Terrible Triumvirate

Three states, three new laws/amendments.

Oklahoma. And here.

Utah.

Nebraska.

Summary:

In Oklahoma, women are now required to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a “detailed description” of the fetus before getting an abortion. That description doesn’t have limits–it could be anything from a description of the physical nature of the fetus to a story about how it might grow up to be the next Tim Tebow.  In Utah, even though the original bill has been toned down, it still declares that in some instances, women can be charged with a felony for a miscarriage. In Nebraska, the government has set limits on late-term abortions which aren’t that extraordinary, however, the reason cited for the limits is the first of its kind and utterly indefensible–it cites “fetal pain” as the sole reason for the limits. This is, to say the least, a scientifically controversial and unsupported-by-fact claim.

I don’t even know what to say. All these make it more and more attractive to not get pregnant in the first place. Please reflect on this (source: Jezebel):

“A new Utah law could charge women with homicide if they miscarry, making women’s rights advocates concerned that women will be brought up on murder charges for drinking, failing to wear a seatbelt, or falling down the stairs.”

Of course pregnant women should take care of their own and their fetus’s life. But this is a slippery slope of slop towards regulating all aspects of a woman’s life during her pregnancy. If this is the case, why stop here? Why not make it illegal for men to have sex (and possibly conceive said fetus you seek to protect) while under the influence of alcohol or other potentially harmful narcotics? That would at the very least cut back on unintended pregnancies. Simply because men do not have a similar biological process does not mean that a woman has to be unfairly restricted and legislated against. It was bad enough when women were restricted by anti-choice laws in order to “protect them,” but now the tide is increasingly turning towards something more like open hostility towards women and their reproductive freedom. Not only are we unable to make the right choice for ourselves and our bodies, now we are biological terrorists, bombing our own uteri. Someone stop us before we blow open the vagina doors at the embassy! And these legislators won’t stop until they can declare victory, at any cost, including the livelihood of the women they paternalistically swore to protect in the first place.

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