Georgia State Senate Passes Law That Would Ban Abortion Before Women Even Know They’re Pregnant

Via AJC:

House Bill 481 would outlaw abortions once a doctor detects a heartbeat in the womb — which is usually at about six weeks into a pregnancy and before most women know they are pregnant. Current Georgia law allows abortions to be performed until 20 weeks.

Sen. Jen Jordan spelled it out:

You should really watch the video. Sen. Jordan is on point.

Here’s a snippet:

“And cruelest of all, to demand that a victim of incest file a police report before being able to terminate a pregnancy at its earliest stages is horrifying. Or that of a victim of rape. Each of you sits here in judgment of a situation that you could never comprehend, and dictate what a woman can and cannot do with her body, with her life.

“But this bill takes it much, much further. For the first time, this state will make Georgia women criminals for seeking basic reproductive care. This bill subjects both the doctor and the woman to prosecution and imprisonment for up to 10 years.

“Any woman who suffers a miscarriage could be subject to scrutiny regarding whether or not she intentionally acted to cause that miscarriage.

“She would be at risk of a criminal indictment for virtually any perceived self-destructive behavior during pregnancy which could cause miscarriage, to wit: Smoking, drinking, using drugs, using legal medications; driving while under the influence, or any other dangerous or reckless conduct.

“And taken to its extreme, prohibitions during pregnancy could also include the failure to act, such as the failure to secure adequate prenatal medical care. Any issue of whether a woman who has participated in this risky behavior intended to cause her subsequent miscarriage — as a lawyer, I can tell you — would be a jury question. 

“In other words, a pregnant woman who suffers a miscarriage could be subjected to criminal investigation, indictment, prosecution long before a jury is asked to determine whether she intentionally did anything to cause the loss.

“And if you think everything I just said was exaggeration or hyperbole, I read it directly from a Georgia court case where the implications of prosecuting women for seeking abortions was laid out in no uncertain terms.

We always knew “pro-lifers” end game was punishing women while doing nothing to help actual children or babies. When Donald Trump said there had to be some punishment for women, everyone acted surprised. It wasn’t surprising. We knew the “pro-life” mantra of ‘women are victims of abortion doctors’ was a lie.

So, it isn’t surprising the ease in which Republicans threaten those they claim they are protecting:

“Today, Senate Republicans ignore precedent, medical experts, women, and the OB-GYNs of this state. The very physicians whose whole job is to deliver healthy babies and keep women healthy. If you want more healthy women and babies, if you want to care for women and babies, if you value life truly—you would listen to the people who dedicate their lives — this is what they do.

“But instead of that, not only are they ignored, but they have been threatened and told to stand down or face cuts to — let me be clear, because we heard it in the beginning — cuts to maternal health funding, family planning funding, rural birth centers. All the things that we said we were funding? Yeah, there have been threats.

If they don’t get their way then pregnant women don’t get maternal health funding, family planning funding and rural birth centers. That’s not pro-life. Not even close. Republicans are willing to hurt and endanger women who want to be pregnant. These are their hostages, which tells you exactly how they view all women.

A while ago, a commenter asked: “Why on earth wouldn’t a woman be able to decide in the first trimester whether or not she chooses to have an abortion?” Here is part of my response:

My first thought on this statement is that Kent doesn’t know much about women’s bodies.

– Unless a women is trying to get pregnant, she may not know she’s pregnant right away.

– Despite being taught the menstrual cycle is 28 days, it’s normal for it to be 21 to 40 days. Do the math – altho it won’t be exact since not all women ovulate 10 -16 days into their cycle.

– It’s normal for approx. 20% of women to have some bleeding during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Many confuse this as their period, and, therefore, do not think they’re pregnant.

Welp, there goes the first trimester! But there are other reasons:

– Before getting an abortion, there’s the appointment with a doctor to confirm you’re actually pregnant. You know, an appointment that has to be scheduled, and, unless you have a friend or family member who’s an Ob/Gyn, won’t be scheduled that day. There goes another week, maybe more depending on where you live.

– Then the abortion procedure must be scheduled. I get that “pro-lifers” think women can just pop in and have an abortion any ol’ time, but that’s not how it works. And it’s funny how they know this when it comes to every other medical procedure.

– The two points above, of course, rely on getting time off from work, having transportation and money for the doctor’s visits and procedure.

Every one of these things cost time – unless Kent is advocating for free abortions during the first trimester then these obstacles won’t go away. In fact, these obstacles (including diminished access to safe and legal abortion) contribute to women having to wait to have an abortion.

Toss in the stupid waiting periods in some states (waiting periods and travel time could result in women in some states having to take off significant amount work time, not to mention having the funds for gas/transportation, accommodations, as well as the procedure) and you’ve succeeded in extending the timeline. But that’s the point, isn’t it?

You’ll never stop women from needing/wanting abortions, so you’ll make it difficult, and in some cases impossible to get. You’ll never advocate for free contraception or comprehensive sex ed, or free/affordable child care, healthcare or programs designed to help the babies/children you’ve forced women to have. What “pro-lifers” do is try to run out the clock by making abortion extremely difficult to get in order to force birth on a women. So, if you’re not on board with all the items listed above, then you’re not “pro-life”. You’re pro-forced birth and controlling women’s bodies – bodies that you obviously don’t understand.

Make no mistake, if this passes, Georgia will have outlawed abortion. Yes, it will go to the Supreme Court, but that’s the plan. After all, they can rely on Justice Brett “drunky” Kavanaugh to vote there way. And then, after they force birth on women, they can continue to cut programs that help women and children (including access to birth control – some of which, like the pill, they want to outlaw). Welcome to the Republic of Gilead.

And while women hold a special palce in GOP disdain, there’s also this:

The Justice Department now says the courts should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act — not just its protections for pre-existing conditions. The department signaled its new, broader position in a legal filing Monday, part of a lawsuit challenging the law’s individual insurance mandate.

Why it matters: A ruling striking down the entire ACA would upend major parts of the health care system. Millions of people would lose their health care coverage, and a host of seemingly unrelated policies — including new experiments in how Medicare pays for care and an entire class of prescription drugs — would also go out the window.

Republicans get whiny when you say their health care plan is ‘If you get sick, hurry up and die’, but that’s really their plan.