Chipping Away At Roe (What Else Is New?)

As we all should know by now, after my minor freak-outs in various open threads, our government is currently doing some pretty shitty things regarding our reproductive health! And if you didn’t know that, well, let me tell you, in listicle form! Everybody loves listicles.

NUMBER ONE: HR 3, or the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ). This would codify the Hyde Amendment, originally passed in 1976 in response to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which prevented state and federal government from passing restrictions on first-trimester abortions. The Hyde Amendment is the OG of federal funding restrictions on abortion. It cut off Medicaid funding for abortions except when the woman’s life was in danger, and in cases of rape and incest, because rape-babies are inherently less valuable to pro-lifers than whore-babies. This makes it a lot harder for poor women to have abortions, which makes total sense if you think about it. Poor women always need more mouths to feed, and prenatal care and childbirth isn’t expensive at all. Plus, they might be unemployed, which is like, unlimited maternity leave!

So! HR 3 would make the Hyde Amendment a permanent law, rather than a rider attached to the yearly Medicaid appropriations bill. It would also deny tax credits and benefits to employers who want their insurance to cover abortions. Now, I know the Republicans ran on reducing the deficit and job creation, but this is more important than the 10% unemployment rate. John Boehner said so. In fact, he named the bill one of the House’s highest legislative priorities.

NUMBER TWO: HR 358, or the Protect Life Act (we’ll get to why this is so hilarious in a second), sponsored by Rep. Joseph Smith (R-PA) of Stupak-Pitts fame. You know, the failed amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, part of what is now irritatingly known as Obamacare? The one that would prevent federal funding for any health care plan that includes coverage of abortion (except in cases of blah, blah, and blah)? Apparently, Rep. Smith has decided it’s time to try again, unlike that pushover, Bart Stupak, who didn’t even seek re-election. Stupak-Pitts and this bill are essentially the same, save for a few minor differences:

It would allow hospitals receiving federal funding – not just individual doctors, but entire hospitals – to refuse life-saving abortion treatment or provide referrals. This is why the name of the bill is so damn funny! Because Rep. Smith and his 209 cosponsors are so pro-life, they’d be okay with the woman and fetus dying, rather than just the fetus! Why aren’t you laughing?

Ectopic pregnancy? You’ll just have to wait until your Fallopian tube ruptures, leaving you injured and possibly infertile, or even dead, because the hospital is uncomfortable removing a zygote with zero chance of survival from a tube about 1 cm in diameter. Critically injured in an accident, requiring treatment that means aborting the fetus? You’re SOL, if it makes the hospital feel squicky. Loophole: closed.

Should some tarty strumpet claim she was raped, it better have been “forcible.” Yes, the language is still in the bill, and a couple other bills, too. We’ve all been over this. Rape is, by definition, forcible, so it does lead one to wonder what exactly Representative Smith has in mind as an acceptable rape. Does it count if you were unconscious, drugged, or drunk to the point of blacking out, with no fighting chance? Does it count statutory rape? We know it doesn’t include incest if you’re over 18, because by then you obviously wanted it. Never mind how absurdly difficult it is to prove you were raped unless you immediately go to the police/hospital without showering, throwing your clothes away, or taking too long to escape your rapist. (Even then, without physical injury, it’s often a he-said-she-said situation.) Never mind if it started off consensual, but somewhere along the way, became non-consensual because the condom broke and he wouldn’t stop, or you asked him to stop doing that weird thing and he didn’t. Never mind you might have been so terrified of this person who, if he was willing to rape you, god knows what else he was willing to do to you, so you just went along with what was happening to prevent further injury and trauma, and that’s why you don’t have any handy bruises or massive internal bleeding to prove it. We all know how common false rape accusations are (hint: not very).

It also excludes women who are not experiencing immediate physical danger from the pregnancy. This means women with mental health problems, who need medication just to get through the day, medication that could seriously harm the fetus, do not apply. This means women diagnosed with an illness that, untreated, will kill them later, do not apply.

This means more Angela Carders. Angela Carder had a history of bone cancer, and a tumor was found in her lung during the 25th week of her pregnancy. Her condition was terminal, and her health was deteriorating fast. She initially wanted to continue treatment to try to make it to 28 weeks, when the fetus might have been viable. When it became clear that she would not survive that long, she opted for more pain medication and hospice care. By that point, the fetus had likely been deprived of oxygen due to her weakened condition, not to mention the radiation and chemo, and she decided not to take the small chance she and the fetus would survive the surgery. However, the hospital contested her decision, questioning its legal responsibility to the fetus, and forced Angela to undergo an immediate C-section. The child died within two hours of the surgery; Angela was conscious to learn of the death, then slipped into a coma and died less than two days later. It was later ruled that the judge who decided on the C-section had violated Carder’s right to informed consent and bodily integrity.

 

NUMBER THREE: HR 217, or Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). This bill was voted on in the House Friday, Feb. 18, and passed 240-185. Holy crap! 240 representatives really hate poor people, apparently. This amends Title X of the Public Health Service Act to prohibit family planning funds from going to any entity that performs abortions. This sounds familiar!

The bill is basically to defund Planned Parenthood, the giantest, most profitable abortion mill in the history of ever. Well, they also provide comprehensive sex education, contraception, and reproductive and general health care, all on a sliding fee scale to accommodate their lower-income clients, and advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights. And none of the federal funding they receive goes towards abortions, because that’s already forbidden. According to their annual report, Planned Parenthood, with over 820 centers in operation, serves over 3 million people a year. That sure is a lot of hussies!

But baby-killing! That’s the real issue here, folks. I mean, it is a shame that uninsured and underinsured people who rely almost entirely on Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics for STD, cancer, and infertility screening, physical exams, affordable contraception, Pap smears and pelvic exams, flu vaccines and jock itch aren’t going to get those services anymore, but think of the blastocysts! Think of the embryos! Think of the fetuses! (Also: seriously, those super-gross pictures of aborted 7-month fetuses still made it past strict SafeSearch? Ugh.)

I’d love to go on about other bills at the state and federal level. There are currently 19 bills in the House pertaining to women’s health care services (search for “abortion”), and who knows how many are at the state level. Also, I really wanted to talk about the madness that was South Dakota’s “Justifiable Homicide” bill. However, I think that’s enough Debbie Downer for today.

How about a little something to cleanse the palate? This is a pudu. It’s only a foot tall, and it can climb trees!