Presidential Candidates, Congress on Abstinence Funding, UK Acknowledges Abortion Can Cause Depression

It's been a busy week and I have not had a chance to address anything that has happened.

First up, John McCain has said that he will keep the pro-life plank in the Republican platform. This is always a source of controversy on some level every election year. To have the candidate announce his intention publicly curbs the push for change by a minority of party activists who are not pro-life. In the past, the platform was written at the platform hearings held about a week before the convention. For the last two conventions, the platform hearings were held earlier in the summer before the conventions and they were held in different sites-- cutting back on protests and the frenzied news coverage that always happens before a convention. I would think the same would happen this year.

Second, pro-abortion members of Congress, led by Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) signed a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey asking him to put a stop to abstinence funding. Of course, they argue that the programs don't work but they cite the same flawed studies that groups like Planned Parenthood have cited (of course, PPFA has a vested interest in the outcome). Seventy-six members have signed the letter but that's really not even close to a majority considering how many members there are in Congress. Now, since the CDC has announced that 1 out of 4 teens has a sexually transmitted disease (And, not to be crass, but most of these are spread by skin to skin contact not strictly by intercourse so increased condom use doesn't necessarily help. Even when used correctly, condoms reduce the risk of contracting a STD but do not eliminate it.) one would think that encouraging behavior that prevents this would be a good thing but apparently not.

Last but not least, in what was a surprise announcement, the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Great Britain believes women should be told that abortions can lead to mental health problems. This was followed by Great Britain's General Medical Council, which is the regulatory agency for physicians, announcing that doctors must not allow their personal views on abortion preventing them from referring a woman for an abortion. In other words, if a doctor is pro-life and objects to abortion he or she still has to refer for them and that same doctor isn't supposed to talk a patient out of having one.

Mmmm, abortions can be bad for mental health according to the psychiatrists but heaven forbid that a doctor talk his patient out of one. As my dad says, what a way to run a railroad.