For instance, Warren told the Detroit News, "This is truly a sad day in the Michigan Legislature. . .we're letting special interests dictate our legislative agenda."  See: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/POLITICS/805280411

Of course, the irony is that just previous to joining the Legislature in January 2007, Warren, as the long-time executive director of the Michigan Abortion Rights Action League, was the head of a special-interest group that relentlessly (but futilely) lobbied the Legislature against every single abortion restriction that ever came before it.  

It is also ironic that a spokesperson for the chief pro-abortion special interest in the state - the Planned Parenthood Empire - said in the same Detroit News article referenced above, "It's a sad day when a special interest group can take charge of the Michigan House and get a vote for something that is totally unnecessary."

Wasn't that what Warren said?  

Oh, yeah, it was.  What a hypocrite Warren is: it looks like she's letting a certain special interest dictate (literally) her talking points - but then again we knew that!

For her part, Rep. Alma "the Wheeler-Dealer" Smith sounded just as insanely stupid in her criticism of the House's vote to ban partial-birth abortion, telling the Associated Press that the vote was "political manipulation" and that partial-birth abortion "provides a medically necessary option."  See: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/NEWS04/805280340/1005/NEWS04

First off, we all know Alma Wheeler-Smith is many things, but one thing we all know she is not is a medical professional.  The overwhelming medical consensus in the United States is that killing one's child via the specific partial-birth abortion method is never "medically necessary."  

Second, Alma's terming the House's vote to ban partial-birth abortion as "political manipulation" is the ultimate irony because Alma Wheeler-Smith is the ultimate political manipulator.  For example, Alma's latest diversionary tactic in her futile pursuit to stop the House from voting on the partial-birth abortion ban had been to design and push through radical pro-abortion, anti-family legislation in the vain hope of distracting grassroots pro-life groups.  See:  http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/5/22/1348/40862

When it comes to promoting partial-birth abortion, the Michigan Axis of Evil -  composed of Wheeler-Smith, Warren, Democratic Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith (Alma's son and Rebekah's husband), and Tara Smith (Alma's daughter, who has replaced Warren as the executive director of the Michigan Abortion Rights Action League) - has no shame.  

At the same time that rabid, saliva-drooling pro-abortion fanatics like Wheeler-Smith, Warren, and their cohorts in the abortion industry decry the House's recent vote to ban virtual infanticide at the state level as "totally unnecessary," Warren and Wheeler-Smith have a new "animal rights" bill (House Bill 5946) that most sensible people in the mainstream see as not being needed and "overreaching."  See:  http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/OPINION01/805120305

Alma Wheeler-Smith and her family have long led the parade of pro-abortion hypocrites in this state who are so blinded by their obsession with abortion on demand that the cruelest form of abortion ever devised is not something to be banned in a civilized society, but rather embraced and even celebrated as "medically necessary."  But place too tight a tether on your dog, and Alma and company want to ensure you end-up doing time in the County Jail?  

Insane.    

Absolutely insane.

Even without the penalty provision, which Right to Life of Michigan stills hopes to have the state House vote on, Michigan's fourth attempt to outlaw partial-birth abortion may have a long way to go with - surprise, surprise - Governor Jennifer Granholm threatening to veto the legislation in whatever form it finally crosses her desk.  

I truly pray that, now in 2008, Governor Granholm, a self-professed Catholic, does not again take over from Rep. Alma Wheeler-Smith as the chief hypocrite on parade for all to see when it comes to partial-birth abortion in Michigan.  

Have you no shame, governor?  

About the author: Andrew Shirvell, Esq., is a pro-life citizen activist who writes a weekly column that is published every Thursday for RightMichigan.com in which he focuses upon Michigan pro-life issues. Shirvell attended Ave Maria School of Law - Ann Arbor, where he served as president of the school's Bioethics Society, from 2004-2005.  He also served as president of Students for Life at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, from 2000-2002.