Although the GOP is currently bickering over which rape victims “deserve” abortions, there’s yet another egregious aspect to this bill: the cut off at 20 weeks which would essentially ban many medically-necessary abortions, those done to save a woman’s life and health.
Although the GOP is falsely-claiming fetus pain at the 20 week mark, factually, that’s the earliest point at which some tests of fetal anomalies can take place.
Fetal anomalies which mean a wanted pregnancy has gone toxically wrong and abortion may be needed in order to save a woman’s life or health.
Which would be banned by the GOP’s seemingly arbitrary 20 week cut off.
However, I don’t believe it to be an arbitrary time-line decision on the GOP’s side.
Like the Bush era “Partial Birth Abortion Law,” I believe the GOP are deliberately outlawing medically-necessary abortions, for a reason.
Once medically-necessary abortions are illegal, once the life and health of women are no longer an issue, legally, it would be a relative cake-walk for the Republicans to legislate against all the rest of what they can term “recreational” abortions.
I can assure you that rape victims will also be considered collateral damage at that point.
Remember John McCain’s dismissive finger italics around the “health” of the woman when debating abortion during his presidential campaign?
I do.
The GOP doesn’t give a damn in hell about a woman’s life or health, they’ll just be more collateral damage.
Pre Roe V. Wade, my older step-sister’s friend had her pregnancy go wrong, but was forced to carry that dead fetus to term because the local doctors feared legal prosecution with a late-term abortion.
Not only was that woman forced to give birth to a dead baby, but her system was so poisoned by the toxicity, she was never able to have another child.
In Central and South American countries with abortion bans – even those with rape, life and health exceptions – women die of ectopic pregnancies because doctors fear they’ll be charged, if they operate.
The GOP knows exactly what it’s doing with that 20 week abortion ban: we should, too.
They’re legislating for more dead women.