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Obama Administration's Filings On Asylum For Abused Foreign Women Brings 'Overdue Dose Of Clarity,' Editorial Says

The Obama administration recently laid out "a clear but narrow pathway" toward asylum for foreign women who have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse, a New York Times editorial states, noting that the U.S. government has debated the issue for 15 years. According to the editorial, the "question is not the fact of persecution, but whether the women would qualify for protection under the law, which limits asylum to those who suffer due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or "membership in a particular social group."" It adds that attorneys general under former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush "have gone both ways and in circles" in their decisions.Although "[n]ot all victims will qualify," the Obama administration "made it clear that some could," the editorial states. "A petitioner would have to demonstrate to a judge that domestic violence was widely tolerated by society and government in her country, that women were viewed as subordinate to men and that she had no place within its borders to find a safe haven," the editorial adds.Department of Homeland Security lawyers say the new definition could apply to a severely abused Mexican woman, identified only by her initials, whose asylum petition is before a San Francisco immigration court. The editorial notes that DHS "did not immediately recommend asylum" for the woman, but "it did urge that she be allowed to continue to gather evidence and to refine her case according to the standards it proposed." The editorial concludes, "Advocates who have fought for years to advance women"s rights are celebrating the department"s action, which brings reasoned compassion, and an overdue dose of clarity, to an issue of anguish and difficulty" (New York Times, 7/19).

Kansas Becomes Central Battleground In Abortion-Rights Debate

Kansas has become "perhaps the fiercest battleground" in the abortion-rights debate with mass protests, prosecutions, lawsuits and the recent murder of abortion provider George Tiller, the AP/Washington Post reports. Kansas State University political scientist Joe Aistrup said, "There"s a very prominent vein in Kansas politics that tends toward moral righteousness." He said that this contributes to that unending debate and has produced extremists on both sides of the issue in the state.Peter Brownlie, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said that the majority of those who maintain the intense debate on abortion rights are political leaders. "There is a very clear and growing gap between the general public and the political leaders who are committed to this being such a constant and volatile issue," he said. Brownlie added that on issues relating to abortion, sex education and family planning, "Kansans" views are not markedly different from most Americans, but there are political forces at work, some of them well beyond the state borders."The Post reports that Kansas is different than most states where either supporters or foes of abortion rights dominate. According to the AP/Post, Kansas often sways between having key lawmakers who support abortion rights and those who oppose them. For example, a Republican-dominated Legislature over the past six years passed several bills to restrict abortion access, but much of the legislation was vetoed by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D). The result has triggered frustration in groups opposing abortion rights, and they continue to feed widespread opposition to abortion in the state, the AP/Post reports.According to Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political science professor, there even is a split among Kansas Republicans in regard to abortion rights, as some Republicans in the state are evangelical Christians who oppose abortion rights, while others are moderates who support such rights. He said the split "might pop out in gun laws, home schooling, evolution, but it starts and stops with abortion" (Crary/Hanna, AP/Washington Post, 6/3).Wall Street Journal Examines Abortions Later in PregnancyIn related news, the Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined how Tiller"s clinic in Kansas became a battleground in the abortion-rights debate particularly because some of his patients were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. According to the Journal, even though the subject of abortion later in pregnancy is the of "a deep cultural divide," both sides agree that it is "anguishing." Fewer than 1% of all abortions in the U.S. are performed in the second or third trimesters, and most states prohibit abortions late in pregnancy but include exceptions for the woman"s life and health.The Journal reports that abortion procedures performed later in pregnancy often carry increased health risks, are more expensive and are emotional. The Guttmacher Institute reports that 8.9 maternal deaths occur during every 100,000 abortions performed later in pregnancy, compared with 7.1 deaths per 100,000 births. The article also profiled women who chose to undergo abortions later in pregnancy at Tiller"s clinic, as well as arguments from abortion-rights opponents (Simon, Wall Street Journal, 6/4).