NunoftheAbove

It has been reported and confirmed that newly announce Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Pallin

Sarah and Todd Palin with new son, Trig

will announce that her daughter is five months pregnant.  It is also reported that Bristol will keep the baby and marry the father.

Source

The Palin’s released a statement in order to knock down the rumors that had been floating regarding the speculation of the daughter’s pregnancy.

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” the Palins’ statement said.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple’s privacy.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” the statement concluded.

Senator McCain’s office confirm that he was aware of the pregnancy before he made Palin his final choice for his running mate.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter’s pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called “mud-slinging and lies” circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin’s child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

“The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama’s name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their ‘campaign of change,’” a senior aide said.

Palin is known for her staunch anti-abortion views.  Not only does she talk the talk, but she also walks the walk.  When it was discovered during her last pregnancy that the baby would be born with Downs Syndrome, Palin and her husband, Todd, chose to continue the pregnancy and baby Trig Paxson Van Palin was born into a joyous family on April 18th of this year.

How this will affect the campaign is yet to be determined, however rumors are always more dangerous than the truth.  What is known is Barack Obama’s oft-quoted statement regarding the possibility of his own daughter at some time in the future becoming pregnant out of wedlock.  Using the scenario as an opportunity to support his stand on abortion, the Illinois Senator said that he wouldn’t want his daughter “punished with a baby.”

Abortion is not the alternative to punishment; it is the ultimate punishment of the most innocent one in the equation.

The ban on so-called late abortions has been supported strongly by most conservatives. The abortion which can be performed up until the onset of labor, means that many babies, which could be delivered viable, are not given the chance. A ban on such abortions recently enacted enacted in Virginia has been successfully challenged by pro-abortion groups.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Virginia’s ban on late-term abortions, approved by the General Assembly in 2003 over objections from then governor Mark R. Warner (D), is unconstitutional.

In a ruling issued this afternoon, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said the procedures covered under Virginia’s ban “imposes an undue burden on a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.”

Read entire story here.

Proponents of the bill said that it would prevent late term abortions passed the bill over the veto of Governor of Governor Warner. Immediate legal challenges were made to the law which failed to include and clause that would allow abortions in the case of danger to the mother’s health.

The 4th Circuit, one of the most conservative appellate courts in the nation, initially struck down the Virginia law in 2005 because it lacked an exception to safeguard a woman’s health.

But in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on some types of late-term abortions. The Supreme Court then sent the Virginia case back to the 4th Circuit for further reconsideration. Arguments were heard in November.

The supporters of the bill have vowed that they will continue to work to have the legislation upheld.

The Richmond-based Family Foundation, which fought for the Virginia ban, said in a statement it hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will now reverse today’s 4th Circuit ruling.

Athough late term abortions are rare in the United States, the brutality of crushing the skull of the newborn infant to terminate a pregnancy should demand a total ban on them in all cases.

In 1990, the English Parliament lowered the limit for abortion from 28 to 24, and now there is consideration to lowering the limit again to 22 weeks. While two weeks may seem a short period of time, in terms of gestation it can be the difference between life or death for a premature baby.

The House of Commons will vote next week on several amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which call for the abortion limit to be cut to between 12 and 22 weeks. Supporters argue that improving survival rates among babies below 24 weeks makes the present threshold unethical.

Read entire story here.

Advancement in the treatment of pre-term babies has lead to this decrease on the assumption that viability can be possible as early as 22 weeks. Opponents of the bill, however, say that the reduction could provide false hope to parents of the unborn children.

A reduction in the legal limit for abortion from 24 weeks would give false hope to the parents of severely premature infants, the minister responsible has told The Times.

Speaking before the first Commons vote on the issue in 18 years, Dawn Primarolo, the Health Minister, said that claims by antiabortion MPs that foetuses are commonly viable at 22 and 23 weeks could mislead parents. Such statements suggest that premature babies have a better chance of survival than is really the case, she said.

The new study, led by Professor David Field of the University of Leicester, found that, while survival rates had improved significantly at 24 and 25 weeks of gestation, there had been no change at 22 and 23 weeks.

No babies born in the Trent region at 22 weeks survived at all during the study. At 23 weeks, 18 per cent of those admitted to intensive care survived to leave hospital, but this rate had not changed in 10 years.

Additional amendments to the bill would make abortions easier to obtain despite the time constraints imposed by reducing the number of doctors required for the procedure from two to one.

Additional concerns regarding the complications present in such early gestational deliveries also produces other considerations.

Gail Johnson, of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “In theory a reduction in the legal limit to 20 weeks could lead to increased use of neonatal units and more pressure on specialist care units.”

Claire Curtis-Thomas, a Labour MP and deputy chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said that it was beyond dispute that some babies survived at gestational ages below 24 weeks. “We all know that the viability of life at a very young age is very, very limited,” she said.

“But it is possible to survive at ages below the abortion limit. By reducing the limit we would at least take it below the lowest threshhold of viability.”

In addition to the change in the time window for abortion, other controversial issues are included in the bill.

The others will cover the creation of hybrid embryos containing human and animal material, the use of embryo-screening to produce “saviour siblings” suitable to donate umbilical cord blood to sick children, and the need for fertility clinics to consider children’s need for a father before starting treatment.

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday described the saviour siblings issue as “one of the most poignantly difficult areas in the whole discussion”.

Other provisions in the Bill include a ban on sex-selection for social reasons and the closure of loopholes that have left some fertility treatments unregulated, such as fresh sperm sold over the internet. It also permits wider use of IVF records in medical research and allows surplus embryos to be used in medical training.

Prime Minister Brown is allowing this bill to be fast-tracked through the House of Commons despite strong objections from even some of his own party. The bill, however, is expected to win approval from a coalition of both Conservative and Liberal Democrats.

Whatever the outcome of the legislation, it is certain that science and ethics will continue to pull at these issues. The continual advancement of gestational viability, genetic research, and non-traditional conception to push the limits of man’s understanding and limitations of the creation of life.

Update: After the publication of this post, Michelle Malkin also blogged on Emma Beck’s death and used the Silent No More link. I am honored that Ms. Malkin and I are on the same side of this issue and support the same organization.

Artist hanged herself after aborting her twins

Last Updated: 2:03am GMT 22/02/2008

An artist killed herself after aborting her twins when she was eight weeks pregnant, leaving a note saying: “I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum.”

Emma Beck was found hanging at her home in Helston, Cornwall, on Feb 1 2007. She was declared dead early the following day – her 31st birthday.

Her suicide note read: “I told everyone I didn’t want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does.”

Read complete story

She saw her GP before the termination, but missed an appointment at a hospital in Penzance. She then cancelled, but later turned up to an appointment at a clinic at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske. The counsellor was on holiday so a doctor referred Miss Beck to a pregnancy counselling telephone service eight days before carrying out the abortion when she was eight weeks pregnant, the inquest heard.

“I am satisfied that everything was done to make sure that Emma consented to the operation.

She added: “We have since appointed more counsellors so there is more holiday cover.”

Katie Gibbs, Miss Beck’s GP, told the hearing: “She was extremely distressed by the abortion procedure, and I didn’t think she ever came to terms with it.

“She had a long history of anxiety and depression. Despite my best efforts, she was not willing to see a counsellor after the termination.”

Her boss at the clinic, said: “The time that can be given to a woman by a counsellor is limited in a busy hospital.

“I am satisfied everything was done to make sure Emma was consenting to surgery. I don’t feel there was any gap in the counselling service.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Dr Carlyon said: “It is clear that a termination can have a profound effect on a woman’s life.

On-demand abortion, over-extended medical system, bureaucratic blame shifting–a recipe for disaster. There is so much that is revealed by the comments of those who were responsible for Ms. Beck’s choices both before and after the termination of the pregnancy. How devastated she must have been when she realized that sometimes in life there are no do-overs. When in doubt, err on the side of life.

My deepest condolences to Emma Beck’s family.