Roundup: Stupak's Still Mad, Nelson's Unpopular and Justifiable Homicide

Roundup: Stupak’s Still Mad, Nelson’s Unpopular and Justifiable Homicide

Dec 22, 2009, 8:54am

Rachel Larris

With the Nelson "compromise" language still filling the today's newspapers with editorials and columns, the consequences of the vitriolic nature of the abortion debate will be on display today in a Kansas court room.

With the Nelson "compromise" language still filling
the today’s newspapers with editorials and columns debating the pros and cons, the
consequences of the vitriolic nature of the abortion debate will be on display today in
a Kansas court room.

Scott Roeder, charged with the murder of Dr. George
Tiller, wants to use the "necessity
defense."

Since the killing,
Roeder has confessed to reporters that he shot Tiller, while his anti-abortion
allies have urged Roeder to present the so-called "necessity defense"
in hopes that an acquittal could turn the larger debate over abortion in their
favor.

Courts have never
allowed defendants to use justifiable homicide when they are charged with
murdering abortion doctors. Despite the fact he has admitted to killing Dr.
Tiller, Roeder’s lawyers may have
another defense they want to use.

Legal experts and
others close to the case have suggested his public defenders may actually be
aiming at a conviction on a lesser offense such as voluntary manslaughter –
defined in Kansas as "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances
existed that justified deadly force."

That would be an easier
argument to make to jurors than a necessity defense, which is unlikely to win,
said Melanie Wilson, a University of Kansas law professor. A necessity defense,
also known as the "choice of evils defense," requires proof that the
defendant reacted to an immediate danger, an argument that is undermined by
abortion’s legality.

Judge Warren Wilbert will
hear arguments today on whether to bar Roeder’s lawyers from using this
defense.

Of course the Roundup isn’t complete without some
news about our favorite senator, Ben Nelson.

It seems that despite all his work to make sure
women won’t have access to abortion services if health care reform bill passes, neither the Republican governor of Nebraska nor its other senator appreciate
his efforts to give special treatment to the state.

[Gov. Dave] Heineman
joined Republican Sen. Mike Johanns in criticizing special advantages inserted
in the legislation after Nebraska was granted full federal funding of expanded
Medicaid coverage in lieu of federal-state cost-sharing…

On Monday, Heineman
wrote Nelson: "It is imperative that every state is treated fairly and
equally or all special deals must be removed" from the bill.

Meanwhile Congressman Bart Stupak still
isn’t happy with the bill.

In
International News

Kenyan women are more afraid of getting
pregnant than contracting HIV. Research shows Kenyan women are using emergency contraception as a regular form of birth control because they are afraid of asking their partners to use condoms. Kenyan women are far more worried about preventing pregnancy, which is harder to hide, than contracting an STD.

"Unlike a sexually
transmitted disease, pregnancy cannot be hidden; it is a visible consequence
and demonstration of a sexual act and for the unmarried girl in our society,
the shame that accompanies it is heavy," says [Dr. Marsden Solomon, the Reproductive Health Regional Medical Advisor for Family
Health International].

In better news Mexico City’s legislative assembly voted
to legalized
same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.

Also Ireland is considering passing reforms that
would allow 16
and 17 year olds "to
ask for or refuse medical and life-sustaining treatment, including surgery and
contraception."

Bonus
Item: Cynthia Nixon of "Sex in the City" is speaking
out against the Stupak-Pitts language being included in the final health
care reform bill, relating that her mother had an illegal abortion prior to Roe v. Wade.

December 22, 2009

Both
sides question health bill’s abortion compromise Washington Post

EDITORIAL:
Government’s abortion
mandate Washington
Times

Stupak
blasts abortion language The Detroit News

What’s
the deal on healthcare? Los Angeles Times

Women’s
rights taken for a ride Ithaca Journal

Former
Planned Parenthood CEO teaches at Georgetown’s nursing school Catholic Culture

Colorado
court pulls the curtain back on adoption records Denver Post

Women
on the Verge Huffington
Post

Sen.
Nelson ‘betrayed’ pro-lifers back home
OneNewsNow

December 21, 2009

Seminar
touts importance of abstinence, birth control Jakarta Post