Wednesday, June 09, 2004
This is offensive even if you oppose legal abortion
The Center for Reproductive Rights has filed a lawsuit against the Causeway Center for Women in Louisiana, claiming that the clinic is a sham. According to the complaint, the operator of the Center, one William A. Graham, has been "pretending to set up appointments at bargain prices, but stringing women along until it is too late."
Basically, the lawsuit alleges that this guy advertises abortions at a low price, and then delays appointments, fails to return calls and otherwise strings along the women until they are more than 24 weeks into the pregnancy, after which time Louisiana law renders the abortion unlawful (as it should, presumably under Roe's third trimester rule).
If true, this is appalling. Whatever one thinks of abortion, only a cretin doesn't have sympathy for women who get pregnant when they shouldn't. Such a pregnancy is a terrible burden, whether carried to term or ended early by abortion or otherwise. It is outrageous that a healthcare provider would deceive these poor women. And they must be literally poor women, because the low price is the tool for attracting them to the defendant's clinic in the first place.
Unfortunately, the story told in the complaint rings true. Assuming the press account quoted Graham fairly, his denial makes the complaint sound plausible: "'I cannot make somebody stay pregnant. They can go anywhere they want' to have an abortion, he said."
And one of the plaintiffs is a doctor who worked at the Center.
Via Atrios.
Basically, the lawsuit alleges that this guy advertises abortions at a low price, and then delays appointments, fails to return calls and otherwise strings along the women until they are more than 24 weeks into the pregnancy, after which time Louisiana law renders the abortion unlawful (as it should, presumably under Roe's third trimester rule).
If true, this is appalling. Whatever one thinks of abortion, only a cretin doesn't have sympathy for women who get pregnant when they shouldn't. Such a pregnancy is a terrible burden, whether carried to term or ended early by abortion or otherwise. It is outrageous that a healthcare provider would deceive these poor women. And they must be literally poor women, because the low price is the tool for attracting them to the defendant's clinic in the first place.
Unfortunately, the story told in the complaint rings true. Assuming the press account quoted Graham fairly, his denial makes the complaint sound plausible: "'I cannot make somebody stay pregnant. They can go anywhere they want' to have an abortion, he said."
And one of the plaintiffs is a doctor who worked at the Center.
Via Atrios.
0 Comments:
