The abortion diversion

HOWARD DEAN is not wrong to say that his party ought to make a home for prolife Democrats. People committed to a country that truly honors women, mothers, and families can and will disagree about abortion.

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But Democrats must make clear that outlawing abortion and expanding fetal rights pose significant threats not just to women who want to end their pregnancies but also to pregnant women and expectant fathers who hope to become parents. Increasingly, pregnant women who have no intention of ending their pregnancies face arrest, forced surgery, and punitive child welfare interventions based on antiabortion claims of fetal rights.

At 27 years old and 25 weeks pregnant, Angela Carder became critically ill. She, her family, and her attending physicians all agreed on treatment designed to keep her alive for as long as possible. Nevertheless, based on antiabortion, fetal-rights claims, a court ordered Carder to undergo a C-section, knowing the surgery could kill her. The surgery was performed. Carder not only lost her right to informed consent and bodily integrity, she lost her right to life. The surgery resulted in the death of both Carder and her fetus.

Democrats need to stop talking only about the right to end a pregnancy and start talking about the right to continue pregnancies without abusive state interventions disguised as fetal rights. In other words, antiabortion ideology hurts both those for and against abortion.

Amber and John Marlowe, a deeply religious couple who profoundly oppose abortion, found this out when Marlowe went into labor with their seventh wanted child. She did not believe she needed a C-section and did not want to subject herself or her unborn child to unnecessary surgery. The hospital disagreed with both mother and father, and using antiabortion arguments developed over the last 30 years, got a court order giving it custody of the fetus before, during, and after delivery, and the right to force Marlowe to undergo invasive surgery.

Before the order came down, the Marlowes fled to another hospital. There, Amber delivered a healthy baby naturally.

In yet another case, Washington, D.C., doctors sought a court order to force Ayesha Madyun to have a C-section. The doctors asserted that the fetus faced a 50 to 75 percent chance of infection if not delivered surgically. A judge, relying again on antiabortion fetal rights arguments, said, ''All that stood between the Madyun fetus and its independent existence, separate from its mother, was, put simply, a doctor's scalpel." The court granted the order. When the procedure was done, there was no evidence of infection.

Democrats must oppose the proposed antiabortion and fetal rights laws that undermine fetal health by subjecting pregnant women and unborn children to unnecessary surgery and deprive pregnant women of the right to informed consent, bodily integrity, and in some cases life itself.   Continued...