22 January 2023
Today we take to the streets and march to commemorate 50 years since Roe v Wade was enacted in 1973.
It’s not a celebration, however, as less than a year after the legislation was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), several Red states continue their march towards the Handmaid’s Tale by drafting or advancing laws designed to control women.
Arkansas
Straight out of a dystopian future, Arkansas state congressmen have introduced new legislation that would treat abortion as felony murder!
Republican Reps. Richard Womack, Wayne Long and Josh Miller, as well as State Sen. Matt McKee are sponsors of the bills.
Not only would the patient be subject to arrest, but the law includes a copycat vigilante provision like several other states have passed in the past few years.
This would target those who help people get abortions as criminals, subject to “bounty hunter” fears of being turned in.
House Bill 1174 includes especially scary language considering Arkansas capital punishment laws: “all unborn children should be protected under the state homicide laws as all other persons.”
We don’t have to stretch much to imagine a nightmare landscape where scared women are being turned in for miscarriages by neighbors and enemies.
These lawmakers aren’t listening to the people, considering most Arkansans support abortion in most cases.
Of course this won’t stop the white dudes from overreaching…
If you need help in Arkansas, try these helpful folks: https://www.arabortionsupport.org/
Idaho
Just two weeks ago, in our first RePro Roe-D-O installment, we reported that the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the state abortion bans put in place prior to SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade.
Not wasting any time, Republican Sen. Scott Herndon had introduced two abortion bills. The Idaho Senate committee splits on the bills, advancing the one that would change the legal definition of abortion.
Senate Bill 1002 would change the legal definition of abortion from “the intentional termination of a pregnancy” to the “intentional killing of a living human embryo or fetus in utero”.
The argument in favor of this bill is to clarify exemptions for unintentional death due to medical emergency, but the verbiage is straight out of the 1800s.
With some saving grace, they voted down the advancement of the other bill that would have removed rape, incest defenses from the existing abortion ban. Of course not without the Warren Jeffs look-alike trying to make a “strong case” for having rapist’s babies..
Under the auspices of Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, last Monday, Herndon cited Dr. King’s “advancement of civil rights of people based on certain characteristics”, claiming that “this does the same thing”.
But he didn’t stop there with his disgusting analogy! When referring to situations of pregnancy from rape, he referred to a book by a woman who birthed her rapist stepfather’s child as “proved to be incredibly cathartic for her and a huge blessing in her life”.
Yep, he said “blessing in her life” about her raising her rapist’s child.. Wow!
It’s just really insane how they are so ass backwards in their thinking! For now this bill looks like it’s dead in the Idaho Senate, but I’m sure that won’t stop them from trying again.
Idahoans can seek help from https://idahoabortionrights.com/
Thanks to crusader Jessica Valenti, who was way ahead of this story with her daily newsletter, Abortion Every Day.
Illinois
Illinois lawmakers did the right thing early in January, when they approved a measure protecting abortion access in Illinois.
The bill codifies state protections for out-of-state abortion seekers and allows them to get an abortion within the state of Illinois.
This is especially important for women and those in need of care from states neighboring Illinois, all of which have more restrictive laws.
Governor JB Pritzker signed the comprehensive reproductive health care legislation into law on Friday, January 13th.
But it was bad luck for the Planned Parenthood in Peoria, Illinois, which was struck by an arsonist just 2 days after the new law went into effect.
The clinic suffered extensive damage from an arsonist who threw a Molotov cocktail from a pickup truck after hours.
The Police are looking for the pickup truck and the suspect who are still at large as of this writing.
Wyoming
Jealous of it’s neighboring restrictive states, Wyoming decides to get in the game with it’s own restrictive state bills..
SF 0109, sponsored by Rep. Sen. Tim Salazar, attempts to ban “chemical abortions”, including the pills used for medication abortion.
This is in direct conflict with the FDA’s recent expansion of the mifepristone label to allow for it to be more widely available.
Not to be outdone, HB 0152 is another new bill which attempts to change the state constitution regarding abortion.
This extreme bill claims abortion isn’t healthcare, makes the procedure a felony from conception and removes state funding for abortion in cases of rape and incest.
Fighting the good fight in Wyoming is House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Mike Yin.
He sponsored House Bill 117, which would undo the state’s trigger ban that went into effect after Dobbs overturned Roe v Wade in June, 2022.
If you need to seek care in Wyoming, try these helpful folks at Chelsea’s Fund
Watch this space, and support local Casper, Wyoming clinic in their efforts to rebuild after an arson fire in 2022. www.wellspringaccess.org @wellspringhealthaccess
Roe 50th: Bigger than Roe
Did you miss joining a Women’s March today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Roe v Wade link to Roe anniversary post?
You can still commemorate the legislation by joining the Granny’s and learning what it was like back in their day…
Grandmothers4reprorights
Roe would/should be 50, so on Thursday, January 26, 2023 on Zoom, 6:30pm ET and/or 5:30pm PT from GRR! On Instagram.
Equal Rights Amendment
It’s appalling that we still haven’t ratified the Equal Rights Amendment and etched it in stone in the US Constitution! It’s really pretty basic, and not that hard to comprehend..
ERA Amendment Text:
Section 1: “the quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”
Section 2: “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article”
Section 3: “This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification”
Why is it still not done? Basically, it comes down to a lot of stalling by the patriarchy. However, we are VERY close, and we should continue to push to get it over the finish line.
For more information, please visit https://www.eracoalition.org/
So, yeah.. it’s much bigger than just Roe. We really need to get our feminist movement back on track, moving forward (not backwards), and stop letting the patriarchy control us.
References:
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article270825387.html
https://www.vox.com/2016/6/17/11947544/jessica-valenti-feministing-ezra-klein-show
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/01/20/abortion-equals-murder-under-a-proposed-arkansas-law
https://abcnews.go.com/US/planned-parenthood-set-fire-2-days-after-state/story?id=96502839