Barbato reports: "After an emotional 14-hour workday that included fist-fights between lobbyists and a walk-out by women Democrats, the Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks."
Abortion will not be allowed after 20 weeks in Georgia, even in the case of rape or incest. (photo: flickr commons)
At 11th Hour, Georgia Passes "Women As Livestock" Bill
02 April 12
fter an emotional 14-hour workday that included fist-fights between lobbyists and a walk-out by women Democrats, the Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks.
The bill, which does not contain rape or incest exemptions, is expected to receive a signature from Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
Commonly referred to as the "fetal pain bill" by Georgian Republicans and as the "women as livestock bill" by everyone else, HB 954 garnered national attention this month when state Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn) compared pregnant women carrying stillborn fetuses to the cows and pigs on his farm. According to Rep. England and his warped thought process, if farmers have to "deliver calves, dead or alive," then a woman carrying a dead fetus, or one not expected to survive, should have to carry it to term.
The bill as first proposed outlawed all abortions after 20 weeks under all circumstances. After negotiations with the Senate, the House passed a revised HB 954 that makes an exemption for "medically futile" pregnancies or those in which the woman's life or health is threatened.
If this makes its seem like Rep. England and the rest of the representatives looked beyond their cows and pigs and recognized women as capable, full-thinking human beings, think again: HB 954 excludes a woman's "emotional or mental condition," which means women suffering from mental illness would be forced to carry a pregnancy to term. It also ignores pregnant women who are suicidal and driven to inflict harm on themselves because of their unwanted pregnancy.
In order for a pregnancy to be considered "medically futile," the fetus must be diagnosed with an irreversible chromosomal or congenital anomaly that is "incompatible with sustaining life after birth." The Georgia "fetal pain" bill also stipulates that the abortion must be performed in such a way that the fetus emerges alive. If doctors perform the abortion differently, they face felony charges and up to 10 years in prison. Given all this, the so-called compromise suddenly does not look like much of a bargain.
For anti-choice lawmakers, it is an item of faith that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks. But scientists disagree. Reviews of all existing medical evidence have found that fetuses have not developed the neurological structures to feel pain until at least 25 weeks, and likely not until 28 weeks, in the third trimester.
Although Roe v. Wade set the precedent for abortion to be legal up to 24 weeks, state legislatures continue to ram through restrictive anti-choice laws. Georgia will join six other states with fetal pain restrictions - Nebraska, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Alabama. North Carolina prohibits abortion after 20 weeks.
Arizona is now poised to join the roster, as the Senate passed a 20-week abortion restriction Tuesday. The bill, which awaits final approval from the House, also requires women seeking abortions to look at a state-run website littered with anti-choice propaganda.
And in the Northeast, arguably the country's most pro-choice region, the New Hampshire House voted Thursday to ban abortion after 20 weeks. The bill now moves to the Senate to join four other anti-abortion bills passed by the House this month.
Although GOP's war on women continues to deal blow after blow, this week held two small victories: The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down mandated ultrasounds while the Idaho House dropped the ultrasound bill all together.
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Comments
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But to compare pregnant women to farm animals is a new low, even for those people.
A new low? But that is exactly how they view women, as pigs and cows and sluts.
Except that some of these people have private doctors who perform "hushed" abortions in a private office, not a clinic, so no one but them ever knows.
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Arizona is, surprisingly,so far south that it actually *touches* Mexico. I understand the revulsion that must cause in you, but it's true.
The political character of the state is perhaps best described as "southern-wanna be." The politicians want to be as ignorant, backward and regressive as their southern counterparts, but they'll have to study up to get there.
Don't write off the whole region because of one party's use of hate to get elected. The idea behind extremist legislation is to demoralize opposition, and to trivialize public debate. The Republicans know how to get elected. They know they can always get an abortion from their private doctor's, law or no law.
These crazy, well-funded corporate-bough t politicians do not represent the majority of people in the south. It's laws like this that force people to go along with anything the party says. It's like the Nazis. Extremism breeds fear, fear of thinking dispassionately , fear of feeling something for your fellow man, or in this case woman, fear of caring for someone outside your belief circle.
Before you cry "Discrimination !", please note that for most of our nation's history the laws regarding abortion have been made exclusively by men.
In other words, Georgia no longer grants the consideration to human beings that it does to cattle.
Please DO keep up this asinine behavior,
so women and Intelligent men in the WHOLE country can see what you are up to.
You disgust me. Come November YOU ARE HISTORY
If all men would keep their zippers up at all times there would be no need for contraceptives. Is all men had vasectomies there would be no need for contraceptives. If only men, for once, would take responsibility for their actions we would not be having this issue.
Just try selling that concept to the social conservatives, they act as if the male discharge is the most sacred of all. They refuse to craft legislation regarding their precious sperm.
Don't you see, Jaz, it's because the Court will, in all likelihood, uphold their insane views! The Court is Loaded with Hard Right-Wing Ideologues who don't give a Fiddler's Bitch for the Law or Humanity or ANYTHING but their Wealthy Masters!
I think it's pretty unlikely that The Court will overturn Roe v Wade, which is what it would take for these laws to stand. It's possible that this is just political theater. The Republicans passing these laws know that they won't stand under court challenges, but they'll pass these laws anyway. Then when the laws get struck down in court decisions, the GOP'ers will dramatically beat their breasts over the Evil Activist Judges thwarting The People's Will, knowing all along that they never had a chance. Some of these Republicans may well want this legislation passed and for it to stand, but most of them are just playing to the rubes and right-wing christianistas.
Unfortunately, I suppose it's not impossible. Scalia and other right-wing ideologues won't care about precedent and even plain human decency. They've shown themselves to be more devoted to their own agendas than to law, justice, the Constitution, or the good of the American people.
Right wingers complain about "activist judges legislating from the bench". I wonder if that would be of such great distress to them in this particular instance.
This action and many of the recent acts of the far right extremists and christianists, feels to me like an act of desperation. I suspect that these moralistic zealots can feel their 40 year long death grip on the country is beginning to slip away. They see that even those who used to be with them are starting to turn away in disgust, saying this is too much; this is too far.
I do not say this will end instantly. Like squatters finally being evicted from a home they've been allowed to take over and vandalize for far too long, they will try to do a lot more damage on their way out, but I think they know their end is coming.
Other articles on other subjects have noted how much paranoia and lack of cohesion our nomadic society has, that leads to teens being shot. If females are forced into reproduction before they are ready, not only will they suffer physical harm, but society will lose its psychological home and its stability.
Haven't we seen enough articles about young women forced into early marriage and childbirth, leading to the destruction of a culture? Do we want to be Yemen, India, and many other truly 3rd world countries?
It is increasingly unclear to me who won the Civil War and whether, if he could see us now, Lincoln would have invested any of his political capital in what he thought was "saving the Union." Other than a few musical bright spots--Austin, Nashville, New Orleans--what good is the South to us? Nothing but daughter-diddli ng preachers and people who shoot black people for sport.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#46934019
BTW - many of those states who bar abortion have NO LAWS to put he rapists in jail (etc) when they ban abortions.
Romney is trying to bring women into his "caring" -- about jobs etc. WHAT A JOKE! Maybe he wants to put women on the top of his car with his dog?
VOTE DEM/VOTE OBAMA -- Contact your local Dem headquarters and see how you can get more dems out to vote
This is lawmaking made against the unborn by those yet to be born themselves.
This is anger directed at women, justified with a moral excuse, by men who have aborted their own humanity and dredged up a new lie to shield themselves from the truth that they are dead inside.
And once a child is born, its life is of no consequence. If only these right to life activists were concerned about the loss of innocent life after birth. Where is the concern for all the innocent African Americans such as Trayvon Martin or Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., the unarmed 68 year old veteran who was shot in the chest by cops who broke down his door after his life alert accidentally went off?
Extreme men like these have an over-inflated ego, but very little sense of worth. They believe that stripping women of our rights and murdering 17 year old black children will prevent inevitable change and ensure their continued dominance.
The right has harmed millions of people, eroded our rights and privacy and stripped people of homes, jobs, and a comfortable retirement. They've been willing to destroy our county in the hope preventing an African American man from coming into his power as President.
They don't realize that their behaviors have created a hole in their soul -- not the gains of women, blacks or gays.
Let's put an end to this self-destructio n in November.
This hasn’t just started; it has been going on since even before Reagan, back to the 1930’s and is now at the point where it is escalating very fast. The next administration whether Obama or Romney will fairly much tie it all together and we have lost!
We now live under Fascism; it took the banks and industrialists 77 years to accomplish it, but they won…now what do we do? the same thing over and over and hope for a different result. We vote the same (controlled) two parties. Each takes us closer to their destination, a different form of government.
Time to admit Obama is part of the problem! Just take a serious look at what he has done to us. And you still think he is on the side of the 99%...sorry you’re a dreamer and not living in the real world.
We had an opportunity to stop this, but blind faith prevented any real consensus.
Your blind faith in a man who spat in your face with NDAA and all the other garbage has given them the time they needed to close the Knot. Yes it has been divide and conquer…and it worked!
I've followed politics closely for 15 years and have watched the fascist right takeover with Democrats caving on too many important issues. We have to get after the Democrats, too, but they are, by far, the saner party.
hummm but isn't that still voting for evil?
Ok then…here’s the question!
How do we get away from evil?
Or do we just allow the takeover of America by trying to keep from office who we feel will end our republic more rapidly?
Isn’t that still allowing them to end the republic?
If we know both party candidates are evil, why vote for either of them?
Why not try a third party that we KNOW is not controlled by Wall Street, Oil and any corporate money they will gladly take and do their bidding?
Do you think Obama will garner support from the near 10 million homeowners he allowed to lose their home while he supported TBTF? Or the near 25 million still unemployed?
Do you think to them he is the lesser of the two evils?
Keep women at home and pregnant (and dying and sick), and men not only are in power again and can feel less threatened, but there are more jobs freed up for them.
This may not be an overt or spoken reason for the current war on women, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is a significant motivator.
Perhaps we can divert .0001% of the Defense budget, aimed at 28 flavors of terrorists after all, and build a razor-wire, electrified 50-foot high perimeter fence around the whole effing state, like a massive SuperMax; then "transfer" all the country's reactionaries, bible lunatics and illiterate gun nuts inside, to live among themselves as they please, and LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE. Kinda like that Ray Liotta prison movie "No Escape". The RNC can re-locate to Atlanta with their leader, Reince Priebus, whose name sounds like a severe intestinal disease. And Willard can be president, inside the fence.
Who knows, maybe they'll volunteer, so they can finally, happily live among their own homogeneous population of white "Christian" psychos and hog farmers...at least they'll have a lot of "fresh" air.
A vote for President Obama is a vote for sanity & equality for all citizens.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
our future and our lives are at stake
Howard was not making decisions for anyone, he just made a comment... apparently you have issues that you may want to discuss with a professional, this is not the forum for that. I agree with him in that a woman knows the first month, there are many other signs besides a missed period, I am not going to go into them, but look them up if you don't know what they are!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
our future and our lives are at stake.
Yup that makes perfect sense to me! Vote Obama and women can get birth control but soon won't be allowed to protest the take over of the country!
then these nitwits will see how making rules over persons sex lives and the reprocussion of such - is stupid.
The right is using religion to force their regressive views on the entire population, despite the separation of Church and State.
William
Women are being given 20 weeks to make a decision and if they so choose abort the child they don't want. It is irresponsible and selfish to risk causing pain and suffering for another because women "have rights". Yes, and they have responsibilitie s too.
We live in a culture with many different belief systems. We have, or at least in the past, have agreed to disagree over religious issues. My advice to amy is simple; don't like abortion, don't have one but please do not force me to follow your own version of what is right.
In the meantime if you are concerned about children please lobby to increase food stamps, provide healthcare to children and their parents, work to stop foreclosures and keep children in their homes. Prove something.
I bought and kept that movie for all these years as a 'training' film- since so many no longer read. For people who told me 'you are too extreme' over these long years I had and have just one word 'wait' Seems like the waiting is over.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE AMERICA??
THIS IS JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE!!
VOTE IN YOUR BEST INTEREST AMERICA PLZZZZ
GOP AND WICKED RIGHT IS NOT THE ONE!
Kansas, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Virginia?...it' s really like half the country!
are there no decent republicans to call these goons out, and tell them to cease and desist, and that they are liable for hate crime prosecution?
by the way, when will the hate crime prosecutions begin?
In the past in our beloved country LITERALLY thousands and thousands of women died each year because of illegal abortions.
Don't the Republicans read history books on those horrendous procedures performed on women because they couldn't go to their doctors?
This is the demise of the GOP/TP ad it is a long time coming. I wonder if they even realize how closely they and they alone have set of this country for a potential Marxist style revolution by trying to return to the 1900 century.
For them misogyny reigns supreme.
We need facts that the majority of people can agree with.
Such as these:
--The first and most vital thing a baby must do immediately after birth--is BREATHE--and do that for the rest of its life. A fetus doesn't develop lung maturity until the last few weeks of a full-term birth. This is nature's way of indicating a baby isn't ready to be born before then.
"And in the Northeast, arguably the country's most pro-choice region, the New Hampshire House voted Thursday to ban abortion after 20 weeks..."
No, the Northeast is not exactly reliably pro-choice any longer. CA has an A+ rating from NARAL--and we are going to keep it that way! Women AND men must fight back.
I agree let's not buy anything from those states or visit them either. Gppd by Georgia Peaches and pecans! How much further are these "control freaks" willing to go. So obvious that they feel threatened by women,
I have just one thing to say. Join us.
engage the public - not simply a minority of lawyers and pressure groups to win court battles involving the smallest minorities - in a dialog and debate as to why women should control their own bodies, without nonsense about only rape or mental illness being grounds for that alleged control...
as long as large numbers of people are treated as unthinking swine, leaders will arise to mobilize them as such, while the glib elite call them names, revel in their minority super race status and suffer losses to be experienced by the majority they fictionally serve..
I don't believe that the subject of abortion has any easy answers. I agree that women should have control of their bodies...but I also believe that the life of the fetus should become a consideration at some point.
All very well and good-but so interesting that once a person is born they can suffer and die without any help whatsoever-with out housing, health care, jobs or protection from the law-check out your 'bill of rights' and see which ones you have left! Protect the fetus for what? suffering after it's born? Satanism!
Some of you may have seen the immensity of the problem foisted by the elder Koch, as he followed Joseph Stalin's orders to support rightwing causes in this country...yeah, and if you think this is spacey, why don't you do alittle biographical research? it's easy...you'll find out that with enough money and time HUGE seditionary treachery movements can grow and TAKE over even AMERICA...it's DONE.
Your DOJ, your SCOTUS... Koch subsidiaries... most certainly any and all GOP reps, property of Grover Norquist, ie, Koch Inc.
GIVE IT UP. You have NO legal recourse, and NONE of you are ready for the only methods of resistance left.
(Thanks for book title tip - will read.)
And it seems that the vast number of women seeking abortions results from their having unwanted pregnancies, which itself is preventable.
I won't go into the right's 'just say no' pointless approach, but isn't it time we asked ourselves 'Where has the sexual revolution led us? Are we really a more enlightened society, or are we simply pandering to base sexual appetites with no plan in mind?'
Again, you guys are free to pander if you like, I'm not saying it is inherently a bad idea. But I do think that once every 40 years or so we ought to at least try to take stock of what we stand for and hold it up to the light. Don't you think?
Quoting The Voice of Reason:
Sexual revolution? A lie wrapped in deceptive sauce that was hardly a revolution. Women need a sexual revolution which weak men will shrink from.
I think, I THINK that we have made some tragic errors in assuming that others will do the right thing because there is a mandate that compels them to do the "right thing". If it were only that simple.
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