Mexico Abortion Fight Moves to Federal Level

This week Veracruz, Mexico became the 17^th state in Mexico to write into legislation that life begins at conception. Now over half of the nation’s 32 states have written similar restrictions on abortion into their constitutions and lawmakers in Veracruz have adopted a measure to require congress to consider a similar amendment to the nation’s constitution.

After Mexico City legalized abortion last year for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, most states responded by writing protections against abortion into their constitution. Now that the majority of states have shown a consensus on the issue, it is moving to the federal level.

Due to the current composition of Congress, most seem confident the abortion ban will pass. The new amendment would most likely include exceptions for cases of rape, congenital deformity, and threat to the mother’s life—exceptions already included in most of state constitutions. For more information you can read the full AP article here.

D.C. Board of Elections Refuses Public Vote on Same-Sex Marriage

On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics voted to refuse a ballot initiative that would open the definition of marriage in D.C. for public vote, claiming the initiative violated human rights.

The board denied the petition the same day it scheduled a December 1 City Council vote on the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009.” The new amendment, which would legalize same-sex marriage in the D.C., is sponsored by 9 of the 13 city council members and the city’s mayor. Although the bill has to be voted on twice before passing, it is assumed the amendment will pass without difficulty.

The pro-family group Stand4MarriageDC proposed the squashed ballot measure in order to allow a public vote on this important issue. The measure allowed citizens to vote whether “only marriage between a man and woman” should be “valid or recognized” in the city.

The two-member Board of Elections, however, decided that the initiative was discriminatory and therefore violated the city’s 1977 Human Rights Act. Errol R. Arthur, one of the two board members, stated in a press release Tuesday that the “laws of the District of Columbia preclude us from allowing this initiative to move forward.”

According to David A. Catania, the City Council member who introduced the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment, “Those who proposed the initiative were attempting to write discrimination into our law, and I am pleased that the board rejected this effort as an impermissible trespass on the human rights of District residents.”

The leader of Stand For Marriage DC, Bishop Harry Jackson, has a bit more democratic view of the issue. “To deny the people their fundamental right to vote on such an important issue as the definition of marriage in our society is simply appalling,” he said.

“The Home Rule Charter tells us that we should have the same rights as the DC Board of Elections and as the DC City Council,” Jackson continued.  “In other words, if they can vote on something, we can vote on something.  If they can initiate a law, we should be able to initiate a law, as what is done in Maine and California.”

Majority of Americans Against Federal Funding for Abortion

As the Senate prepares to vote this Saturday on opening Senator Harry Reid’s new health care bill for floor debate, recent polls indicate that most Americans are in favor of a ban on federal funding for abortion—a ban that is absent in the  new bill. According to a recent CNN study released, six in ten American favor a ban on federal funding for abortion.

The survey, released Wednesday by the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, indicates that 61 percent of Americans are opposed to “using public funds for abortions when the woman cannot afford it,” with only 37 percent in favor.

Even more interesting, fifty-one percent of respondents said that a woman should pay all the costs of an abortion herself when asked “Do you think private health insurance plans should cover some or all of the costs of an abortion, or do you think that women who want to get an abortion should have to pay the complete costs of that abortion out of their own pockets?”

Additionally, when asked about abortion generally, only 26 percent of respondents thought that abortion should be legal under any circumstances. Half of respondents thought abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances,  and 23 percent though it should be illegal in all circumstances.

According to these numbers, it would seem that U.S. citizens are not buying the myth of back alley abortions being promulgated by pro-abortionists attempting to secure public funds for abortion through new health care legislation