Supreme Court upholds Abortion Ban

There are a whole host of political issues Americans disagree on, not the least of which is abortion. There are some things, however, most Americans can agree their politicians and government should stand for; two of the most important may be personal freedoms and honesty.

With the Supreme Court's decision today to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, there is no question that women's personal freedoms have been scaled back. Few women undergo the procedure banned by the law (which gives the medical procedure a gratuitously emotionally-loaded name). But when a woman does, it is because she and her doctor have decided it is the best medical decision for her. No one wants the law coming in between those types of decisions. Bush acknowledged this himself in his last State of the Union address:
"In all we do," he said on Jan. 10, "we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors."

This comment, for those still willing to take the president's words to heart, left room for hope. Perhaps, in spite of already having appointed two anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court, the president was now willing to put personal decision making and health care above his own moral high ground. But that remark from the State of the Union couldn't be squared with what he said just a few days later. From Camp David on Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the president addressed anti-abortion protesters on the Washington Mall. He thanked them for helping "to build a culture of life" and reminded them of all the ways he's restricted abortion rights, such as signing into law the ban on partial-birth abortions.

The decision by Bush's appointments to the Supreme Court to uphold this law are a sad reminder that not only have Americans' personal freedoms been constricted, but also that the president has left no room for honest discussion about it.