New Hampshire lawmakers heard testimony this week arguing for and against multiple abortion bills with varying agendas. While Democrats in the state are pushing to protect abortion rights in the state with an amendment to the state constitution, Republicans are looking to bar the practice almost entirely. You know, because live free or die.
“Thank God our mothers decided for life,” said Richard LaPlume, of Derry (not the Derry from Stephen King books, as that is in Maine … but close enough!) “And please be aware of wolves who prowl about in sheep’s clothing, preaching women’s reproductive health care as a reason to abort unborn babies.”
Sir, you live in New Hampshire. You should be more worried about moose than wolves, okay? Also legislators who can’t keep out of your uterus.
“We’ve got to stop this,” said state Rep. John Sellers, a Republican from Bristol, referring to either the Democrats’ bill or abortion in general. “If it’s 15 days, 15 weeks, we’ve got to stop it. Actually, it should be from conception. And really, I’ll bet that 15 days is technically from conception.”
Wouldn’t you know it, he’s actually right! Sort of! Pregnancy officially starts up to two after sex when the fertilized egg is implanted — even the sperm and egg might take up to six days to meet, which is “conception” — and pregnancy tests are not usually even accurate until 10-14 days after that, so this Sellers feller would want to bar women from having abortions before it’s even possible for many to know they are pregnant.*
The fact is, however, the New Hampshire legislature is so evenly split that neither proposal has a chance of survival, which at the very least means that, for now, women can at least wait until after their positive Clear Blue Easy test to schedule their abortions.
Kansas, shockingly enough, was the first state where voters chose to keep abortion legal — and with a 60-40 split, it wasn’t even close. But eight House Republicans have put together a new bill banning it, complete with all of the totalitarian bells and whistles they could ever hope for.
House Bill 2492 has everything: a ban on all abortion except “to save the life of the mother,” a ban on medication abortion and the ability for people to file lawsuits against doctors who perform abortions or anyone that helps anyone get one in any way.
It’s also extremely, extremely unlikely to pass, both because voters do not want it and because Democratic Governor Laura Kelly will veto it and the state Supreme Court already decided in 2019 that the Kansas constitution protects the right to abortion. In fact, it’s so unlikely to pass that even a lady from Kansans For Life is mad that they are even going to try it.
“Kansans for Life is focused on what the abortion industry does not do: Showing authentic care and compassion for women facing unexpected pregnancies,” Mackenzie Haddix, deputy communications director of Kansans for Life told the Kansas Reflector. “Now, more than ever, is the time to focus on policies that actually save lives instead of proposals that have zero chance of becoming law and will never save a single life due to the Kansas Supreme Court’s extreme 2019 Hodes ruling.”
Actually, “the abortion industry” absolutely does do that — and, unlike those who oppose abortion, those who support it by and large support the kinds of social programs that actually make it less likely that those unexpected pregnancies will occur and that going through with having a child will be less of a crushing financial burden, but go off, Mackenzie.
Florida already has a law banning abortion after six weeks, which is just like banning it entirely, but for Miami-Dade County Rep. David Borrero, that nonsense just doesn’t go far enough.
On Monday, Borrero filed HB 1519, which reads “a person or an entity may not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.” Of course, as we all know, that “save the life” exception isn’t really much of one, as by the time a doctor feels like they can officially make that determination, a patient may be too far gone to help.
The bill also stipulates that anyone found to have performed an abortion on a patient who wasn’t close enough to death can be subject to prison for ten years or a fine of $100,000. There is, of course, no criminal or financial punishment for just letting that patient die.
“Florida Republicans continue to show us just how far they are willing to go with the filing of HB1519, a total abortion ban,” Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a written statement. “This policy proposal eliminates what are already narrow exceptions for rape and incest and would force Floridians into pregnancy. It’s unhinged and extreme and not what the majority of Floridians want. As we organize on the ground in defense of reproductive freedom, we must continue to fight like hell in the chamber. Floridians deserve the ability to make personal and private decisions about their future and we will not stop fighting until that vision is the reality for all.”
Good for her!
Hadley Duvall appeared last year in a campaign ad for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, talking about how she was repeatedly raped by her father, got pregnant from him at the age of 12 and miscarried — while hammering home how important it would have been for her to be able to have an abortion had that not occurred. Now a college senior, Duvall went to the statehouse to endorse Hadley’s Law, a measure that would allow for abortion in cases of rape or incest, when pregnancies are deemed nonviable or the life of the mother is at stake in a medical emergency. The law would also have the distinction of being the rare law named after a white woman that does not curtail anyone’s civil rights.
Of course, as the state currently has a Republican supermajority, there is no chance in hell of it actually passing. But it’s a nice gesture and a nice way to show how very out of touch these legislatures are with the average American.
*This paragraph has been edited.
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