Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) knows that with a Democratic majority in the Senate, the chances of a bill restricting access to safe abortion care is unlikely to go anywhere, but that fact is not stopping the Senator from proposing one. Like his fellow anti-choice politicians in the House, Senator Lee, together with Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), is using the criminal trial of Philadelphia physician Dr. Kermit Gosnell to propose a Senate resolution to call for more restrictions on safe abortion care.
The resolution calls for the investigation of all clinics that provide abortion, as well as a claim of “compelling governmental interest in protecting the lives of unborn children beginning at least from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.”
The resolution also attempts to slip in support for the notion that fertilized eggs should have the same legal protections as fully born persons, in case there was any doubt that language about “protecting women” was nothing more than window dressing.
Utah recently enacted a law requiring women to wait 72 hours before having an abortion.
The idea, according to its sponsor, is to give abortion shoppers time to think and become fully informed before they make their purchase. Like they haven’t already been doing that since the moment they found out they were pregnant. […]
If waiting 72 hours before resolving an unwanted pregnancy is a good idea, why not a 72-hour wait before getting pregnant on purpose? Given issues of overpopulation and increasing poverty, it’s only fair to the rest of us that you go through a cooling-off period.
Granted, waiting three days to have sex may not be anything out of the ordinary (and might even be considered the fun part) but it’s the legal paperwork and license that would put a damper on it.
A three-day waiting period should be mandatory before buying a pet. If you live within half a mile of another human being, your dog or cat isn’t entirely your problem.
All sorts of things should require a waiting period that allowed you to reconsider and make a more fully informed choice.
by Robin Marty
Utah is about to break new ground this week with a new law scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday that will force women seeking a safe, legal abortion to endure the country’s longest waiting period between her first visit to a clinic and the time of the actual procedure. Although South Dakota was the first to pass a 72-hour rule, their law was blocked by the courts before it could ever go into effect.
It’s appears likely that unlike in South Dakota, abortion providers in Utah may take a “wait and see” attitude to discern exactly how the law affects women seeking an abortion, rather than sue for an injunction immediately. But that doesn’t mean they think it’s a constitutional — or even enforceable — law.
Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
[Planned Parenthood of Utah Director Karrie] Galloway said the way the law was written, no one is in charge of overseeing compliance or writing rules so that everyone knows what is required under the statute.
“We’re left with a system that right now puts the burden — in fact a possible criminal burden — on the physician providing the procedure with no verifiable process for confirming the informed consent.”
The Utah Department of Health’s Nan Streeter confirms that the law gives her agency no oversight authority.
“We talked with our attorney and also with the deputy director of the department to ask about what we were responsible for, and the way the law was written, the only authority the Department of Health has is related to the development of the abortion consent materials,” said Streeter, deputy director of the Division of Family Health and Preparedness. “There’s no provision for the department to either enforce or oversee the consent process.”
Placing criminal burder on an abortion provider without providing clear oversight of exactly what he or she has to do in order to protect him or herself from charges? That sounds quite a bit like nearly every other piece of anti-choice legislation, determined to create a process so laden with potential legal pitfalls that no doctor will feel comfortable providing abortions.
Have you participated yet? GREAT! Keep it up!
If not, join in now.
As we mentioned yesterday, Maddow, Buzzfeed, TPM, and Mashable have all reported about your online activism.
At this point, we have provided contact information for the following Governors:
- Utah’s Gary Herbert, who is poised to sign into law a 72-hr waiting period mandate between when a patient wanting an abortion first meets with a doctor and when the procedure is performed - LET HIM KNOW THAT HE SHOULD VETO #HB461
- Kansas’ Sam Brownback, who is one of the most anti-choice governors and who may soon receive a mega abortion restriction bill to sign into law
- Texas’ Rick Perry, who signed into law a ultrasound bill that mandates forced transvaginal ultrasounds and who last week defunded the Medicaid-funded Women’s Health Program in an effort to destroy Planned Parenthood in his state
- Pennsylvania’s Tom “Just Close Your Eyes When You Are Forced to Endure an Unwanted Ultrasound” Corbett
But don’t let our list limit you. Find anti-choice politicians (both Democrat and Republican) in your state, in Congress, or even running for president, and contact them.
Inundate them with sarcastic comments regarding the anti-choice legislation they support. Show them how little they actually know about women, their bodies, and reproductive health care.
Be a part of this mass movement! Join Project TMI!
SIGNAL BOOST!
Have you participated yet? Plenty of people have. In the video above, Rachel Maddow discusses multiple politicians whose Facebook pages have been inundated with sarcastic comments from constituents and concerned citizens regarding anti-choice legislation.
It was also reported on at Buzzfeed, Talking Points Memo, and Mashable.
Let’s keep it up. We at RHRC are focusing on Utah and Kansas but this message works with any politician who is anti-choice. If you write them on Twitter, please use the hashtag: #mybodyyourchoice.
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Utah’s governor, Gary Herbert, currently has ON HIS DESK RIGHT NOW the legislation that will change Utah’s 24hr mandatory waiting period between appointment and abortion to 72 hours.
We need him to VETO it.
PHONE #s: 801-538-1000 and 800-705-2464
LEAVE COMMENTS on posts on his FACEBOOK wall
Mandatory waiting period laws serve no other purpose than to shame people wanting an abortion.
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In case you don’t know WHY we are targeting Brownback and Kansas, Kari Ann Rinker’s piece at RH Reality Check has the details. The bill includes
- cutting off medical training for doctors (which may cause the KU Medical School to lose accreditation)
- outlawing Planned Parenthood employees from volunteering at schools
- allows physicians to lie to their patients about pregnancy complications
- forces doctors to lie to patients about anti-scientific and untrue risks with abortion
- and creates a new state income tax on any expense related to abortion.
You can also call Brownback’s office at 877-579-6757 or 785-296-3232.
Or you can send him an official message through his contact page.
Tell Utah’s Gov to VETO 72hr mandatory waiting period law
Contact Governor Gary Herbert before it’s too late. Tell him to VETO #HB461, the 72hr mandatory waiting period law.
PHONE #s: 801-538-1000 and 800-705-2464
LEAVE COMMENTS on posts on his FACEBOOK wall
Utah ALREADY has a mandatory 24-hr waiting period. This law only serves to triple that time.
Mandatory waiting period laws serve no other purpose than to shame people wanting an abortion.
The bill will require women seeking an abortion to endure a 72-hour delay between the first appointment for an abortion and the actual procedure, accomplishing nothing but raising the financial costs (child care, time off work, transportation) and personal emotional stress of the individual women in question.
Utah ALREADY has a mandatory 24-hr waiting period. This law only serves to triple that time.
Mandatory waiting period laws serve no other purpose than to shame people wanting an abortion.
_______________________________________
Contact Governor Gary Herbert before it’s too late. Tell him to VETO #HB461, the 72hr mandatory waiting period law.
PHONE #s: 801-538-1000 and 800-705-2464
RH Reality Check’s Jodi Jacobson on this law:
The bill will require women seeking an abortion to endure a 72-hour delay between the first appointment for an abortion and the actual procedure, accomplishing nothing but raising the financial costs (child care, time off work, transportation) and personal emotional stress of the individual women in question.
[NB: More people than just cis women will be affected by this law.]
That is the first line of The Salt Lake Tribune’s write up of this disgusting law, which now looks poised to be signed by Utah’s governor.
A similar law passed in South Dakota but has been held up in courts. In response to the passage of that law, NARAL posted this piece in 2011 about what a 72hr waiting period means.
Such laws, of course, disproportionately hurt poor people.
This is the most radical waiting period in the country. It was debated for 15 minutes in the House with only one person speaking against it, Rep. Carol Spackman Moss. It received 53-seconds’ attention in the Senate.
This is disgusting. To not only are states passing ridiculous laws that show the inherent distrust that politicians have in pregnant people but Utah politicians couldn’t even spend actual time debating it?
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To contact the governor of Utah, Gary R. Herbert, to ask him to VETO #HB461:
PHONE #s: 801-538-1000 and 800-705-2464
LEAVE COMMENTS on posts on his FACEBOOK wall
______________________________
As I said yesterday with Arizona and Kansas, this is NOT the moment where we make statements like, “Oh, that’s just Utah. Why don’t people move? What more do you expect? Oh well. *shrugs*.” Because you know who that helps? NO ONE. And you know what that make Utah residents who need/want access to abortion care feel like? Not important.
So, let’s make as much noise as possible. Don’t let this go by without us showing that we see, that we are watching, THAT WE CARE.
SIGNAL BOOST.
Just a quick summary of why these “forced waiting periods” are awful:
- They have no medical purpose.
- They exist solely to shame pregnant people into reconsidering a medical procedure.
- Many pregnant people don’t have the money to skip work twice and travel all the way to the nearest abortion provider, which could be hours away or even in another state.
-Jess
(via stfuconservatives)
