More war on women
The Republicans are still trying to vote forced pregnancy into law.
Press ReleaseWashington, D.C. – Congressman Steve King released the following statement after introducing “The Heartbeat Bill,” that would require physicians to detect the heartbeat and prohibit the abortion of a baby with a beating heart:
“Since Roe v. Wade was unconstitutionally decided in 1973, nearly 60 million innocent babies’ lives have been ended by the abortion industry, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government,” said King. “Human life, beginning at the moment of conception, is sacred in all of its forms and today, I introduced a bill that will protect the lives of voiceless innocents.
My legislation will require all physicians, before conducting an abortion, to detect the heartbeat of the unborn child. If a heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected.
America was founded on the concept that our rights come from God. All human persons have a right to life. How then could we confer that those rights allow the killing of a baby? I believe our most important responsibility that God has bestowed upon us is to protect innocent human life, and I will continue to dedicate my life to that responsibility.”
Issues:
Traditional and Family Values
Rewire comments:
His spokesperson provided Rewire with legislative text specifying that an abortion provider “who knowingly performs an abortion and thereby kills a human fetus” without determining a heartbeat, informing the patient of a heartbeat, or proceeding regardless of a heartbeat would face fines and up to five years in prison. The bill includes limited exceptions for the physical health of the pregnant [woman] but not for “psychological or emotional conditions.”
King worked on the bill with anti-choice activist Janet Porter, the Faith2Action leader deemed too extreme for Christian talk radio, the congressman’s spokesperson said. Porter was behind Ohio Republicans’ recent failed attempt to push through a total abortion ban. Anti-choice Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) vetoed the measure the same day he signed a 20-week ban into law, reasoning that the 20-week ban would be more constitutionally prudent. It’s not.
Porter persuaded King to act while both attended the funeral of Phyllis Schlafly, the notorious Equal Rights Amendment opponent, as People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch first reported in October.
Misogynists gotta network.
This “beating heart” BS makes me want to scream. I even did a more detailed scream over on my own blog. But the basics are this: Human embryonic heart cells start beating about the 19-20th day after fertilization. (That’s just short of the 5th week of pregnancy according to the conventional way doctors calculate the duration.)
Heart cells will beat in a petri dish. It’s part of their chemical and electrical properties, just as mucus cells will produce mucus in a petri dish.
An actual *heart*, i.e. the organ, not just the cells, isn’t formed until after the 20th *week* of pregnancy.
I know the biological facts are of zero concern to Keep-’em-barefoot-pregnant-and-behind-the-plow jerks. I know their real concern is simply to maintain women as brood sows. I guess it just irks me to watch them hide behind biology instead of owning their revolting agenda.
America was founded on the idea of the social contract. The creator was mentioned only in the Declaration and probably mostly to get the damn thing passed. But…I’m preaching to the choir.
And since the original constitution only recognized white male landowners as people, we don’t have to extend this right to women at all.
Why do I fear that Roe v Wade is going to be written into history soon?
All persons have a right to life until they’re born, then they can sink or swim with the rest of us (mostly sink if Trump and his billionaire-heavy, well-insured cabinet get their way). Their right to life is further eroded once they hit the age of majority and qualify for the death penalty. But, Hey! at least they were allowed to be born.