Congressional Republicans continue to refuse to do the will of the majority of the people, wasting time and resources trying to pass anti-choice legislation for which there is no scientific basis nor overwhelming public support:
On March 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on two separate bills that would, among other things, impose a federal ban on abortion at or after 20 weeks post-fertilization (equivalent to 22 weeks' gestation). Both bills would do nothing to advance public health and are instead yet another attempt to politicize women's health and limit women's access to abortion care.Naturally, "a significant failure of public health policy" is a feature, not a bug. Indeed, it's the very objective.
The first bill, a 20-week abortion ban misleadingly labeled as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, is premised at least in part on the assertion that fetuses can experience pain starting at 20 weeks post-fertilization—a claim that is not supported by the preponderance of scientific evidence. The bill is patently unconstitutional, since it would prohibit abortion before viability without any exception to preserve a woman's health. The bill also includes particularly callous and cruel rape and incest exceptions that force rape victims to wait 48 hours and make two visits to see two different providers before having an abortion.
Moreover, the 20-week abortion ban would fall hardest on low-income women, the very group bearing a disproportionate burden of unintended pregnancies.
...The 20-week abortion ban bill would also impose a little-noticed provision that could be used to target abortion providers.
...The second proposed bill to be taken up at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, is redundant and harmful. Existing legislation, The Born Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, already requires that a fetus that survives an abortion is entitled to emergency medical care. Critically, the current law does so without undermining the rights protected under Roe v. Wade. In contrast, The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would not only roll-back this carefully crafted bipartisan agreement reached in 2002. It would also add new criminal penalties against doctors and clinicians as a scare tactics that serves the sole purpose of scaring women away from seeking safe, legal abortion.
Taken together, the proposed legislation, if enacted, would constitute a significant failure of public health policy.
I have been writing so often for so long about the erosion of abortion access that I don't even know what I could say at this point that I haven't said a dozen times.
ABORTION IS HEALTHCARE. And any legislation that values the potential life of every fetus more highly than the people who carry them is dehumanizing horseshit.
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus