Mona Charen made an important point on her blog the other day that Kate touches on, too, in her book, Women Who Make the World Worse :
In Britain, it remains against the law to abort a fetus past 24 weeks gestation – and that is the most liberal law in Europe. In France, abortion is permitted only until the 12th week. After that, two doctors must certify that continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman’s health or that the fetus is seriously abnormal. In Sweden, abortions after 18 weeks require permission of a medical board.
The U.S. has the world’s most liberal abortion regime by far – yet any deviation from our current standard of anywhere, anytime, for any reason is treated as a step toward abolition. Since abortion advocates tend to think of Europe as more enlightened than the U.S., we should remind them that the Old World makes do with many more restrictions and the sky has not fallen.