This does seem to be a qualitatively different abortion restriction to previous ones. Being forced to remain pregnant may - but won't definitely - kill you; abortion restrictions forcing you to get an illegal abortion may - but won't definitely - kill you.
There is no plausible deniability here, no fig-leaf of pro-life, no 'best intentions', no defence to the stark fact that in an untreated ectopic pregnancy the foetus will always, always die and if the pregnancy is just left untreated it will develop as far as technically possible and then it will very, very likely kill the woman. I have struggled to find stats on women's mortality in untreated advanced ectopic pregnancies, because why the fuck would you deliberately do that.
So, if it's in your fallopian tube, that will eventually rupture and you will haemorrhage. THEN doctors will try and save you, maybe, unless they're squeamish about the law or the circumstances (remembering poor Savita Halappanavar). That's effectively a death sentence, right? For a pregnancy malfunction that could happen to even the godliest, the whitest, the richest, the saintliest Republican mother of three under five. What the fuck have we come to.
Having typed the above, I see that there is still a sliver of plausible deniability. Ectopic pregnancy is not an immediate death sentence. So, I guess that's how they spin it. Forcing women to play Russian roulette with only one empty chamber instead of only one bullet.
They never talk about the pain, either. It's never happened to me but I have read that it is agonising (I mean, obviously, it's a ruptured internal organ). Let's stop treating people for kidney stones, why don't we? They are as likely to develop into a human baby inside a man as an ectopic pregnancy is inside a woman. Leave 'em in situ till something explodes.
I just hate that we gave into the framing of “pro choice” as this is like choosing a type of pizza because of the fear of the word abortion instead of the framing of rights ie the right to bodily autonomy and the right to life. Again we gave in to the framing of the antiabortionists as “pro life” a tactic I will never understand.
Jessica, have you written on conservatorship and how it's young, pretty, and talented women who are subjected to this, and not young men? I see Brittany Spears and Amanda Bynes twisting themselves to look "acceptable" according to the puritanical standards just to be freed from this misogynist prison. I'd appreciate hearing your voice on this.
It is getting so outrageously and ignorantly ridiculous that one day someone is going to want a law putting sick pregnant women in jail to prevent treatment that might possibly harm the fetus. And always I come back to the truth that these are the same people that don’t give a fuck about the well being of children once they are born. Or even be willing to provide good medical care during pregnancy to produce a baby with the best potential to thrive. The hypocrisy is truly malevolent.
I do have concern that too many people seem to be missing something. Texas should have been boycotted months ago; the response to its law seems underwhelming to me (especially considering that the enforcement mechanism is even more diabolical than the ban itself, if that's possible). Will this country give more than a collective shrug when Roe is overturned in June? Are people just not paying attention? Do we need actual martyrs with names and faces and stories? When do we hit bottom?
I have been saying for years that dead women are a feature not a bug in these laws and told I was fear mongering or exaggerating. To religious conservatives the perfect woman is one who dies “to save her baby.”
I'm totally in for becoming part of a reboot of The Janes. Also, if anyone needs to get more angry about reproductive rights, I recommend The Means of Reproduction, by Michelle Goldberg, which I can never ever get out of my mind. It's a great book about the politicization of abortion. I had to put it down several times to just breathe. It's not incendiary on purpose -- it's the truth that is infuriating.
This does seem to be a qualitatively different abortion restriction to previous ones. Being forced to remain pregnant may - but won't definitely - kill you; abortion restrictions forcing you to get an illegal abortion may - but won't definitely - kill you.
There is no plausible deniability here, no fig-leaf of pro-life, no 'best intentions', no defence to the stark fact that in an untreated ectopic pregnancy the foetus will always, always die and if the pregnancy is just left untreated it will develop as far as technically possible and then it will very, very likely kill the woman. I have struggled to find stats on women's mortality in untreated advanced ectopic pregnancies, because why the fuck would you deliberately do that.
So, if it's in your fallopian tube, that will eventually rupture and you will haemorrhage. THEN doctors will try and save you, maybe, unless they're squeamish about the law or the circumstances (remembering poor Savita Halappanavar). That's effectively a death sentence, right? For a pregnancy malfunction that could happen to even the godliest, the whitest, the richest, the saintliest Republican mother of three under five. What the fuck have we come to.
Having typed the above, I see that there is still a sliver of plausible deniability. Ectopic pregnancy is not an immediate death sentence. So, I guess that's how they spin it. Forcing women to play Russian roulette with only one empty chamber instead of only one bullet.
They never talk about the pain, either. It's never happened to me but I have read that it is agonising (I mean, obviously, it's a ruptured internal organ). Let's stop treating people for kidney stones, why don't we? They are as likely to develop into a human baby inside a man as an ectopic pregnancy is inside a woman. Leave 'em in situ till something explodes.
I just hate that we gave into the framing of “pro choice” as this is like choosing a type of pizza because of the fear of the word abortion instead of the framing of rights ie the right to bodily autonomy and the right to life. Again we gave in to the framing of the antiabortionists as “pro life” a tactic I will never understand.
Jessica, have you written on conservatorship and how it's young, pretty, and talented women who are subjected to this, and not young men? I see Brittany Spears and Amanda Bynes twisting themselves to look "acceptable" according to the puritanical standards just to be freed from this misogynist prison. I'd appreciate hearing your voice on this.
It is getting so outrageously and ignorantly ridiculous that one day someone is going to want a law putting sick pregnant women in jail to prevent treatment that might possibly harm the fetus. And always I come back to the truth that these are the same people that don’t give a fuck about the well being of children once they are born. Or even be willing to provide good medical care during pregnancy to produce a baby with the best potential to thrive. The hypocrisy is truly malevolent.
I do have concern that too many people seem to be missing something. Texas should have been boycotted months ago; the response to its law seems underwhelming to me (especially considering that the enforcement mechanism is even more diabolical than the ban itself, if that's possible). Will this country give more than a collective shrug when Roe is overturned in June? Are people just not paying attention? Do we need actual martyrs with names and faces and stories? When do we hit bottom?
I have been saying for years that dead women are a feature not a bug in these laws and told I was fear mongering or exaggerating. To religious conservatives the perfect woman is one who dies “to save her baby.”
Thank you. I am, once again, reminded of the necessity of stopping these legal murderers. Permanently.
Truth.
Amen.
I'm totally in for becoming part of a reboot of The Janes. Also, if anyone needs to get more angry about reproductive rights, I recommend The Means of Reproduction, by Michelle Goldberg, which I can never ever get out of my mind. It's a great book about the politicization of abortion. I had to put it down several times to just breathe. It's not incendiary on purpose -- it's the truth that is infuriating.