Conservative’s claim that where abortion is banned or severely restricted hide behind has exceptions for when there’s a threat to the life and health of the mother is a LIE.
In some places Anti-Abortion types actually are upfront and willing to flat-out say NO abortion no matter what. Even if the health or even life of the mother is at serious risk. I guess they rationalize that if the woman dies, or winds up unable to have children even if she survives a life-threatening episode it’s “god’s will.” But they don’t serve up b.s. about what they believe. Most Anti-Abortion fanatics including and especially those in elected office (or certain judges and Justices) hide behind a fig leaf. What they piously claim is there should be “exceptions for the life and health of the mother.”
It’s bullsh*t of course. It always has been. Perhaps a small percentage of them believe that drivel but most of them either don’t, or don’t care if it’s the bullsh*t we all know it to be.
If you’ve watched any news in the past week you know the name Kate Cox. You can read a good description of things from this BBC article. Less than two weeks ago the 31 year old mother of two, well along in her pregnancy (about twenty weeks and therefore past the 15/16 week limit GOPers want to be nationwide federal law) got devastating news. Fetal testing revealed a rare disorder that would likely result in it being stillborn, or only surviving a few short agonizing hours or days. Even worse, having had two C-Sections she was at high risk for complications that without an abortion (and right away) would likely render her unable to have another child, something she and her husband hoped to do.
This is Texas however, with one of the most draconian abortion laws in the country. In theory the law provide that exception for the life and health of the mother. Reality is somewhat different. Just like so many (including me) assumed it would be. Cox, having had four ER visits in the past month to address complications of the pregnancy was given the diagnosis both of the the awful truth about what faced the child she hoped to have, but also that she needed an abortion for her own health and even life. So she went to court, medical experts testified and the judge said yes, she qualified for an exception to the state’s abortion ban.
Enter Texas AG Ken Paxton. He immediately notified all three hospitals that would likely have done the procedure that criminal charges that would include a penalty of up to 99 years would be filed against providers who took part in Cox’s abortion. He also went to the TX Supreme Court and asked them to stay the local judges order which they did. They heard arguments and it took three days but they issued a ruling that said NO, Cox didn’t qualify for a medical exception after all.
I wonder what it would take? A woman flatlined, bleeding out all over the floor in some ER with due to being forced to carry a pregnancy that could have and should have been terminated to qualify? I’m not sure even then these asshats in Texas or other states for that matter would say things are serious enough.
Just so you know, Ms. Cox’s attorney says she’s doing as well as can be expected after her ordeal, now that she’s travelled out of state to obtain the abortion she shouldn’t have had to jump through hoops to obtain. Texas doesn’t (yet) have a law making it a criminal offense to travel out of state to obtain abortion services. They do have that law that allows anyone to file a lawsuit against her or anyone who helped her travel out of state to do so. At least last I heard that law was still in effect. That’s not being talked about right now but look for it to pop up in the news and soon. Hey, the fanatics want to cause as much pain and suffering as they can!
Here’s something else to watch for. Other RWNJ states will I’m willing to bet follow what Texas did. Threaten doctors (nurses and other staff too) and hospitals it learns might provide an abortion under “life and health of the mother” “exceptions” and run to their state’s Supreme Court to issue a ruling saying NOPE!
And like Texas, the laws and the court rulings will pointedly NOT define just what does qualify as a threat to the life and health of the mother. That’s the point. To provide political cover for what is in effect an outright ban, at least after a certain point.
The “exception” conservatives point to in order to say they aren’t heartless, cruel, or trying to force women to carry every pregnancy to term or at least until the fetus or the mother dies because a medically needed abortion couldn’t be obtained are LYING.
They always have been.
Her lawyer, who is also representing several other women in a separate case, made an excellent point. She said that women either need to have blood running down their leg or amniotic fluid to qualify for an abortion.
The OTHER “big lie”.
Didn’t take too much to lift the lid on the Texas conservatives draconian abortion laws – a dam lie – when confronted by the reality of modern clinical management, which includes abortion, as sound justifiable medical practice. Bastards.
The other side, somewhat, is the ease in which she can purchase a firearm and express her opinion to those that she believes are trying to harm her.
I’m not advocating violence, but pointing out that at some point, people will start to overreact(?) and take matters into their own hands. A neighbor sues to get the $10,000 after you just had to go through all this? Who needs a neighbor like that.
The ridiculous anti-abortion laws, the voting laws and the lax firearm laws are not a mixture that will blend well.
Women of texass and any men who actually do care for their wives, daughters, sisters, etc. have a very binary choice: vote to protect women’s lives/health or vote to kill women. That what you people in texass are deciding when you pull the lever for the candidate with the (D) by their name (protect women’s healthcare) or for the candidate with the (r) by their name (kill women). Sounds stark and yet simple? Well that’s because it is. There are two, and only two, choices in texass for voters when they elect their legislative candidates-to kill women or not to kill women.
It makes sense if you understand how inces and White Supremacist Christians like Nick Fuentes (who is both) think about women. They do not consider us actual adults with rights, more like stupid children who require a male to.make important decisions for them.
We do serve a purpose: doing housework and being obedient and popping out babies every 18-24 months and raising said babies. We are uteri on feet with interchangeable parts for cleaning and cooking and changing diapers. If we stop working, you just get a new one. So there’s no need to protect her life or health when you can replace her with one younger, thinner, and blonder. They aren’t capable of love for a woman.