I really don’t like these people.
The smoke and mirror games and double-speak being thrusted upon the American people is shameful and reckless.
Their top priority is not the American people who elected them into office. Their top priority is big oil, big pharma and the insurance companies. In short, big business is their only interest. To them, everything else is superfluous bull pocky!
Huffington Post - By Jason Linkins
The recent drive behind H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” is animated by one thing and one thing only — the deep and abiding belief among its cosponsors that women are chattel. Not even that “babies are great” — many of the same cosponsors are those who’d all but wash their hands of the responsibility of ensuring those children got affordable health care. But what’s getting all of the attention in the bill is the part where legislators have banded together to mansplain the various shadings of the crime of “rape” to America.
‘The limitations established in sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 shall not apply to an abortion–’(1) if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest; or
‘(2) in the case where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.
That portion is what the Washington Post‘s Jonathan Capeheart calls “the scary part” of the bill. I sort of think that the whole idea of government intrusion for the purpose of turning women into brood-mares is pretty much “the scary part,” but I’ll allow that the above terrifies on a whole new David Cronenberg-esque level. Essentially, it makes allowances for abortions only in the case of “forcible rape.”
(I’d be worried about that second clause, as well, seeing as we live in a world where Bill O’Reilly, anti-abortion warrior, has apparently never heard of an “ectopic pregnancy” or “pre-eclampsia.”)
What’s off the table? Well, if you are a woman coerced, drugged or otherwise incapacitated by a rapist, too bad! Also, if you are a young child, statutory rape is off the table, too, unless incest is involved. (The incest exception lapses for adults, crazily.) Per Nick Baumann:
For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion. (Smith’s spokesman did not respond to a call and an email requesting comment.)Given that the bill also would forbid the use of tax benefits to pay for abortions, that 13-year-old’s parents wouldn’t be allowed to use money from a tax-exempt health savings account (HSA) to pay for the procedure. They also wouldn’t be able to deduct the cost of the abortion or the cost of any insurance that paid for it as a medical expense.
Related Articles
- The Truth About “Redefining” Rape [Roe V World] (jezebel.com)
- Republicans in Congress Want To “Redefine” Rape (themoderatevoice.com)
- Redefinition of rape in abortion act is offensive (sfgate.com)
- GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape (abcnews.go.com)
I’d just read this at Huffpo when your post hit my email. Nothing like revictimizing a survivor.