Roundup: Huckabee Weighs in on Georgia Abortion Bill

Apr 16, 2010, 10:07am

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is on a bit of a roll lately. Last week he said that gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt and now says women need to be protected from having abortions.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is on a bit of a roll lately. Last week he said that gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt because “children aren’t puppies” and therefore gays can’t be trusted to raise them right.

Huckabee – who just this week decided he’s now an official Floridian – has now lent his voice and support to robo-calls for the Georgia Right to Life’s campaign to get a bill through the Senate that would make it a crime to a doctor to perform an abortion for reasons of gender and race or when they “know” a woman has been coerced. You can read the text of the Senate bill here.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the text of the robo-calls:

“Hello, this is Gov. Mike Huckabee calling on behalf of the Georgia Right to Life. I want to bring to your attention a vitally important piece of legislation that has powerful implications for the sanctity of human life nationwide.

“Senate Bill 529 is a simple bill. It protects a woman from being forced into having an abortion against her will, and prohibits the use of abortion as a means of race or gender discrimination. Some of the best pro-life attorneys in the nation have helped craft the language of SB 529, and it’s very important that the Georgia House with no amendments. I’m asking you, please contact your state representative….”

The reason the Georgia Right to Life really, really wants this bill to pass is they are hoping to set up a constitutional challenge. The AJC reports:

Last summer, Georgia Right to Life hosted a meeting with anti-abortion members of the House on St. Simons Island.

(GRTL isn’t rolling in money. The lawmakers were already there for a relaxed GOP caucus meeting.)

Constitutional attorneys were brought in to explain the impact of the new Obama administration on the U.S. Supreme Court – that the window of opportunity to mount a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade would begin to shrink with the first retirement of a court conservative.

So it was essential, they explained, that the challenge begin as soon as possible. Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life, and the lawyers outlined the bill they had in mind to raise the proper legal issues and attract the interest of conservative Supreme Court justices.

Sadly, Georgia Right to Life is concerned the bill’s unconstitutional parts may be watered down.

SB 529 is now before the House Judiciary Committee. Becker suspects that some House Republican leaders are about to tone down the bill with a substitute that would remove the race and gender features of the measure – the elements intended to generate the high court challenge.

In Other News: JK Rowling, who knows something about being a single mom, castigates the Tory Party for going after single moms. And you can add yet another city/county that is taking steps to strip any coverage of abortion services out of their insurance policies for employees.

April 16, 2010

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April 15, 2010

Gov. Parkinson vetoes changes to abortion law Pittsburg Morning Sun