keeping women safe to pay their obstetricians

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 22, 2007

Kenneth Edelin begins his Boston Globe op-ed in a very unusual way: By acknowledging that he was convicted of manslaughter 32 years ago after performing an abortion. Edelin does not provide details about the case. Suffice it to say that the unborn baby did not die on schedule, and thereafter Edelin was known to his critics as "the Boston Strangler."

Now I wonder if you can guess how Edelin responds to the Supreme Court's decision on partial-birth abortion? You're saying he might not like it? Good for you. Lucky guess, maybe.

But why does Edelin think the decision is dangerous? That's only a slightly tougher question. You can probably call this one in, too:

This burden would fall disproportionately, as it did before Roe, on the poor women of our country. We must never return to those days of horror.

Hmm. Now in Edelin's own case, was it the woman-- the mother-- who was prosecuted for manslaughter? No; it was the doctor. And was it the mother whose conviction was overturned, by a court ruling that the Roe v. Wade decision essentially barred any complaints about the doctor's methods of eliminating the unborn child? No. It was Edelin who beat the rap.

Now if American jurisprudence follows the logic of the latest Supreme Court decision, medics like the Boston Strangler would be held responsible. Tell me, please: How does that endanger women?