Kalin: Ultrasound

As noted before, Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) says there are too many abortions and the number should be reduced. This is apparently his lame attempt to extricate himself from having to state clear opposition to abortion.

If he really wanted to reduce the number of abortions, he should have voted for the Finstad amendment to HF3391 (House Journal, page 10064-65, 4/10/08). This amendment would have required an ultrasound and audio recording of any heartbeat of an unborn infant scheduled for an abortion. The mother would then be given the opportunity to listen to the heartbeat and look at the ultrasound image.

This would give the mother pause to consider her course of ending her pregnancy because the ultrasound reveals a human being, not just a blob of tissue (see for example 4D images). But Kalin voted against requiring this.

A woman seeking an abortion would be given the opportunity to view the ultrasound images, but would not be required to do so. Thus the decision remained with her. Yet Kalin did not vote for this amendment which potentially could reduce the number of abortions. He doesn’t seem to be very serious about actually backing up his speech with his vote. His voting record speaks louder than his words.

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Update

Anonymous, in the comment section you had a question about the Positive Alternatives Program. It was established by law (Minnesota Statutes 145.4235) during the 2005 legislative session.

Rep. Kalin was not in the legislature in 2005, so he did not vote on its establishment.

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Update

Anonymous, you had not stated your question that specifically until now.

Funding for Positive Alternatives was reviewed in 2008 as part of HF1812. A committee had cut its funding, but it was later restored. In the end, Kalin voted for HF1812 (House Journal, pages 9761-62, 4/3/2008), but that hardly tells the story regarding his vote on funding the program, because it was a small part of the larger tax bill. Kalin was not about to vote against the entire tax bill even if he did not want to fund the Alternatives program.

The real story is told by how he voted on the Finstad amendment, which was offered again in 2008 as an amendment to HF1812 (House Journal, pages 9734-35, 4/3/2008). Kalin again voted against it.

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Update

In my post above, I addressed the fact that Kalin did not vote for the Finstad amendment. In the comment section, Anonymous tried to divert attention from the truth by directing our attention to Kalin’s vote to fund the Positive Alternatives Program.

This type of argument is a red herring, which, with slight of hand, moves one’s attention away from the fact that Kalin did not vote to reduce abortions. The fact remains that Kalin voted, not once, but twice in 2008 against the Finstad amendment.

Kalin voted to fund the Positive Alternatives Program in 2008, but that does not negate the truth of my post. It is rather easy for Kalin to promise to fund the Positive Alternatives Program which is a very small portion of the omnibus tax bill when he voted for the whole bill. It says nothing more positive about Kalin than it says about the other Democrats who are avowedly anti-life who voted for the tax bill, and coincidentally funded the Positive Alternatives Program by voting for the whole bill.

It’s nothing for Kalin to brag about. He knew that funding would not be in a stand alone bill, but rather in an omnibus bill. The Finstad amendment, not the Positive Alternatives Program funding, is the measure of the man.