Let me just say right off that I have no personal dog in this fight. I am (thankfully) through menopause, so birth control and abortion rights have no personal meaning to me. However, when I see what the Republican Party is trying to do to women's rights in general, and our reproductive rights in particular, it makes steam come out of my ears.
The only way to stop them permanently is to vote the bastards the hell out of office and make sure they never get back in.
Kansas has now joined the chorus of states run by right-wingers who want to restrict a woman's right to an abortion. I have said before and I will say again that I don't think abortion should be used as birth control; that's what birth control is for. But there are occasions (rape, incest, extreme disabilities, including a fetus that is not viable outside the womb) where the decision whether to continue the pregnancy should be left to the woman, her partner, and her doctor. But for whatever reason, Republicans who preach daily about how government should de-regulate everything and stay out of our lives as much as possible are conjuring up the most insidious and invasive ways to get into our bedrooms and our reproductive choices.
The Kansas bill is just nothing short of immoral and downright sickening. This bill would allow a doctor to lie to the patient about the health of her fetus if the doctor thought telling the patient would lead the woman to seek an abortion. That's right... THE DOCTOR COULD LIE TO HIS PATIENT ABOUT THE HEALTH OF HER FETUS, and on top of that, the bill provides that when the woman finds out adverse information about her baby, as she inevitably will, right? that the doctor cannot be sued for not telling her the truth.
Well, obviously, because the little lady can't be trusted with the truth, right?
Never mind that not all couples who find out their baby will have disabilities would choose to abort. Some just appreciate the heads-up about the baby's condition.
But hey, it does still provide that a wrongful death suit can be filed if the mother dies. Nice. And the bill requires doctors to tell the pregnant woman that abortion causes breast cancer. Which isn't true. But it REQUIRES DOCTORS TO LIE TO YOU about that. Doesn't this run afoul of something called the Hippocratic Oath?
Kansas state representative Joe Patton (R-of course, Topeka) said "Kansas women don't want (abortions)." Who the hell is he to say? How dare he presume to speak for all women who happen to live in the state of Kansas? Does he think he just knows better than they do?
I happen to have known someone -- from Missouri, btw, next door to Kansas -- who sadly had to have a late second trimester abortion after she and her husband discovered through an ultrasound that the fetus was not viable outside the womb. (Missouri doesn't allow for abortions this late, so she had to travel to... get ready for it... Texas.) There have been cases where OB GYNs have known that a fetus could not survive (such as cases where the entire brain was missing), but haven't told the expectant couple because they knew they would want an abortion. How dare a legislator, or a doctor, think he or she has a right to tell a would-be parent facing such a horrible thing what to do?
I'm getting a kick, though, out of some female legislators (and one male - kudos to Ohio state representative Ted Celeste-D), who are turning the tables on the Republican holier-than-thou males passing these ridiculous laws. See the article here from Allison Yarrow of The Daily Beast. Hey guys, you want some Viagra? How about a rectal exam? How about being required to have your wife (or one of your past lovers) have to testify about your inability to get it up? I love it.
You know, I have always said that I thought Republicans wanted to take women back to the 1950's, and people pooh-poohed me. Unfortunately I was right. But if they think we're going to sit still and let it happen, they have absolutely no idea the fight they're in for. BRING IT ON.
