You Own Leather?

An informal poll of our staff shows that at least 40% of us are confused about this whole "partial birth abortion" thing. Also, at least 90% of us resent the use of the word "thing" in the discussion of this issue, but hell, only one person can type at one time.

Respectful of Otters has a nice post about the effects of the partial birth abortion ban that was passed recently (we want to say last year). This was the one bill that got signed with all the old white dudes around the president...while people were puzzled that an abortion law can be signed without one woman beside the president.

here's a bit of the post:
It's a first-person account by a journalist who discovered, at 19 weeks' gestation, that her much-wanted baby had died in utero. By far the safest option for removing the dead baby while preserving the mother's health and her fertility was the procedure called "dilation and extraction," known in political circles as "partial-birth abortion." The D&E had a 4% risk of serious complications, the alternative procedure 29%. The problem, in the wake of Bush's 2003 "partial-birth abortion" ban, was finding someone to do the procedure.

(link to more)

p.s. respectful once commented on this blog. The event was so amazing that we only talk about it in hushed whispers.