Yesterday, the GOP in the General Assembly, those endless promoters of freedom and limited government intrusion into citizens’ lives, rammed through one of the most extreme abortion laws in the nation. They did it by overriding Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a bill that she rightly called “a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors.” The law is called the Woman’s Right To Know Act, but we refer to it as The Women Who Choose To Have An Abortion Don’t Have Enough Problems Act. Its primary sponsor was Rep. Ruth Samuelson of Charlotte.
How intrusive is this new law? Let us count the ways. Warning: This could get lengthy. Women in North Carolina who want an abortion — which, as we’ve said before and remind readers again, is a completely legal medical procedure — will have to jump through a series of very specific, government-mandated hoops, obviously designed to change the woman’s mind. She first has to hear a doctor’s spiel about the fetus’ probable gestational age and the medical risks of abortion. Then she must be told she could receive benefits for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care if she carried the fetus to full term. The doctor also is obligated by this law to tell her that the father is responsible for assisting in the support of the child, and that she can keep the baby or place it for adoption if she wants to. (Gee, really?) She must also be given a list of agencies that “offer alternatives to abortion,” such as phony “crisis pregnancy centers,” or CPCs, which are usually run by anti-abortion and/or religious groups — many of which have been caught giving women false information in order to keep them from having an abortion. And that’s not all, not by a long shot.
The state will also set up a website declaring that “The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique living human being.” Which is fine, except that those are theological/philosophical theories, not provable scientific facts. In other words, if you’re a woman who has chosen to have an abortion in North Carolina, you are now legally bound to have the religious right’s views spoon-fed to you, whether you want to hear them or not.
And that’s still not all. Here is the “intrusive government” coup de grace: A doctor must perform an ultrasound on the woman. The Big Brother-ish, oddly nightmarish language used to describe this required process reveals a lot about the people who rammed this bill through, as well as their contempt for the women patients.
” …. the physician, shall do each of the following:
“(1) Perform an obstetric ultrasound on the pregnant woman. [The price of the ultrasound will, of course, be added to the woman’s bill.]
“(2) Provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting, which shall include the presence, location, and dimensions of the unborn child within the uterus and the number of unborn children depicted. The individual performing the ultrasound shall offer the pregnant woman the opportunity to hear the fetal heart tone. …
“(3) Display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them. [Doctors also have to fill out a government form designating whether the woman averts her eyes or not during the ultrasound — sorry, but that’s like something from Brave New World, or worse.]
“(4) Provide a medical description of the ultrasound images, which shall include the dimensions of the embryo or fetus and the presence of external members and internal organs, if present and viewable.
“(5) Obtain a written certification from the woman, before the abortion (!), that the requirements of this section have been complied with …” And it goes on.
So this, dear readers, is how the GOP lawmakers and their religious right-wing backers interpret “trusting people to make their own informed decisions without government intervention” — with nine pages of robotic-sounding, legalese gobbledygook that plainly inserts the state into the most private areas of a woman’s life. Meet the New Bosses, even worse — much worse — than the Old Bosses.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2011.
The Christianity cult has caused problems for centuries and continues to be a slime on women’s rights throughout the world—as do other religious fanatics embracing Fairy stories that concoct The Yahweh Triad: Islam, Christianity, Judaism. Once again–if men could have babies, we wouldn’t have all of this discrimination and insulting intrusions on women’s reproductive lives.
—–Russell
it’s not about a “choice” it’s about de-population. if you believe otherwise you’re a pawn.
Never again should the American people hear about GOP seeking limited government and intrusion in to the lives of Americans! This act and several others throughout the nation shows who “BIG BROTHER” really is.
You certainly don’t have to be “right-wing” to be “religious”. And being “religious” does not mean that you are a Christian. Anyone who claims to be a Christian and believes that abortion is simply a medical procedure is selectively believing only certain parts of the Bible.
Bill
YAY for NC!!! I work in OB/GYN and it’s about time that someone told the truth about abortion risks!!
Agree with the law 100%
its amazing that liberals in this world see this as so intrusive. If a woman decides because of this and changes her mind – who is harmed? It still provides the woman’s right to do as she wishes. too many woman rush this decision and regret it later. 24 hours of wait and some other points of view aren’t going ruin anyones rights. So I guess in your point of view the only one that is valid is the one that allows her to have the abortion without understanding the risks and options – of which some women aren’t aware.
Right-wingers bash government intrusion … unless you’re doing something their bible interpretation says is not okay. Free will is not an option here. And if you can’t afford that child, they are against the use of their tax dollars to help feed him or give him basic healthcare. They’d rather use that tax money to put someone else’s children in a deadly no-win conflict half a world away. Pro-life only applies in certain situations.
While women should certainly know the risks of abortions, having to be forced to watch an ultrasound of the fetus and have a doctor sign off on whether or not the woman averted her eyes is absolutely disturbing! There aren’t even special exceptions in the case of rape or incest. The government needs to stop trying to rule our bodies and minds, they govern for us, not rule over our choices.
Domi,
Maybe if the libturds weren’t so down right stupid, government wouldn’t have to protect the other people they kill and the lives of other s they ruin. Dems r too dumb to even realize. Pathetic.
If you love babies so-much, why not increase funding to wic and welfare? The bastard babes will need the help.
There is no reason for this law. It does nothing to improve the quality, safety, or service associated with abortion. It is simply a way to legally sanction shaming. What’s next, sewing a red “A” on women’s clothing who’ve had an abortion???
More left wing garbage. It’s murder people, only done in a formal way in a “doctors office.” Everyone is so up in arms over Casey Anthony killing her child. How is abortion any different? It’s not, except for the fact that they don’t even get their first breath. You can scream right wing all you want, but remember the word right is in there and the merciless euthanasia of children in this nation has to end. The U.S., specifically democrats have some pretty messed up logic. We can’t have the death penalty for a man who just slaughtered a family, or a woman for that matter, but a scared or uneducated (on what abortion really is) woman can go to an office and have her child erradicated with no mention of future risks to her health, the cancers that have been linked down the road to said procedure, etc. Next time you want to do such a narrow minded heartless look at abortion how about you do us all a favor and watch “the silent scream” first? It’s a documentation of abortion from over 3o years ago. It shows the child trying to get away from the scalpel, as well as the vacuum. Proving, in fact, that life is there, not a glob of useless cell matter as the uneducated have long contended. It’s time to stop the killing and the passage of this by the NC house, while it won’t end it completely, it is a start.
Since this is a law, can we also make it mandatory for anyone buying a hand gun to view photos of homicides committed with that same model of gun? Can they be forced to indicate whether images of gun violence caused them to ‘avert their eyes’? And can we force politicians to view pictures of starving children before voting to cut funding for food stamps, public housing, and welfare? Fair is fair, right?
Had to be a guy in a cowboy hat to go on about the silent scream and how baby jesus says abortion is murder. Let’s be honest – We cant support all the welfare babies that would be born if abortion wasn’t legal, there are too many draining the system already. And if Casey Anthony had an abortion, she wouldn’t be in the position that she is in. Maybe she would have had an abortion if people wouldn’t breathe their religious views down everyone’s necks when it is not what science says is correct. Church and state are separate, and science says abortion isn’t murder, it’s just removing some cells at an unviable stage – like removing a tumor. Get off your high horse. If you don’t like abortion, don’t get one! Don’t tell everyone else what they can do!
Abortion and the debate about it should not involve population or welfare or cost or science vs religion or documentaries. It’s simply about the legal right to choose your own medical treatment, discuss that treatment openly with a doctor, and expect safe treatment if you decide to have an abortion. This law does nothing to promote privacy, a woman’s right to choose her own medical treatment, or the doctor’s ability to provide that treatment safely. Our legislators should pass laws that promote safety, quality, and service in health care. That is all the government can effectively do.
Should the law have to only do with the legal right to choose your own medical treatment? Yes. But in reality is that what the law has been about? Obviously not. If it were only about choosing medical treatment, there would be no debate and it would be a law that didn’t specifically focus on abortion. I agree that our government should pass laws to promote safety and services, but that isn’t how our system works. We include our own beliefs and viewpoints and end up with a wicked mess with debate and protest on every side. In an ideal world, our legislators would only pass laws based on the overarching qualities that you list so well, Mr. Gillespie. Unfortunately, our system rarely works the way our forefathers likely intended. Until the system works that way, we are doomed to stay at place where we debate based on science v religion, population, welfare, cost, etc.
Interesting that the writer is saying Government & Big Brother are watching. The problem that I see is that since 1973 this country has turned its back on the plight of the unborn. Remember folks we all started out this way. The liberals fail in all their aguments to consider the plight of the unborn whom ironically can morph into a Barack, Clinton or another liberal, Pro-abortion spokesperson. Its easy to condemn Conservatives & Christians for causing more hoops before someone kills a Fetus. Shouldn’t women look around and examine other resources prior to making an irreversible decision of ending a life. Secondly, none of these liberals talk about the “walking wounded”, women whom have undergone an abortion under pressure from boyfriends,etc. Yes this life-changing to women but what can be more life-changing than to be terminated prior to being born.
Thank God that all of our mothers were pro-lfe!
G Neyer/Charlotte
The ultrasound is a big step. I don’t think people really understand what they are doing until they see that they have a living being inside them. At that point if they still choose to do that, it is their choice. I think it may open some peoples eyes.
Let’s pass a similar law that says legislators must view a documentary on the poverty and drug wars in Mexico before they pass laws to round up and deport the people who have fled to the US to get away from it.
How about a law that says we must broadcast video of people being tortured at the Guantanamo Bay political prison every day on the evening news?
I believe that the all the fools who say “I don’t care if the government monitors my telephone and on line activity, I’m not doing anything wrong” should have that activity published for ALL of us to monitor.
Since American sheeple say that the scanners at the airport are not intrusive but just there for our safety then they should have no problem with the video monitors are in plain view of the public.
Why stop with just harassing women at the doctor’s office?
Hey, what happened to Shaun Daniel’s cowboy hat? I thought it gave his comment a certain je ne sais quoi.
1) Study Anatomy and Physiology of the human body and there is no question that from the moment of fertilization, as it subdivides into individual systems, it IS a human being. Science has not proven differently. It is a tragedy that a child must die, so that you can live your life as you want to.
2) Science has also proven that there are post abortion physical/emotional conditions that are prevalent.
3) What does it say of a country and its people who kill their children; hold such hatred for other cultures etc.