Ply the Silent Planet

I’ve done a little digging regarding Obama’s vote against the Induced Infant Liability Act- a 2002 Illinois bill that would compel doctors to provide medical care to a baby (fetus? It’s outside the uterus at this point, remember) who survived an abortion attempt, and has been born alive.  I am actually just curious: what possible reason could he have to do such a thing?  To what mental gymnastics must a professing Christian subject himself in order to avoid soul-crushing guilt on such a vote?

I wonder no more.  Here follows the complete text of Obama’s comments immediately prior the bill’s vote, beginning from pg 84 of the transcript.  If I may be so bold as to paraphrase, his reasoning seems to be thus: “I am voting against the bill because it will not hold up to constitutional scrutiny, because a fetus born alive, lying there on the hospital table (some would call that a baby, but I will be careful not to), is not a person under the laws of the United States.  And this is a good thing because it protects the right of women to have abortions.”

I think that’s a fair representation.  I’m not trying to make the man sound evil at all.  If you have a more lucid understanding of his reasoning here, I’d love to hear it.  Isn’t it odd, though, the Barack Obama seems to think that the Constitution of the United States and that of the state of Illinois does not afford any sort of protection to a living, crying… um… thing… lying on a hospital table?

Anyway, the text as promised (I’ve included the context- you can skip down to Obama and you won’t miss much):

ACTING SECRETARY HAWKER:
Senate Bill 1093.
(Secretary reads title of bill)
3rd Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
Senator O’Malley.
SENATOR O’MALLEY:
Thank you, Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. Senate Bill 1093, as amended, provides that no abortion procedure which, in the medical judgment of the attending physician, has a reasonable likelihood of resulting in a live born child shall be undertaken unless there is in attendance a physician other than the physician performing or inducing the abortion who shall assess the child’s viability and provide medical care for the child. The bill further provides that if there is a medical emergency, a physician inducing or performing an abortion which results in a live born child shall provide for the soonest practical attendance of a physician other than the physician performing or inducing the abortion to immediately assess the child’s viability and provide medical care for the
child. The bill additionally provides that a live child born as a result of an — of — of an abortion procedure shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law.    All reasonable measures consistent with good
medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken to preserve the life and health of the child. I’d be pleased to answer any questions there may be.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
Any discussion? Senator Obama.
SENATOR OBAMA:
Thank you, Madam President.    Will the sponsor yield for
questions?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
He indicates he will.
SENATOR OBAMA:
This bill was fairly extensively debated in the Judiciary Committee, and so I won’t belabor the issue. I do want to just make sure that everybody in the Senate knows what this bill is about, as I understand it. Senator O’Malley, the testimony during the committee indicated that one of the key concerns was — is that there was a method of abortion, an induced abortion, where the — the fetus or child, as — as some might describe it, is still temporarily alive outside the womb. And one of the concerns that came out in the testimony was the fact that they were not being properly cared for during that brief period of time that they were still living.    Is that correct? Is that an accurate
sort of description of one of the key concerns in the bill?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
Senator O’Malley.
SENATOR O’MALLEY:
Senator Obama, it is certainly a key concern that the — the way children are treated following their birth under these
circumstances has been reported to be, without question, in my opinion, less than humane, and so this bill suggests that appropriate steps be taken to treat that baby as a — a citizen of the United States and afforded all the rights and protections it deserves under the Constitution of the United States.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
Senator Obama.
SENATOR OBAMA:
Well, it turned out — that during the testimony a number of members who are typically in favor of a woman’s right to choose an abortion were actually sympathetic to some of the concerns that your — you raised and that were raised by witnesses in the testimony. And there was some suggestion that we might be able to craft something that might meet constitutional muster with respect to caring for fetuses or children who were delivered in this fashion. Unfortunately, this bill goes a little bit further, and so I just want to suggest, not that I think it’ll make too much difference with respect to how we vote, that this is probably not going to survive constitutional scrutiny. Number one, whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we’re really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a — a child, a nine-month-old — child that was delivered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place. I mean, it — it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an antiabortion statute. For that purpose, I think it would probably be found unconstitutional. The second reason that it would probably be found unconstitutional is that this essentially says that a doctor is required to provide
treatment to a previable child, or fetus, however way you want to describe it. Viability is the line that has been drawn by the Supreme Court to determine whether or not an abortion can or cannot take place. And if we’re placing a burden on the doctor that says you have to keep alive even a previable child as long as possible and give them as much medical attention as — as is necessary to try to keep that child alive, then we’re probably crossing the line in terms of unconstitutionality. Now, as I said before, this probably won’t make any difference. I recall the last time we had a debate about abortion, we passed a bill out of here. I suggested to Members of the Judiciary Committee that it was unconstitutional and it would be struck down by the Seventh Circuit. It was. I recognize this is a passionate issue, and so I — I won’t, as I said, belabor the point. I think it’s important to recognize though that this is an area where potentially we might have compromised and — and arrived at a bill that dealt with the narrow concerns about how a — a previable fetus or child was treated by a hospital. We decided not to do that. We’re going much further than that in this bill. As a consequence, I think that we will probably end up in court once again, as we often do, on this issue. And as a consequence, I’ll be voting Present.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KARPIEL)
Further discussion? If not, Senator O’Malley, to close.

Actually, after reading that meandering- no- trainwreck of reasoning, I am still wondering.