So, once again, the GOP is pressing to curb reproductive freedoms and exert control over women’s bodies. While this disgusting agenda has primarily been pushed at the state level for the last few years, Republicans in the House have decided it’s high time to make the push national again. The proposed legislation would ban all abortion procedures after the 20th week of pregnancy, and makes no exceptions for the health of the mother unless she is in mortal danger, nor does it make any exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
To start with, the entirety of the panel that passed this bill was made up of men. That’s right, the committee that’s taking on the initial debate on a health issue that affects only women didn’t have a single woman’s voice on it. Secondly, the “reasoning” given by the folks proposing this legislation is the completely unproven idea that the fetus would feel pain during the procedure. Even more appalling is the use of the Kermit Gosnell case to justify this. Gosnell was performing procedure that were so unethical that he lost his medical license and is now going to jail…to try and compare this to the current accepted medical practices surrounding legitimate safe abortions is a disturbing false equivalency, a deep failure of logic, and a grotesque exploitation of the victims of Gosnell. Finally, the entire bill is unconstitutional as the text of Roe v Wade protects abortion at least through viability, which falls around week 24, and this was recently affirmed when the Court of Appeals struck down a similar bill in Arizona.
The Republican Party continues its heinous war on women and shamelessly waves the flag of patriarchal entrenchment and overt misogyny. The GOP leadership should be ashamed of itself for allowing this bill to make it even past markup. So jump on those emails and get the word out to your local congressperson and let them know what you think of this latest attack of women. With enough pressure, we can hopefully ensure this bill dies in committee.
TRANS.NERD.FEMINIST 