QOTD: “Republicans view women as incubators first, autonomous beings second”

From liberal columnist Robyn Blumner, whining about the wave of GOP pro-life bills being pushed across the country. I’ve emphasized a few choice words in bold and added my comments below them:

Election victories by a raft of self-proclaimed “small-government” Republicans mean that Big Brother is on the warpath against women’s autonomy. We’ve seen this before, but this time it’s a true onslaught. In Florida alone there have been at least 20 abortion-related bills filed. The state’s 1 million unemployed will just have to wait while the legislature attends to the serious business of forcing women seeking an abortion to have an unnecessary ultrasound.

Yeah, because state legislatures can’t do two things at one time, like debate multiple pieces of legislation on how to help the local economy and protect the unborn. Uh huh. Also, what’s with the “unnecessary”? That assumes the woman has either seen both pro and con literature on abortion and is still going to proceed with it or that she doesn’t need no stinkin’ information. So much for fully “arming” women with all the information they need to know in order to make a decision!

This year, Republican politicians see their best opportunity since 1973 to insinuate themselves between women and their doctors. GOP control of more statehouses and governorships has coincided with a U.S. Supreme Court primed by Bush-era appointees to slice and dice Roe vs. Wade.

This woman is actually using the term “slice and dice” in reference to discussing a “setback” in the “rights” of a woman to have her baby’s body parts sucked out of her body. Moving right along …

[…] In 2007, Kennedy upheld a federal law that banned so-called partial-birth abortions, even though it failed to include an exception to protect the woman’s health. Kennedy’s majority opinion included a paternalistic lament for women getting this kind of abortion who “come to regret their choice to abort.”

In other words, the courts will allow Congress and state legislatures to swoop in to protect women from their own impulsive and uninformed decisions on abortion – as if women choose abortion like they choose new shoes.

Oh, but they do. Examples here.

Kennedy’s position has invited an anti-choice tsunami of new abortion limits. The true purpose of these measures is to delay abortions and make them more expensive, but they are dressed up to look like they’re just giving women more information and more time to think about it.

Er, the true purpose is actually to try and get women to change their minds, not “make abortions more expensive.” What planet is this woman on? And again, note her mockery of the idea that a woman should give herself more time to think about the decision she’s about to make. Kind if ironic, isn’t it, especially considering the fact that the author clearly believes a woman doesn’t choose an abortion as often as she does new shoes, implying that women take considerable time to think about whether or not to terminate their pregnancy(ies).

In South Dakota, the governor just signed into law a three-day waiting period – the longest in the nation – between the time a woman has her initial clinic visit and the procedure. It also forces women to visit pregnancy-counseling centers where they’ll be harangued by abortion opponents.

Got that? Pregnancy-counseling centers “harangue” women seeking abortion. Again, so much for a woman being fully informed about her options. Then again, we all know that the “choice” chant radical pro-aborts exclaim from the tops of their lungs every chance they get only applies to the one “choice” they want a woman to make: abort, abort, abort.

Florida’s proposed “Woman’s Right to Know Act” would force women to have, and pay for, an ultrasound before an abortion. Other states have this burdensome rule. Also moving in Florida’s overwhelmingly Republican legislature is a bill that requires physicians to inform women seeking abortions after 22 weeks about fetal pain. Other states have passed or are considering similar measures.

[…]

“Burdensome.” Again, note how the author takes issue with a woman viewing an ultrasound (whether she has to pay for it or not). We all know why, don’t we?

It all points to one thing: Republicans view women as incubators first, autonomous beings second. And they’re on the cusp of making this the law of the land wherever they hold sway.

*Sigh.* These women never will get it, will they? It’s not that “Republicans view women as incubators” – would certainly be especially weird of female Republicans did, wouldn’t it? – it’s that they view the unborn life growing inside the woman as precious … and deserving of rights and protections, too. I know. Shame on us, right?

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