Abortion Boogaloo Part Eighty-Seven: Scott Walker Anti-Abortion Law Thwarted

Governer Scott Wanker Walker, Image from source, DailyKos

I always feel the need to point out, when I post one of these stories, that abortion has never been one of my issues. It still isn't, really, except that I'm forced into a position by the odiousness of the GOP on the issue. Most of the support they get for these laws hinges upon the "twenty weeks/fetal pain" part of them. They've convinced a lot of fence-sitters that a) a fetus is viable and can feel pain at 20 weeks, something that is scientifically dubious and, b) that the main and/or only thing they're after is to stop "late term abortions." You might even add c) convincing voters that 20 weeks is late term, that it's common, and that it's used frivolously as birth control.

But there is in fact a whole lot more in play than just the 20 weeks rule. If that was all there was to it (and if there were exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother), the outcry wouldn't be nearly so loud. What they're really trying to do--I'm convinced--is spur a lawsuit that eventually gets before the Supreme Court, in an effort to undo Roe v. Wade. Republican governors and legislatures are trying to outdo each other in that effort, and seemingly are also trying to see who can do it in the most dickish way. Who knew there were tea party bonus points for dickishness? Oh, who am I kidding, I knew.

The funny thing is how transparent it all is. Passing arbitrary "trap" laws that make it impossible to operate clinics legally, and then sometimes creating catch-22 counter-laws that make a legal paradox that would give any lawyer a headache. They end up shutting down health clinics that provide much more than just abortion, sometimes the only resource poor women have for health care. They unwittingly (or purposefully) outlaw many forms of birth control and possibly in vitro fertilization, because of the verbiage they use defining (or redefining) pregnancy, fertilization, implantation, etc. And they do it in the most underhanded, skeevy ways possible, often right before live television cameras.

So, it's always nice to see them get shut down, or stalled. I'm hoping that some loud voices can cut through all of the political theater, to clearly show the kinds of consequences all of these laws could lead to.

[Excerpt]

Breaking: Judge Blocks Wisconsin Anti-Abortion Law

Yeah!  The 9 day from introduction to legislative passage, signed secretly into law during a holiday weekend by cowardly Governor Scott Walker has been partially blocked from implementation for 10 days by a judge. . .

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