What impact can FOCA have on the United States?

on Thursday, 01 January 2009. Posted in United States

The Freedom of Choice Act would elevate abortion to a fundamental right, which brings a dangerous threat to the liberties of the smallest and weakest in our society. There are many laws that FOCA would totally nullify:

  1. Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
  2. Hyde Amendment (restricting taxpayer funding of abortions)
  3. Restrictions on abortions performed at military hospitals
  4. Restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion for federal employees
  5. Informed consent laws
  6. Waiting periods
  7. Parental consent and notification laws
  8. Health and safety regulations for abortion clinics
  9. Requirements that licensed physicians perform abortions
  10. "Delayed enforcement" laws (banning abortion when Roe v. Wade is overturned and/or the authority to restrict abortion is returned to the states)
  11. Bans on partial-birth abortion
  12. Bans on abortion after viability. FOCA’s apparent attempt to limit post-viability abortions is illusory. Under FOCA, post-viability abortions are expressly permitted to protect the woman’s "health." Within the context of abortion, "health" has been interpreted so broadly that FOCA would not actually proscribe any abortion before or after viability.
  13. Limits on public funding for elective abortions (thus, making American taxpayers fund a procedure that many find morally objectionable)
  14. Limits on the use of public facilities (such has public hospitals and medical schools at state universities) for abortions
  15. State and federal legal protections for individual healthcare providers who decline to participate in abortions
  16. Legal protections for Catholic and other religiously-affiliated hospitals who, while providing care to millions of poor and uninsured Americans, refuse to allow abortions within their facilities

The pro-choice groups have not denied that these plans to further promote and legalize abortion are something that they have been working to implement for many years now. In fact, Planned Parenthood has explained, "FOCA will supercede anti-choice laws that restrict the right to choose, including laws that prohibit the public funding of abortions for poor women or counseling and referrals for abortions. Additionally, FOCA will prohibit onerous restrictions on a woman’s right to choose, such as mandated delays and targeted and medically unnecessary regulations."

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