October (Web-only) 2003

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Senate bans partial-birth abortion
Is there an echo in here? Weblog's headline on March 13 proclaimed that the Senate banned partial-birth abortion. Now all the papers find it big news that they've done it again. (And again and again, actually.)

The bill passed yesterday was slightly different than it was back in March (that earlier version had language supporting the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision), but the comments are so overwhelmingly the same that Weblog could almost cut and paste the text from that March 13 posting. Prolifers support the bill because it bans a barbaric practice that might as well be called infanticide rather than abortion. Abortion rights supporters, on the other hand, say the ban is just a ruse—an effort to destroy Roe v. Wade.

Here's what makes this story different: yesterday's vote was the last step in Congress. From here it goes to President Bush's desk to become law. And then it's off to the courts. Um. Again. Anyone dizzy yet?

Still, if you're interested in the news, here's the coverage from the Associated Press, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and the Los Angeles Times (which, in a separate story, says the ban is unlikely to take effect—a very premature conclusion).

Terri Schiavo's murder thwarted
Yesterday's partial-birth abortion ban vote wasn't the only big news for prolifers yesterday. With a quick vote from the Florida legislature and an order from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, mentally disabled Florida woman Terri Schiavo is being fed again, despite her legal husband's efforts to starve her to death.

"It's restored my belief in God," her father told the Associated Press. Here are some of the major stories:

• Governor of Florida orders woman fed in right-to-die case | Gov. Jeb Bush ordered the feeding tube of a brain-damaged woman reinserted after the Legislature empowered him to do so (The New York Times)