Why, it was only a couple of weeks ago that some Republicans were telling women to just move on and forget about that they were doing re: abortion bans. Yeah, forget that some states were STILL passing laws to limit abortion to 6 weeks, make women have multiple appointments over several days before they cold even get on, maybe forced to have a sonogram, or having to leave the state if, god forbid, they have to get an abortion for any reason AFTER 6 weeks. (At which point, incidentally, a lot of women, dare I say most, don’t even know if they’re pregnant yet. And what if there is a birth defect? The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) says tha screening tests are done, in the first trimester, between 11 and 13 weeks The screen that checks for downs syndrome isn’t till between weeks 15 and 20. Give me a BREAK on the 6 weeks, it’s effectively an abortion ban while pretending women have choices. Nope
Because Republicans are trying to bamboozle women about what they’re doing, since not allowing women to control their own healthcare and have decisions be between them and their doctor, their newest lie is to pretend a 12 week ban (oh, they don’t call it a ban, but it is) is reasonable and just common sense. Nope, but you’re a fool if you believe this.
To be clear, I don’t believe it’s possible for Republicans to message their way out of this. Not when hospitals are shutting down maternity wards and OBGYNs are leaving anti-choice states en masse. Not when child rape victims and cancer patients are being forced to leave their home states for care.
Still, we can’t let Republicans get away with calling their restrictions ‘reasonable’. Because while they feign moderation on cable television shows and in press releases, the actual legislation they’re proposing is as cruel and punitive as it’s always been. The only thing that’s changed is the messaging.
Read this about what North Carolina Republicans are doing.
To start, this is not a 12-week ban. Medication abortion—used in nearly 60% of abortions in North Carolina—is banned at 10 weeks. What’s more, obtaining medication abortion would require three in-person visits, even though the pills are safe to prescribe via tele-health. Surgical abortion would also require an in-person consultation at least three days before the procedure.
These aren’t just delays; they’re obstacles specifically designed to prevent women who can’t take multiple days off work or travel to a clinic from getting abortions. It’s an attack on poor women and out-of-state patients. And that’s just the first round of barriers.
Read about the unnecessary sonograms, the baloney doctors are forced to say and show while telling lies. But this is the cake
There’s no better proof of the legislation’s familiar cruelty, though, than the matter-of-fact way Republicans anticipate and dismiss women’s inevitable desperation when forced to carry pregnancies against their wills: In the exception for medical emergencies, lawmakers write that “no condition shall be deemed a medical emergency if based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct which would result in her death.”
To put it plainly: They know this law will cause women to become suicidal, and they don’t care. Please pause and think about this—about what this anguish looks like in people’s real lives. Consider how hopeless a person has to be for a doctor to diagnose them as being at immediate risk of taking their own life. Are they eating or getting out of bed? Are they able to talk without sobbing? Can they even be safely left alone?
Now think about that despairing person begging for help and being denied, told that they’re not having a real medical emergency.* That’s what this bill would do. In contrast, here’s what Republicans say it will do: Sponsor Sen. Krawiec says the ban “will undoubtedly save lives and improve health outcomes for many pregnant women.”
Republicans are LYING. Do not elect them any more at all if you think women should be in charge of their own heath care.