On this day, May 5, 1903, James Beard, US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), was born in Portland, Ore.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, Bly minister Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from Mitchell's Sunday school class were on a Saturday morning picnic. Thirteen miles northeast of Bly, or about sixty miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Mitchell parked the car, and Elsie and the children headed to Leonard Creek. Mitchell later remembered: "As I got out of the car to bring the lunch, the others were not far away and called to me they had found something that looked like a balloon. I heard of Japanese balloons so I shouted a warning not to touch it. But just then there was a big explosion. I ran up there--and they were all dead." It was a Japanese balloon bomb. They were 70 feet tall with a 33-foot diameter paper canopy connected to the main device by shroud lines. Balloons inflated with hydrogen followed the jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
Pro-life legislation in Oregon
Oregon is out of step with an unprecedented wave of states passing pro-life laws preventing abortions after six or eight weeks. Nine states passed laws in 2019, and in 2021, 46 states introduced 536 pro-life bills with 61 new pro-life laws, many recognizing the civil rights of unborn children. In Oregon, six abortion bills were introduced, but none received a hearing.
Two bills in Oregon are aimed at live birth abortions that take place after a fetus is viable and would survive.
HB 2699, and
SB 586 requires health care practitioner to exercise proper degree of care to preserve health and life of child born alive after abortion or attempted abortion. It requires the health care practitioner to ensure a child born alive is transported to a hospital.
The bill defines “born alive†as the complete expulsion or extraction of a child from a person at any stage of the child’s development and after the expulsion or extraction, the child is breathing or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether the umbilical cord has been severed or not. Expulsion or extraction may occur by natural or induced labor, cesarean section or induced abortion.
On June 10, Senator Kim Thatcher moved to withdraw SB 586 from the Committee on Health Care for discussion on the floor. The motion to withdraw failed with 11 Ayes, and 18 Nays. The vote was along party line with Democrats voting Nay.
Senator Thatcher’s explanation was to “close a gap in Oregon law providing protection for a child. The Federal Born Alive Infants Act defines the infants as persons but there are no guarantees they are entitled to the same level of medical care as a baby born of the same age. This bill would have made it clear that a baby surviving a failed abortion receive the same medical care as a baby born of the same gestation age without the attempted abortion.â€
Senator Thatcher goes on to describe that a “January 2020 survey shows there is strong bi-partisan support for this concept in Oregon. Seventy-eight percent of Oregonians believe that a baby that survives a failed abortion should be given the same level of medical care that a baby otherwise born of the same age. We always try and protect the most vulnerable among us and who is more vulnerable that this tiny little human. These babies should be given the same level of care regardless of how they are brought into this world.â€
Senator Linthicum also made a vote explanation saying, “the issue isn’t whether it’s a failed abortion or not, the issue is worthy of debate because it would simply allow a live human being to be treated with the same level of care as any other live new born human being. This is worthy of debate on the Senate floor as an important ideological discussion.â€
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2021-06-12 12:00:34 | Last Update: 2021-06-13 14:41:50 |
