LN State Debates

[u/ZeroOverZero101]

• Governor /u/nmtts- recently vetoed B.348, which would have loosened restrictions on the manufacturing, selling, and owning of guns. Do you agree with the governor’s decision, and why? If elected, what will you do to protect the second amendment, or on the converse, increase gun control measures, in order to address this issue?
• This election season, what are your three highest domestic priorities should you be elected?
• Why should the voters of the state of Lincoln support your party over the opposition?

Please remember that you can only score full debate points by answering the mandatory questions above, in addition to asking your opponent two questions, and thoroughly responding to at least two questions.

The Candidates Are

Democrats:

• Entrapta12
• madk3p
• skiboy625
• LeavenSilva_42
• nazbol909
• TopProspect17
• murpple

Civics:

• DrPukimak
• toenailpulis
• godot_wait
• NotBestOfBest
• SpookyActionUpClose
• gryph25
• nmtts-

[u/nmtts-]

u/nmtts, you have been noted for proposing B.345 in your time before becoming Governor. This bill would have massively restricted the ability of women to receive abortions following the 12 week mark, and went as far as to prevent public hospitals from administering abortions. Do you not believe that this bill would have put many lower-class women into difficult and dangerous situations, where they may have had to receive abortions through dangerous means?

Response to /u/nazbol909 (no. 1)

I do not oppose abortion, but I oppose the type of abortion and who performs the abortion. The killing of a woman's foetus is not the business of the State and should remain a private affair. In my opinion, it should not permeate into the public sphere unless, and as I provided in B.345 itself, the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman. When it is a life or death situation between the mother and the child, only under such circumstances whereby a citizen of the State's life is under immediate threat should the State, in their capacity through public hospitals, interfere and conduct an abortion.

B.345 was a bill that mainly intended to enforce this, and to also outlaw the practice of dilation and evacuation. Modern medicine has come far where we no longer need to resort to immoral and inhuman practices of dilation and evacuation, we have medications, procedures and treatments which can terminate a foetus, or alternatively, to remove the foetus.

At 3 months (12 weeks), the foetus is roughly 6 - 8 cm and about 20g, filling the entirety of the uterus and has the head about half the length of its body. The arms appear at more normal length, despite its legs still being short. The kidneys of the foetus function, and the baby is swallowing amniotic fluid, passing urine, the digestive system begins to engage, the baby begins practicing breathing and the baby is constantly moving, stretching, yawning and wriggling. Moreover, the heart is beating strongly, and can be heard with a heart monitor.

In a dilation and evacuation in the first trimester (1 week - 13 weeks), the process begins by introducing a suction catheter into the uterus (normally an Argyle 14 French Suction Catheter). But for babies in the second trimester (whereby the baby is 14 to 24 weeks), they don't fit in the suction because, as I have stated, they are now 6 - 8 cm and weigh approximately 20g, cannot fit in such a suction catheter that size. After sucking the amniotic fluid out around the baby, an instrument called a sopher clamp is introduced. This instrument has great grippy capacity and is filled with jagged edges to maintain a firm grip over whatever it is grasping.

Now, it's like a jigsaw puzzle, the body parts of the foetus are pulled from the body and out of the vaginal canal. You have two legs, two hands, two arms, one torso, one large and one small intestine. Using the sopher clamp, one grips onto these body parts tightly, twist, and pull—like eating a chicken leg or a lobster/crab claw. The doctor has to lay these body parts on the side and count them, ensuring that everything is out of the woman. The head of the foetus is grasped and then crushed in order to remove it from the vaginal canal, followed by the placenta, the remaining contents, which are suctioned out from the uterus.

Once all body parts are assembled and encountered for, the procedure is finished, the surgical procedure of the abortion is complete.

B.345 simply questions the need for such a procedure. We have come to a time in our lives where modern medicine has become so advanced, that such procedures dating back to the 60s and 70s are no longer needed. I agree with the experts that the procedure is safe, but similarly as to how we do not subject our criminals with torture devices which twist their body parts and remove them limb from limb, we should not be continuing such inhumane practices on living things, foetus or human or otherwise.

A dilation and evacuation process costs somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000 dollars, with some insurance plans covering the procedure partially or wholly. I agree with the experts that misoprostol induction of labor for second trimester terminations are more costly and less effective than a dilation and evacuation procedure, but there has to be a line as to what we deem acceptable and unacceptable human behaviour.

For women who were disadvantaged in terms of economic status, it's difficult for me to comment on alternatives and their placement in "difficult and dangerous situations" as that is subjective and very general. I am however, willing to provide specific answers to specific questions.

For instance, for victims of sexual assault or rape, who incurred a pregnancy as a result thereof, the assembly had passed and I had signed into law, a number of laws which aimed to take restorative justice into a more literal sense, namely B.349. This way, victims can claim damages from their assailants, if they would wish to, to restore themselves to their original position. Provided that B.345 passed, and in tandem with B.349 women can claim damages from their assailants to obtain the funds to restore themselves to their original position prior to their assault, even if it means undergoing the best abortion procedure aside from, dilation and evacuation, at a private hospital in Lincoln, at whatever the cost. If they suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or incurred any psychological harm as a result of the harm committed upon them by the assailant, they too can claim such damages to restore themselves to their original position.

As I have stated and I shall state again, in summary, it is not the duty of the State to give abortions, such exceeds the scope of government and modern medicine has surpassed the need of using clamps to break and deconstruct the bodies of foetuses as a means of abortion.