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It's getting hard to keep track of which states are competing hardest for the Your Uterus Belong To The State prize, so I tried to make a summary. 1/
Multiple states have passed or are passing so-called "heartbeat laws," which outlaw abortions once a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected. Two things about that: (a) this is usually around six weeks, by which time most people aren't yet aware they're pregnant; ... 2/
...(b) it's not actually a heartbeat, it's electrical activity in the fetal pole. (So say the doctors, and I believe them, because they are doctors.) This is, by design, an effective blanket ban on all abortions. 3/
Georgia just passed a law that is not only a heartbeat law, it defines a fetus-with-detectable-heartbeat as a "natural person" for all purposes. As has been pointed out, the logical implication of this is that women who have abortions can be charged with first-degree murder... 4/
...(life in prison or the death penalty) and women who have miscarriages can be charged with second-degree murder (10-30 years in prison) if a prosecutor decides they were somehow "responsible." 5/
Alabama is working on a law that would *explicitly* make abortion a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. 6/
Ohio just recently passed a heartbeat law. Not content to rest on their laurels, they are now considering a bill that would ban any methods of contraception that "prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum"... 7/
...so there goes the pill, IUDs, Plan B, and really most any contraception that women have control of. 8/
It would also outlaw treatment of ectopic pregnancies -- approximately 1 in 50 pregnancies -- unless the treatment is "removing that embryo from the fallopian tube and reinserting it in the uterus," a medical procedure that does not exist and is currently impossible. 9/
"Heartbeat bills" have been passed before, and have routinely been found unconstitutional. The states currently jumping on the heartbeat bandwagon explicitly intend for these laws to be challenged and appealed to the Supreme Court... 10/
...in the hopes that the newly-conservative-leaning court will overturn Roe v. Wade and they can ban-slash-criminalize abortion in toto. 11/
It is a well-worn point, but I will reiterate it because it is 100% true: this is not about saving the lives of unborn babies. If it were, conservatives would give a crap what happens to the baby once it is born; they demonstrably do not. 12/
Instead, it is about controlling women's sexuality. It is about asserting that a woman's reproductive ability does not belong to her, it belongs to a man; or if not a specific man, it belongs to the state. 13/
Perhaps even more so, it is about punishing women who have the temerity to think that they can have sex on their own terms. 14/
"Pro-life" just means patriarchy. And that evil edifice needs to be burned to the ground. 15/15
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