President Obama’s motorcade prevented a woman from bearing her child in the safety of a hospital:
Witnesses say a pregnant woman in labor was prevented by authorities from crossing a Los Angeles street to a hospital Wednesday because the road had been closed for President Barack Obama’s impending motorcade.
The unidentified woman was barred from walking the few hundred feet to the hospital for at least 30 minutes as authorities waited for the president’s motorcade to pass by, witness Carrie Clifford told TheBlaze early Thursday morning.
According to the Los Angeles Times, one witness said that “medical staff from the hospital came to help the pregnant woman.”
Fortunately, the delay does not appear to have harmed the woman or her child. But from a political perspective, this sounds like something from The Onion: The president who says he’s trying to give women reproductive freedom stops a pregnant mother from entering a hospital.
In 2012 and 2014, Democrats raised alarms about a ”War on Women” to support their claims that expanded abortion and contraception access, especially on the taxpayer dime, will help woman control their bodies.
Obama’s pro-abortion allies in New York have been talking about helping women who use Medicaid space out their pregnancies with abortifacients. Apparently, their efforts failed, so the president decided to get personally involved.
On a more serious note, this event shows yet again how ridiculously expensive, ostentatious, and arrogant presidential motorcades are. Several years ago, I saw parts of at least two roads shut down on Capitol Hill — disrupting who knows how much traffic — as a motorcade came screaming by. I found out later that day Vice President Biden was visiting Capitol Hill to lobby Members of Congress to pass legislation that was hitting snags. That’s to be expected in the national capital. But the people of Los Angeles have wisely chosen to live 3,000 miles away from Washington. Why should they have to suffer?
At least the woman in question appears to have gotten the care she needed. On two occasions members of President George W. Bush’s motorcade died in motorcyle accidents.
Presidents are not to blame for accidents that take place during motorcade travel. But this is a democratic republic of equals, not a kingdom where serfs scatter before our betters. At least, I thought so.