The GOP Taliban’s War on Women

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember how the newly elected Congress said their first priority would be job creation? Suckers!

The Republican Congress has focused on repealing the Affordable Care Act and the culture warrior GOP Taliban has been trying to redefine rape, outlaw even private insurance coverage of abortions, and permit hospitals to let women die in need of an abortion to save their life.

But the greatest threat from culture warrior GOP Taliban extremism is in state legislatures, and Arizona has a super-majority GOP legislature. The GOP Taliban's war on women is about to be waged. Arizona lawmakers to consider anti-abortion bills:

Over the past decade, the war over women's reproductive rights has moved from the federal court to state legislatures. It's being fought inch by inch with bills that push for one small change at a time.

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"These kind of bills are Big Brother getting into making decisions for women and their health care," said Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson. "This is a decision that needs to be left up to the woman and their care provider, not us."

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The conservative Center for Arizona Policy wrote most of Arizona's abortion laws over the past decade.

We have already told you about Cathi Herrod and her Center for Arizona Policy agenda. The encroachment of theocracy in Arizona.

In 2009, for the first time in Arizona's history, about half of all abortions were done with prescription abortion pills, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Of the 10,045 abortions performed, 5,018 were prescription abortions.

This year, several bills aim to address the trend.

Women who are no more than nine weeks' pregnant can take the pill to induce an abortion. The woman takes the first dose at a clinic and the second at home.

She returns to the clinic about a week later for an ultrasound to confirm whether the treatment was successful.

Senate Bill 1030 would ban physicians assistants from prescribing or dispensing abortion pills. SB 1246 and House Bill 2416 would expand the definition of abortion to cover prescription abortions as well as surgical abortions. The latter two measures also would make Arizona the 11th state in the nation to require that an ultrasound be performed before an abortion, something that Planned Parenthood Arizona officials have said they and most other clinics already do.

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The legislation proposed this year also attempts to increase requirements that a doctor be present for procedures.

SB 1246 and HB 2416 also would ban a health-care provider from using telemedicine, in which the doctor is present via video phone.

SB 1390 would make it a Class 3 misdemeanor for physicians to perform or induce an abortion if they do not have privileges at a hospital that offers obstetrical or gynecological care within 30 miles.

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Gonzales said it would impact women in rural communities.

"This will really put a strain on women that have to drive into Phoenix and Tucson to take care of their health care," Gonzales said.

"What it will do is put more emotional stress on these women while they are having to make these difficult decisions."

Legislative committees held public hearings on bills today at the state Capitol.

House Health and Human Services

• House Bill 2384: Forbids public money from going to anyone who provides, pays for, promotes or provides referrals for abortions.

• House Bill 2443: Makes it a Class 3 felony to perform an abortion knowing that it is sought because of the child's sex or the race of the child or a parent.

Senate Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform

• Senate Bill 1246: Changes the definition of abortion to include prescription abortions; forbids a health-care provider from using telemedicine to perform an abortion. It also requires an ultrasound be performed before the abortion and the woman be offered an opportunity to view the image.

• Senate Bill 1265: Forbids any public money from going to anyone who provides, pays for, promotes or provides referrals for abortions.

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s there was an active Republican Women for Choice organization in Arizona. I believe this organization is long since defunct (if this is incorrect, please contact us about your organization and activities). Pro-choice Republicans have been purged from the Arizona Legislature over the past decade.

But there are pro-choice Republican women serving in the Wyoming legislature. They are making a stand against the GOP Taliban in their state trying to reduce women to second-class citizens and render them wards of the state, treating women as if they are too incompetent to make health decisions for themselves in consultation with their doctor and requiring the state to dictate medical decisions for them.

This segment from the Rachel Maddow show about the pro-choice Republican women in the Wyoming legislature gives me renewed hope. Where are pro-choice Republican women in Arizona willing to make a stand for women's rights?

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