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First, the bill offers no protection to the unborn child up to the moment of birth. "Health" of the mother is so loosely interpreted as to be meaningless, including not just physical health, but emotional, familial and economic health. In other words, anything goes. And the consulting doctor that interprets the health of the mother frequently doesn't meet her until she has been prepped for her abortion. So, please, Senator, at least be honest. There are many other points of your carefully crafted legalese that have been disputed ably by attorneys, and that refutation is widely available, so I won't pick at those nits with you.

Much more is at stake here. Many politicians from Mario Cuomo on down have pontificated that while they personally oppose abortion, their constituents favor it, so therefore, etc, etc. As has been said, hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue. I've never received an adequate answer to the question, why are you personally opposed? The inference is that you recognize the humanity of the unborn child, which has innate dignity and worth. If not our law makers, who defends that most vulnerable life? A profile in courage is needed to stand up to constituents who espouse a position morally repugnant to you. A profile sadly lacking in your words.

If you were serving as a senator in the very early nineteenth century when the majority of all Americans, both North and South, believed that slavery was morally acceptable, and you knew it to be objectively wrong, would you spout many words in the local paper to justify voting to uphold it because your constituents thought it expedient? And you valued votes more than principle? Could you still sleep soundly in your bed? A poll is not a valid moral argument.

I would at least have more respect for honesty. Yes, it's a child and abortion takes a life, that's why I'm personally opposed. But that tiny life has no voice, and the bigger, stronger voice who shows up at the statehouse wearing pink threatens to organize and defeat my reelection. That is what frightens me, so the loud voice takes precedence over the silent defenseless one.