Papa Was A Forensic Vaginal Inspector

David Weigel | April 10, 2006

I'm not sure how many Hit and Run readers have seen this already - it's ranked #4 on the newspaper's website - but Jack Hitt has a scary, "why-didn't-I-know-about-this" report on El Salvador in The New York Times. The Central American country has no legal abortion, under any circumstances, and a brass-knuckled legal system that investigates abortions that slip under the wire. The USA's abortion debate sort of sputters out when pro-lifers ponder whether to punish women for their behavior. Not so in El Salvador.

In the event that the woman's illegal abortion went badly and the doctors have to perform a hysterectomy, then the uterus is sent to the Forensic Institute, where the government's doctors analyze it and retain custody of her uterus as evidence against her.

Hitt doesn't make any points about the USA's own pro-life warriors. That's what Hit and Run's for.