your reading and Harry Blackmum's opinions of > > this > > are different: > > > > and I quote from his opinion: > > [...] > > > (c) For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its > > interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, > > regulate, > > and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in > > appropriate > > medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the > > mother. > > > Health is clearly in there, not just life. DSM 300.02 is a clear easy > > out. > > How do you figure? The proviso includes "appropriate medical judgment", > which leaves psychologists right out, as only psychiatrists are also > MDs, and only psychiatrists would be (implicitly) entitled to render > *medical* judgment regarding a woman's health. > > A non-psychiatrist MD, furthermore, would not be able to make judgments > based on mental health -- or so I understand -- so Dr. Nick Riviera > can't just waltz in, say "Hi everybody," and prescribe an abortion > based on *anything* he pulls from a DSM. That's not true. A non-psychiatrist MD certainly can make a diagnosis and write a perscription for mental health reasons. I know that as a fact. My point is not that the MD can pull something out of his tush, it's that it is a _legetimate_ mental health diagnosis. > If you want to continue contending that a psychiatrist is likely to > risk his license and professional future by trumping up a faked > mental-health reason for a woman to have a late-term abortion, you > certainly can, but it'll be an extremely tenuous argument, I think. What's trumped up or faked? You think that a woman wanting a late term abortion won't be extremely anxious? DSM4 is _the_ diagnostic tool for mental health. This is _literally_ by the book...her mental health is in danger if she is suffering anxiety disorder because she is pregnant. > > All it takes is a quick visit to the right free clinic to get this out. > > Even more odd. If it's a *free* clinic, what is the motivation to > perform an abortion on trumped-up grounds? Wouldn't that be more likely > with a bribable private practitioner? Because they don't believe it's trumped up. Since the fetus isn't human, the mental health of the mother is all that's needed to justify an abortion. Becasue they are true believers in reproductive rights. If the numbers are less than 1000/year, and some are needed to protect the life of the mother, why not specify that third term abortions are legally acceptable only when they are to protect the life of the mother. Most Americans are in favor of this. Why do the promoters of "reproductive rights" consider this such an affront to human rights? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
