Republicans always talk about how government should stay out of people’s lives except in cases when it comes to a woman’s right to choose.
SB1457, the bill that could make it a crime for women to have abortions if their child has a genetic abnormality has been signed into law by Doug Ducey today (April 27, 2021.)
It also makes it more difficult for women to take medication if they are having a miscarriage and gives naturally conceived fetuses full civil rights.
If that is not a big meddling government getting involved in people’s private lives, I do not know what is.
In a social media posting after he signed this Dark Age Measure, Mr. Ducey wrote:
“Every life holds immeasurable value — regardless of genetic makeup. Today I signed legislation to prioritize life in our preborn children and protect those with genetic abnormalities. Arizona remains among the top pro-life states in the nation, and my sincere thanks goes to Senator Nancy Barto for her leadership and work on this life-saving issue and to those who supported this bill.”
Pro-Life Bill.
Did this bill have funding to provide for the medical and psychological care of the child after birth?
No.
Did this bill provide for increased adoption assistance, foster care monies or counseling services in the event parents decide to give their child up for adoption?
No.
Did the bill even provide equitable treatment for embryos that were created during in vitro fertilization?
No. Apparently, children created with the help of science, according to the fringe right, should be treated as second-class citizens like their mothers according to the provisions of this bill.
This is not a pro-life bill. This is a discriminatory and pro suffering one.
While this measure will have a date in several courts over the next months and possibly years, Mr. Ducey, with a stroke of a pen has taken a step toward making Arizona the Republic of Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale.
This measure was opposed by all Democrats in the State Legislature (please see Representative Pamela Powers Hannley’s remarks below,) members of Arizona Women Leaders, Arizona Medical Association, the Arizona Section of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians, the Arizona Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association, and the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
SB 1457 Women’s Letter – FINAL
4.20.2021_Letter to Legislators SB1457 (1)
Following the signing of the bill by Ducey, House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding and Judiciary Committee Member Melody Hernandez issued statements.
Mr. Bolding said:
“Arizona is a diverse, politically purple state experiencing steady economic and population growth. Signing this extreme forced-birth bill into law was a mistake that will bring enormous personal harm to Arizona women, to medical personnel, and to our state’s reputation and economy. By criminalizing reproductive healthcare, Governor Ducey and every Republican member of the legislature have sent the message to the rest of the country and to the world that women are not respected or valued, and that they and their doctors are no longer welcome in our state. At a time when women have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s disturbing and wrong that the legislature is not focusing on policies to help them, and instead is stripping away the fundamental freedom to choose if, when, and how to start or grow a family.”
Ms. Hernandez relayed:
“Had Senate Bill 1457 been law when I had an abortion using a prescribed pill, I would have run the risk of criminal prosecution. In addition to being a woman in the crosshairs of this law, I am an emergency medical services healthcare provider who could also potentially face felonies. Its tentacles don’t just target doctors, but any healthcare professionals who might have helped a woman in need of emergency abortion care. No stakeholder from the disability community asked for this. Republicans will use anyone as pawns in their relentless effort to waste millions in taxpayer dollars defending this blatantly unconstitutional law in court hoping that the Supreme Court will upend current precedent on this essential form of healthcare and grant a fetus more rights than the person who is pregnant.”
Representative (and State Party Chair) Raquel Teran and Democratic Senate Leader Rebecca Rios released a joint statement that read:
“Today, Governor Doug Ducey signed SB1457, the most extreme anti-reproductive health care bill in Arizona’s history. Not only will this bill criminalize women for accessing their constitutionally protected right to seek an abortion, but it will also make it a felony for doctors to provide this critical care to Arizona patients.
“It is clear that the Republican-led legislature is not concerned with health outcomes. Public health experts including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Arizona Academy of Family Physicians, Arizona Public Health Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have voiced their opposition to this extreme bill.
“Arizona Republicans are putting women and doctors in danger to satisfy the extremists in their party who believe that access to reproductive rights should be outlawed in all circumstances. Not a single Republican legislator voted against this dangerous bill. Ducey caved to his party bosses who want to hamstring Roe v. Wade through the Trump-stacked U.S. Supreme Court. Ducey and his extreme policies are failing Arizonans.”
The right to think that abortion should be forbidden except for the cases of rape, incest, severe deformity of the child, and the danger to the life of the mother is protected by the Constitution.
So is the woman’s right to choose whether or not to have that child.
No one has the right to play God and impose their will on a woman’s right to choose.
This Dark Age measure straight out of the horrors of Dystopian Fiction should not have been signed by Governor Ducey.
Women in Arizona and across the country should remember this day if the Arizona Governor decides to run for another office.
Hopefully, the courts will see this law for the repressive measures that will result from its passage and overturn it at the first opportunity.
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Apology accepted. Despite being bad form to answer a question with another question I’ll go ahead and answer yours. Your scenario of having sex when you know your wife can’t get pregnant is a matter of timing, not contraception. Still your view would indicate that morning after pills are perfectly OK, a stance that is opposed by the majority of anti-abortion busybodies.
Speaking of those busybodies, their anti-abortion stance to include contraception translate into people having sex of which the busy bodies disapprove.
My belief on the matter? A woman’s body is autonomous to her, to get or not get pregnant is her choice. Especially, no matter what stage of the pregnancy, it should be allowed if there are major & life threatening problems with the “unborn child”. To quote the late lovely & talented Molly Ivins:
“There’s something very wrong in our discussion of this. If there’s anything that late-term abortion is, it is not an easy call. And I just want to say, that perhaps, I almost get the impression that somebody thinks women don’t have no moral sense at all. No woman who is seven months pregnant, ever waddles past an abortion clinic and says, ‘Darn, I knew there was something I’ve been meaning to get around to.’ This is ridiculous. You have those late-term abortions, because either the mother is going to die, the child is going to die, or both are going to die. These procedures are incredibly rare. I only know of two in the state of Texas since Roe v. Wade was passed. They were both what they call cases of babies with no brain. The brain, the child’s brain stem had developed, but then something went horribly wrong and these children literally had no brains. Now, is that an easy call? Is that simple to you? I am really, I’m… let me try and calm down – it’s not going to do any good for me to get excited. If the choice… These are women who want their babies, they want the babies, terribly. What would you do, and I’m talking to the women in the audience. If a doctor said to you, ‘Either your baby has to die, or you will die, or your health will be wrecked for the rest of your life, and you’ll never be able to have another child.’ I don’t know what you’d do. I think you’d want a second opinion.”
Jeff, hope you had a good weekend. Are you going to answer my question about your views on contraception? Thanks.
My apologies, I thought I did, but apparently it did not post. As far as your question goes, I will posit another question: If I have sex with my wife only when I know she can’t get pregnant, does that equate to contraception? Personally I do not think so. Contraception does not play God with unborn children; as you know, sperm meeting egg creates a child. At that point, deciding whether the child should live or die is playing God. While I understand the argument of contraception prevents pregnancy, therefore is that making the decision, I would still argue no it does not. I welcome your response to further the discussion and learn each other’s beliefs.
Well, Liza, I hope it’s not one you’ve heard before!
WB, thanks for the biblical tale. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard a nun/priest joke.
Liza, that reminds me of a biblical(?) tale. A cardinal and a nun were riding a camel through the desolate desert when the camel up and died. Realizing there was no hope for their plight the Cardinal suggested, and the nun agreed, that for once in their lives they would engage in sex. Once they disrobed the nun was staring below the Cardinal’s midriff and asked “What is that?” “That, my child, is the Staff of Life” the Cardinal replied. “Staff of Life? Then why don’t you jam it up the camel’s butt so we can ride it out of here?”
Mr. Gordon, you state “No one has the right to play God and impose their will on a woman’s right to choose.” (Your words) Please explain to me how the mother having an abortion is not playing God with the unborn child. I respect your opinion and beliefs, however I feel most pro choice supporters are missing the main point. I have no objections to the choices people make, but the results of their choices should not have a bearing on another’s life. If consenting (key word) adults have sex and the woman ends up pregnant, that is a consequence of her action. That choice should not have an affect on the brewing life inside her. Any genetic abnormality is a hard thing to deal with, I am not making light of the situation. However, once again, this is a consequence of the mother’s choice. I thank you for your opinion and look forward to reading your future writings.
“If consenting (key word) adults have sex and the woman ends up pregnant, that is a consequence of her action.”
Actually, it would be a consequence of both their actions, the woman and the sperm donor.
Both consenting adults bear the responsibility for preventing an unwanted pregnancy.
And I pray that people are not still teaching their sons that it is the woman’s responsibility. Or teaching them nothing at all.
Liza, I agree with you that it is a consequence of both parents. However, looking at the context of not only the article, but the while argument of abortion, that is why I tailored my response to say the woman is making the choice. Almost every state gives the choice to the woman, not the man. Given that choice to the mother brings it back to it the consequence of her actions. Thank you for your response and I hope this clears up my comment for you.
Jeff, how do you feel about contraception? Is that also “playing God with the unborn child”?
Wileybud, I still remember “Religion” class in my Catholic high school and some priest telling us that “every act of sex must remain open to the transmission of life.” Of course, he was assuming that we wouldn’t be having sex until we were married.
I was probably about 14 at the time, didn’t know much of anything, but I knew that was horsesh!t. But that’s what they taught us back then.
The ABA House of Delegates adopted Resolution 107A at their midyear meeting earlier this year that opposes the criminal prosecution of anyone who has an abortion or experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth. “Women shouldn’t face criminal prosecution after abortion or miscarriage, ABA House says” , https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/women-shouldnt-face-criminal-prosecution-after-abortion-or-miscarriage-aba-house-says
While most states do not criminalize individuals who have abortions, at least five—Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Oklahoma and South Carolina—have bans on self-managed abortion, according to the report that accompanies the resolution.
In recent years, the American Medical Association and other major medical associations recognized that the criminalization of people who self-manage their abortions may prevent them from seeking necessary medical care. More than 50 elected prosecutors joined these associations in their opposition in 2019, writing in a joint statement that they would not prosecute people for having or providing an abortion.
“Legal precedent, as established by the highest court in the land, has held for nearly 50 years that women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care, including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion,” the prosecutors said in their statement. “Enforcement of laws that criminalize health care decisions would shatter that precedent, impose untenable choices on victims and health care providers, and erode trust in the integrity of our justice system.”
Resolution 107A further urges jurisdictions to repeal and oppose laws that criminalize people for terminating a pregnancy and clarify that existing laws may also not be used to prosecute those who have an abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth.
It is co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section, Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities, Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and the Law Student Division.
Hey Doug. Hope your daughter has an unwanted pregnancy and see how you feel. I personally don’t agree with abortion but you don’t have the right to take away my choice to consider that option. Women have rights including the right to vote you out of office
One of my sisters-in-law chose abortion of a fetus, which her doctors said would have had severe defects at birth. It was a tough decision by her and her husband, but it was their medical choice. This was always one of the arguing points to allow abortion in the past years, and now AZ is denying it.
So much wrong in this article!!! If I weren’t reading it at 11 pm I would love to expound on that.
Gov. Ducey OBVIOUSLY HAS NO CLUE of the hardships these children will face during their lifespan. Example – Forcing a woman to carry to full term an anencephalic child who has a 0% chance of survival and absolutely no quality of life, only to watch this child DIE is a forced governmental tragedy brought on by the FUCKTARD REPUBLICANS. Have the women in Arizona had the luxury of voting on this? NO, of course not. I think Ducey may be that anencephalic anomaly who has survived with of course no brain matter to do basic research. What about victims of rape and incest, you stupid shit poor excuse of a Governor? I am most happy to discuss this with Gov Ducey in a private or public forum. Gov Ducey, Don’t act surprised if women are dropping off infants on the Capitol steps since you have provided NO RESOURCES AND NO HELP POST BIRTH, you unmitigated jackass. Of course, this latest bout with his ignorance and stupidity go hand in hand with his no mask needed any longer. Here comes another Covid spike.
Well it is 6:15 a.m. now. Go ahead and expound.