some news and thoughts on abortion

So in the news yesterday was the story of "Miss D", an irish teenager who recently won the right in court to travel to Britain to terminate her 4 month pregnancy (as abortions are illegal in the Irish Republic). Why does she wish to terminate it? The foetus has anencephaly, a condition which means that a large part of the brain and skull is missing. Babies with anencephaly live a maximum of just three days after birth.

How can it be remotely right or sensible to force a 17 year old to carry to term a child that will live a maximum of three days? It's horrible that she had to go through what was no doubt a hellish court experience to be allowed to terminate this pregnancy. The BBC Story

In related news, the Pope set off a firestorm yesterday when he said it was fine for Mexican Roman Catholic higher ups to excommunicate Catholic politicians who voted in favor of abortion rights. He said:

Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon [church] law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ.

I guess Jesus sort of fucked up when he offered communion, aka his own body, to Judas, who was surely more ancillary to the killing of an innocent god than these politicians are to the killing of an innocent child. I guess Jesus should have checked with the pope first.