Showing posts with label patriarchy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patriarchy. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2007
With calls of emotional blackmail from opponents, a measure requiring women seeking abortions to first review ultrasound images of their fetuses advanced Wednesday in the South Carolina Legislature.
The legislation, supported by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, easily passed 91-23 after lawmakers defeated amendments exempting rape or incest. The House must approve the bill again in a routine vote before it goes to the Senate, where its sponsor expects it to pass.
That's right. Soon in South Carolina, even if you have been raped by a stranger or a family member, you have to view an ultrasound of the product "of that love" before you can have an abortion. This is apparently because women just cavalierly have abortions without really thinking about it. So South Carolina has to step in and make you feel awful about it before you do it.
A few days ago I blogged about this bill going forward. I didn't know they were going to be this harsh, but their track record so far shows I was being naive. This isn't the first bill infanticizing women to pass in South Carolina.
The state's informed-consent law, passed in 1994, requires abortion doctors to tell women the likely age of their fetus and give them information about fetal development and alternatives to abortion.
Women must think about the information for at least an hour before terminating their pregnancy.
That's right young lady. Your fetus is eight weeks old. Sit in a corner and think for an hour if you want to bear the child of your uncle. While you are thinking, here is a picture of the fetus. Is that your Uncle's nose? Awww, how precious. I am not letting you out for 45 more minutes now. No pudding for dessert either.
Friday, March 16, 2007
The South Carolina legislature sure are busy bees. Fresh off the proposal to give prisoners six months off their sentences if they become human organ farms and donate kidneys, they now have come up with a new doozy of a proposal. If you want an abortion in the Palmetto state, there is a new catch.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Women seeking abortions in South Carolina would be required to view an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure under a proposal gaining support from lawmakers. If enacted, it would be the first law of its kind in the nation.
The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Greg Delleney, considers the bill a natural addition to the state's informed-consent law, which requires that women be told about fetal development and offered alternatives to abortion. The law requires a woman to have at least an hour to think about the information before ending her pregnancy.
Delleney's proposal would require patients to certify in writing that they viewed the ultrasound.
Democratic state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter plans to lead the fight against the legislation when it comes up for debate later this month in the GOP-dominated House. But she said she expects the legislation to pass because even lawmakers who don't like the bill will be afraid to vote against it.
Ok, it's not enough that you insult women into waiting an hour just in case they went to the women's clinic just on a lark, and decided to have an abortion instead of getting their car detailed.
Sadly, women still have abortions even after being humiliated this way, so there has to be another way to make them feel shittier about making a tough decision that is the right choice for them. There is nothing I can see here about who is going to pay for it. What is the cost going to be to the women? Are poor women going to be able to afford the ultrasound? Is the state going to pick up the tab, especially if the woman decides to go through the song and dance and still proceed?
My sarcastic side wants to say this is a great thing. Now women who are raped can take a good look and see whose eyes and nose were captured by the product of this beautiful love.
I also will love to hear the women who have been told for medical reasons to have an abortion that they will get counseling AND home movies of the fetus that they would have wanted to keep if they were able to do so.
This is great! I think they need to go further. Women who want to have an abortion have to go on Abortion Idol, the hot new TV show sweeping South Carolina. Three bitter fundamentalists can critique your personal private reasons for having the abortion while shaming you in front of the community. They can even quote scripture. On special weeks, there will be a guest panel of James Dobson, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell. You are going to hell dawg.
Shit. I shouldn't have said that. They will get ideas.
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