Ladies: Gird Your Loins

UPDATE: On Tuesday night, May 13, 25 white men of the Alabama senate, all Republicans, voted to take away a women's right to choose what to do with her body. And on Wednesday evening in an act of betrayal to the women of Alabama and the US, Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill. Then, on Thursday morning, Missouri's senate passed an 8-week bill (it must be passed by the house and signed by the governor) and Louisiana's house and senate passed a fetal heartbeat bill.

If women are not allowed to make decisions concerning their bodies, how the hell will they be elected president?

Yes, I am enraged, and no number of "there, theres" will squelch it.

This past week in particular has been a shitstorm for women’s right to choose. In particular, Georgia, now known as Gilead, passed a “heartbeat” bill that would ban abortions as early as six weeks. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the brutally restrictive bill, which is supposed to go into effect Jan. 1; the American Civil Liberties Union will challenge it in court. Georgia has the highest maternal death rate in the country.

Also tagged on to the bill is a caveat that a woman who travels out of state for an abortion may be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and anyone who assists her could be charged with conspiracy. My question is how will they know? Will Georgia hire the uterus police to be stationed at state borders?

In Alabama, a ruckus broke out on the state senate over the most restrictive bill yet. 

According to CBS news, the bill provides no exceptions for rape or incest and classifies the procedure as a Class A felony in the state. That means a doctor caught performing abortions in Alabama would face up to 99 years in prison. The bill is expected to pass and Gov. Kay Ivey said she will sign it.

And in Ohio, a bill was introduced to ban insurance coverage for abortions. The bill was sponsored by Rep. John Becker, who plays a doctor in the legislation; he has decided that even in the case of ectopic pregnancies, the fetus must be transplanted into the uterus. Mr. Becker must have gotten his medical degree at Walmart since that procedure is impossible.

These bills go so far as to even prosecute women for having miscarriages.

The bills’ sponsors are not afraid to say they are a dress rehearsal for the overturn of Roe V. Wade, which has been the law of the land since 1973.

 

In addition, the tRump administration is cutting funding to Title X clinics, which offer a wide range of health services to women, including birth control and preventive care.

Here are the facts regarding abortion, state-by state, as provided by Refinery29. The website notes that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, abortion would automatically become illegal in four states: Louisiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Mississippi. And eight states have only one abortion provider left: Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Missouri.

The map lists each state with the number of legal abortion clinics and “crisis pregnancy centers,” which masquerade as providing women’s health services, but do not offer abortions and even prevent women from seeking birth control.

Oh, and this all happened just in the course of one week and doesn’t include the likes of Mississippi and Texas, which have also passed restrictive legislation.

The irony is that the states pushing these restrictions have the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality,  childhood poverty, the lowest ranking schools, and lowest paid teachers. The Center for Disease Control on Mother’s Day reported that 700 women in the U.S. die each day from pregnancy-related complications, many of who are minorities. So much for saving the fetus. 

Thus, they – and “they” seem to be overwhelmingly men – hold the fetus sacred while in the womb, but abandon all concern and responsibility once it is born.

Their concern for the unborn is a sham. Rather, it’s a desire to control women and a belief that they cannot make a decision without a male hovering over them – sort of like tRump during the debate with Hilary Clinton. They find our ability to efficiently multi-task a threat – rather than launching missiles, we bring people to the table.

Suggestions have been made to hold men financially responsible from the moment of conception or to block insurance coverage for ED medications (after all a broken boner is God’s will), the way male legislators are looking to block insurance coverage for birth control.

I have two mantras: (1) No woman wakes up in the morning and says, “Oh, goodie, I think I’ll have an abortion today.” (2) You have no uterus. You have no vagina. Unless you grow them, you have no business telling a woman what to do with hers.

In "The Handmaid's Tale," there was a casual exchange between June and her husband. Her prescription for her birth control needed to be renewed and she reminded him that he had to call the pharmacy. She had to get his permission for her birth control.

If we expect to elect a woman president, and expect them to have equal representation in the legislature and boardroom, legislation concerning women's bodies must stop. 

You are not alone in your outrage. 

Laura Carroll's article: "The Childfree, Rage, and the Fight to Keep our Reproductive Rights."

And Rebecca Traister in "Our Fury Over Abortion Was Dismissed for Decades as Hysterical," offers constructive ways to channel our anger.