waltky
03-30-2016, 11:00 PM
Trump reverses on abortion amid outcry...
:rollseyes:
Trump says punish women for illegal abortions, then back-tracks
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 - US Republican Donald Trump reverses his position after calling for "some form of punishment" for women who have illegal abortions.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump briefly called for "some form of punishment" for women who have abortions, if it became illegal. His initial comments made during a town hall event with cable network MSNBC sparked a wave of criticism. However, Mr Trump quickly reversed his position, saying only the person who performed the abortion should be punished. But he maintained: "My position has not changed."
The front-runner supports a ban on abortions, with certain exceptions. Abortion has been legal in the United States since 1973 after a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Only the high court or a constitutional amendment has the power to overturn Roe v Wade and make abortion illegal. Once a Democrat, Mr Trump has been criticised for supporting abortion rights in the past.
Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC News North America reporter
The Republican Party's official position is that abortion should be illegal. Conservative politicians and anti-abortion activists who view abortion as akin to murder, however, tend to avoid outlining any criminal punishment for women who undergo the procedure, instead targeting the doctors responsible. The reason for this is simple - to make abortion bans more acceptable to a general public that does not want to see possibly distraught women grappling with unwanted pregnancies sent to prison.
Donald Trump, as he is wont to do, just trampled through this carefully constructed conservative political dance with all the grace of a rhinoceros at a tea party. Thanks to his assertion, after prodding, that women should face "some form of punishment" for having an illegal abortion, the conservative pro-life movement is going to be forced to defend their beliefs on uncomfortable ground. Republican candidates will be asked, again and again, to defend or denounce Mr Trump's comments. This is exactly the kind of scenario that terrifies Republican politicians about Mr Trump as their party's nominee. His ill-considered remarks and shoot-from-the-hip approach to media interviews could be a political minefield for their candidates in the autumn. In all likelihood it's just a taste of things to come.
MORE (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35931103)
See also:
FDA: Women can take abortion pill later; pare clinic visits
March 30, 2016 | Women will be able to take the so-called abortion pill later in a pregnancy and with fewer doctor visits under a new federal label for the drug that undermines several state laws aimed at restricting medical abortions.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified the manufacturer of the drug Mifeprex in a letter on Tuesday that the drug is safe and effective for terminating a pregnancy in accordance with the new label. Also known as mifepristone or the abortion pill, the drug manufactured by Danco Laboratories is used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. While abortion providers in most states already are using the protocol outlined in the new label, laws in effect in Ohio, North Dakota and Texas prohibited "off-label" uses of the drug and mandated abortion providers adhere to the older protocol approved in 2000. Similar laws in Arkansas and Oklahoma have been on hold pending legal challenges, while a county judge in Arizona ruled in October that state's law was unconstitutional.
Under the new label, a smaller dose of mifepristone can be used up to 70 days after the beginning of the last menstrual period instead of the 49-day limit in effect under the old label. Also, the second drug in the protocol, which follows a day or two later, can be taken by a woman at home and not be required to be administered at a clinic, reducing the number of office visits a woman must make. "The FDA's approval of a label reflecting a more updated, evidence-based protocol for medication abortion has the potential to expand women's options for safely ending a pregnancy in the earliest weeks," said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "This label change underscores just how medically unnecessary and politically motivated restrictions on medication abortion in states like Texas and Oklahoma truly are, and demonstrates the lengths politicians will go to single out reproductive health care to restrict women's rights."
Abortion rights supporters say they expect providers in Ohio, North Dakota and Texas to begin administering the drugs in accordance with the new label within the next few days. Chris France, executive director of Preterm, Ohio's largest abortion provider, said: "We will be implementing the new protocol today." France said before Ohio's law prohibiting off-label use of the drugs went into effect, between 10 and 15 percent of patients elected for a medication abortion. That number dropped below 2 percent after the law took effect. "Combined with other restrictions in our state, medication abortion has required four in-person clinic visits, making this method too costly and cumbersome for most people," France said. "Now, our providers will no longer be forced to practice medicine mandated by politicians whose goal is to shut us down."
Randall O'Bannon, director of research for the anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said medication-induced abortions still are dangerous and have led to at least 14 deaths and thousands of injuries. He says the new protocols serve mostly the interests of the abortion industry by increasing their profit margin by requiring a smaller dose of the drug and reducing the level of staff they have to devote to the patient. "It looks like this benefits the abortion industry and increases their potential customer base and revenues, but it's not clear that anything here makes it safer for women in the long run, and certainly nothing about a chemical abortion makes it any safer for the unborn child," O'Bannon said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new-abortion-drug-label-could-undo-several-state-laws
:rollseyes:
Trump says punish women for illegal abortions, then back-tracks
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 - US Republican Donald Trump reverses his position after calling for "some form of punishment" for women who have illegal abortions.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump briefly called for "some form of punishment" for women who have abortions, if it became illegal. His initial comments made during a town hall event with cable network MSNBC sparked a wave of criticism. However, Mr Trump quickly reversed his position, saying only the person who performed the abortion should be punished. But he maintained: "My position has not changed."
The front-runner supports a ban on abortions, with certain exceptions. Abortion has been legal in the United States since 1973 after a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Only the high court or a constitutional amendment has the power to overturn Roe v Wade and make abortion illegal. Once a Democrat, Mr Trump has been criticised for supporting abortion rights in the past.
Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC News North America reporter
The Republican Party's official position is that abortion should be illegal. Conservative politicians and anti-abortion activists who view abortion as akin to murder, however, tend to avoid outlining any criminal punishment for women who undergo the procedure, instead targeting the doctors responsible. The reason for this is simple - to make abortion bans more acceptable to a general public that does not want to see possibly distraught women grappling with unwanted pregnancies sent to prison.
Donald Trump, as he is wont to do, just trampled through this carefully constructed conservative political dance with all the grace of a rhinoceros at a tea party. Thanks to his assertion, after prodding, that women should face "some form of punishment" for having an illegal abortion, the conservative pro-life movement is going to be forced to defend their beliefs on uncomfortable ground. Republican candidates will be asked, again and again, to defend or denounce Mr Trump's comments. This is exactly the kind of scenario that terrifies Republican politicians about Mr Trump as their party's nominee. His ill-considered remarks and shoot-from-the-hip approach to media interviews could be a political minefield for their candidates in the autumn. In all likelihood it's just a taste of things to come.
MORE (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35931103)
See also:
FDA: Women can take abortion pill later; pare clinic visits
March 30, 2016 | Women will be able to take the so-called abortion pill later in a pregnancy and with fewer doctor visits under a new federal label for the drug that undermines several state laws aimed at restricting medical abortions.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified the manufacturer of the drug Mifeprex in a letter on Tuesday that the drug is safe and effective for terminating a pregnancy in accordance with the new label. Also known as mifepristone or the abortion pill, the drug manufactured by Danco Laboratories is used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. While abortion providers in most states already are using the protocol outlined in the new label, laws in effect in Ohio, North Dakota and Texas prohibited "off-label" uses of the drug and mandated abortion providers adhere to the older protocol approved in 2000. Similar laws in Arkansas and Oklahoma have been on hold pending legal challenges, while a county judge in Arizona ruled in October that state's law was unconstitutional.
Under the new label, a smaller dose of mifepristone can be used up to 70 days after the beginning of the last menstrual period instead of the 49-day limit in effect under the old label. Also, the second drug in the protocol, which follows a day or two later, can be taken by a woman at home and not be required to be administered at a clinic, reducing the number of office visits a woman must make. "The FDA's approval of a label reflecting a more updated, evidence-based protocol for medication abortion has the potential to expand women's options for safely ending a pregnancy in the earliest weeks," said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "This label change underscores just how medically unnecessary and politically motivated restrictions on medication abortion in states like Texas and Oklahoma truly are, and demonstrates the lengths politicians will go to single out reproductive health care to restrict women's rights."
Abortion rights supporters say they expect providers in Ohio, North Dakota and Texas to begin administering the drugs in accordance with the new label within the next few days. Chris France, executive director of Preterm, Ohio's largest abortion provider, said: "We will be implementing the new protocol today." France said before Ohio's law prohibiting off-label use of the drugs went into effect, between 10 and 15 percent of patients elected for a medication abortion. That number dropped below 2 percent after the law took effect. "Combined with other restrictions in our state, medication abortion has required four in-person clinic visits, making this method too costly and cumbersome for most people," France said. "Now, our providers will no longer be forced to practice medicine mandated by politicians whose goal is to shut us down."
Randall O'Bannon, director of research for the anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said medication-induced abortions still are dangerous and have led to at least 14 deaths and thousands of injuries. He says the new protocols serve mostly the interests of the abortion industry by increasing their profit margin by requiring a smaller dose of the drug and reducing the level of staff they have to devote to the patient. "It looks like this benefits the abortion industry and increases their potential customer base and revenues, but it's not clear that anything here makes it safer for women in the long run, and certainly nothing about a chemical abortion makes it any safer for the unborn child," O'Bannon said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new-abortion-drug-label-could-undo-several-state-laws