I can already tell you that this is not going to turn out well. For the simple reason that, at the last minute, caught in a disastrously terrible political position, the GOP is making a last move to gaslight women on the subject of abortion, and the women are far too pissed off to fall for that.
For a half a freakin’ century the GOP campaigned monolithically to their wingnut Evangelical base that they would overturn Roe v Wade and make abortions illegal in the United States. With incredible short sightedness’, they were ignored, the SCOTUS made abortion a constitutional right. But the GOP was playing a Chinese style long game, and kept their base motivated.
In 2022 the GOP finally had a 6-3 supermajority of conservative lap poodles, and Roe went bye-bye. The results were exactly as I expected. Women went berserk, the protests went on for weeks, and the power drunk GOP controlled legislatures went on a drunken spree to pass more and more restrictive abortion bans. And then the real life abortion horror stories started hitting the media, and the GOP was running for cover.
The Democrats finally had an issue to run on with their own base, and they landed on it with both feet. Candidates slammed the Supreme Court ruling in every stump speech, they slaughtered GOP opponents in every debate, and the GOP was floundering around like a carp on the bottom of a fishing boat. What should have been a walkoff 2022 midterm massacre of the Democrats was suddenly in doubt. Something had to be done, and most riki-tik. And once again the GOP showed that they not only don’t understand women, they don’t even respect their intelligence.
Here’s the con. GOP incumbents and candidates are highlighting their humanity for, and understanding of women by falling back on their sudden belief, and insistence on abortion exemptions. And in doing so, they’re only going to piss off women voters even more.
Because while several GOP states already have exemptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, they way the laws are written, an abortion under any of those exemptions is almost unobtainable. because there are draconian restrictions on the exemptions, and threats against both the woman as well as healthcare providers for non compliance.
Let’s take rape and incest exemptions first, since they’re so similar. In most cases, if a woman wants a rape exemption, she is required to file a police report at the time, and get a rape kit from an emergency room to confirm her claim. The same is pretty much true for incest. The problem is that the vast majority of women don’t immediately report rape or incest out of purely personal reasons, including shock. But in these states, if you don’t follow the rules, you’re shit out of luck. And many of them provide sanctions that if a medical provider believes the woman, and provide the abortion, they are subject to potential imprisonment and hefty fines. The whole thing is a carefully crafted mirage.
Now let’s tackle the exemption for The life of the mother. This one is AAAA+ rated bullshit. The texture of the bullshit is so rich you could plant roses in it without soil underneath, and still get bushes. Because the laws are written so vaguely as to what actually constitutes a threat to the life of the mother, they’re almost incomprehensible. And that’s a feature, not a bug, because the doctor’s ass is on the line.
In states with a fetal heartbeat law, women have had to sit around with medically unviable fetuses until the heartbeat ceases, often risking sepsis in the process. Several have required hospitalization for renal failure. And it was reported today that a woman with an unviable fetus in Tennessee had to undergo a 6 hour ambulance ride ordered by her doctor, only to arrive with dangerously high blood pressure, and signs of kidney failure. Fortunately the woman survived. But doctors are terrified to provide proper care for fear of being sued or imprisoned.
Here’s how it breaks down as I see it. The GOP are treating women like fucking morons. They’re so lost in their political bullshit that they honestly think that all they have to do is to fake empathy for women, and they’ll all just shut up and go back to talking about the economy or crime. They’re wrong. And every one of these shithells is going to deserve everything that comes to them in 19 days.
One need look no further than Val Demmings handing Marco Rubio back his balls after flame broiling them to taste to see you’re right here, Murf. I also wonder if it’s a less stated reason why some lifelong Republicans are suddenly endorsing Dem candidates at the state level.
I truly believe that one of these days, there will be a devastated husband who, having just lost his wife due to these anti-abortion measures, will decide that he cannot bear to go on living, and that he is going to take one of the 6 Supremes or some other prominent anti-abortionist with him when he goes.
Could be another person to such a woman besides doing THAT number. The thing about these conservatives is they always make the same bad judgment calls on their prospective victims. It leads to this axiom by Andrew Vachss vis-a-vis abused children (arguably sad conservatives’ preferred victims): “If you won’t see us, you won’t see us coming.”
and anti-fa or some other liberal group will be blamed: it will never occur to them to blame themselves for enacting laws they were told would kill women. Or, it might occur to them but they just don’t give a shit. The people going ape-shit to enact all this women-killing legislation think women dying while pregnant/giving birth are holy or some stupid-assed shit like that. The fact they think women are less than human also colors their viewpoint. Some of the more practical or callous ones know this was all about getting con xtians into their camp so they can amass more power.
Remember this was a party that was in court to end Obamacare, (I know the name but this is more recognizable to the masses), and lied during campaigns that they supported eliminating pre-existing conditions. They always lie, depending on the assumption the voters are too stupid & lazy to know the truth. We’ll know soon how right/wrong they are.
Hell, I got no problem with that name. The man forever deserves that kind of credit! And lies only get you so far. Never let the fascists, gaslighters and related goons tell you otherwise.
How I feel:
Don’t forget also that a lot of abortion clinics also have to face STRUCTURAL hurdles. There have been states that have required the providers to have “admitting privileges” to local hospitals in the (rare) event that something goes wrong during or just after the procedure and with many states making it difficult for there to even be local providers, many providers have to travel (kind of like the old “circuit riders” system for judges) and, because they’re not truly “local,” they’re rarely ever able to gain those privileges.
Then there are the states that actually mandate abortion clinics to adhere to the same requirements as full hospitals (with regards to such things as the width of interior doors, the size of storage areas, the exact temperature of the rooms where the procedure is done, etc). Of course, these are frequently the same states that have little problem with allowing chemical plants that produce explosive and other hazardous material to exist within a few hundred feet of nursing homes and schools. Mustn’t regulate companies that pollute but must close down an abortion clinic because its doors are 1/8th of an inch too narrow. And, most of these states treat abortion clinics far more harshly than they do plastic surgery clinics (some plastic surgery clinics are little more than simple offices and the surgeon performs procedures–including some minor surgeries–in the office).
Most of these states do NOT require waiting periods for a patient to undergo a procedure. Imagine a patient goes to a plastic surgeon wanting a nose job or a little botox but they’re told they have to wait 24-72 hours before such a procedure can actually be scheduled (or in the case of botox, be done) JUST IN CASE the person “changes their mind.”