The Rude Pundit: The Neverending War on Women's Rights

[meegbear]

One awesomely idiotic thing that conservatives in state legislatures do is pass bills "just in case shit happens." When it comes to abortion, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of batshit. Louisiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and other states have passed laws that outlaw abortion in the event of the overturning of Roe v. Wade or the Rapture, whichever happens first.

Now, in Arizona (state motto: "It ain't crazy 'less it's Arizona crazy"), the state's House and Senate have passed separate versions of bills that outlaw abortions based on the race or sex of the fetus or parents. There's no evidence that such things happen in Arizona (although you can bet that more than a few white legislators are gonna think twice when their daughters get knocked up after they bang their gardeners). Said Representative Don Shooter of Yuma (no, really), "It's a way to pre-empt what's happening in China and India" (no, really). Well, cool. After China takes us over, there won't be forced abortions in Flagstaff.

Another fun part of the bill, which would charge doctors with a felony, is subsection C: "The father of the unborn child who is married to the mother at the time she receives a sex-selection or race-selection abortion, or, if the mother has not attained eighteen years of age at the time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents of the unborn child, may bring a civil action on behalf of the unborn child to obtain appropriate relief with respect to a violation of subsection A of this section. The court may award reasonable attorney fees as part of the costs in an action brought pursuant to this subsection. For the purposes of this subsection, 'appropriate relief' includes monetary damages for all injuries, whether psychological, physical or financial, including loss of companionship and support, resulting from the violation of subsection A of this section." Grandparents suing on behalf of an aborted fetus because of "loss of companionship"? But what if the fetus would have grown up to be a total dick?

The Arizona of the Northern Plains, South Dakota, also passed an incredibly punitive anti-choice bill today. This one was signed into law by the governor, and it would force a woman who wants an abortion to wait three days after seeing a doctor to get the operation. Also, women would have to meet with someone who would try to convince her not to, which seems an awful lot like imprisonment and brainwashing.

The insidious side of elevating the fetus above the woman it occupies goes beyond the attempt to end all availability of abortions. There's an ongoing effort to shame women, to enforce a psychological perspective on them that they are supposed to have regrets, that they are supposed to have second and third thoughts, that they are supposed to be fucked up by having an abortion. It's a patronizing patriarchal stance that serves to reinforce an image of weakness, hysteria, and dependency on women. Fucking hell, it's the same fight, over and over and over, decade after decade after decade.

Last year, probable boring presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty (campaign slogan: "You can't spell 'Pawlenty' without 'Y-A-W-N'"), when he was the asshole governor of Minnesota, proclaimed April "Abortion Recovery Month." In other words, if you had an abortion, you had to have suffered a trauma. That's a myth. As is the myth that drove the South Dakota bill, that the vast majority of women are coerced into having an abortion. But what better way to disempower women than by making them into victims.

Especially when it's the Republicans running amok in the state legislatures that are the victimizers.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[tanyev]

1. And yet, they don't want kids to have comprehensive sex ed or access to contraception

"just in case shit happens".