So anyway, this news out of Georgia is pretty terrifying. And if you have a wife, sister, mother, daughter, friend, or acquaintance who is a woman, you should be terrified for them too.
Brian Kemp, who stole the GA governorship in 2018, just signed Georgia HB481 into law. Here's what it does:
It declares full personhood and full legal recognition for embryos, including counting them in census, by stating that "modern medical science" proves this to be true.
Fetuses “shall be included in population based determinations” from now on, because they are legally humans, and residents of the state.It outlaws abortion as soon as a heartbeat can be heard (typically around 6 weeks gestation).
It prohibits doctors from terminating any pregnancy after they can detect “embryonic or fetal cardiac activity”. I mean, I had so many times when my period was 2 or 3 weeks late for whatever reason. I had times when I just skipped a month altogether. Hell, I was trying to get pregnant and still didn't know I was pregnant until 10 weeks.It allows a woman who aborts a pregnancy to be sued for the "full value of life of the child"
It's unclear who gets to decide this, but I'm sure it will be a man.It dictates 1st degree murder charges, allowing life in prison or the death penalty for women who self-terminate, including with prescribed drugs.
From this Slate article: "But the most startling effect of HB 481 may be its criminalization of women who seek out unlawful abortions or terminate their own pregnancies. An earlier Georgia law imposing criminal penalties for illegal abortions does not apply to women who self-terminate; the new measure, by contrast, conspicuously lacks such a limitation. It can, and would, be used to prosecute women. Misoprostol, a drug that treats stomach ulcers but also induces abortions, is extremely easy to obtain on the internet, and American women routinely use it to self-terminate. It is highly effective in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Anti-abortion advocates generally insist that they do not want to punish women who undergo abortions. But HB 481 does exactly that. Once it takes effect, a woman who self-terminates will have, as a matter of law, killed a human—thereby committing murder. The penalty for that crime in Georgia is life imprisonment or capital punishment."
It provides for 2nd degree murder charges, punishable by 10-30 years in prison for women who get an abortion from a physician or who miscarry due to their own conduct.
Such as... using drugs, or, you know, being in the 25% of women who miscarry, because being a woman is also, apparently, your own fault.
Also from the Slate article: "HB 481 would also have consequences for women who get abortions from doctors or miscarry. A woman who seeks out an illegal abortion from a health care provider would be a party to murder, subject to life in prison. And a woman who miscarries because of her own conduct—say, using drugs while pregnant—would be liable for second-degree murder, punishable by 10 to 30 years’ imprisonment. Prosecutors may interrogate women who miscarry to determine whether they can be held responsible; if they find evidence of culpability, they may charge, detain, and try these women for the death of their fetuses."It provides for conspiracy to commit murder for women who travel out of state to get an abortion. And if you're the driver, you also get charged.
Again, from Slate: "If a Georgia resident plans to travel elsewhere to obtain an abortion, she may be charged with conspiracy to commit murder, punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment. An individual who helps a woman plan her trip to get an out-of-state abortion, or transports her to the clinic, may also be charged with conspiracy. These individuals, after all, are “conspiring” to end of the life of a “person” with “full legal recognition” under Georgia law."It repeals almost everything in the Women's Right to Know Act, which forced ultrasounds on women seeking abortions. Because abortion is illegal, so women don't need to know shit, apparently. It also repeals anything in conflict with the wording of this law.
It incorrectly states that at 20 weeks, fetuses "evade" pain.
Every single obstetric and gynecologic medical organization has declared this to be false.This is not about just restricting access. If it was, then the argument the anti-choice movement has been making about "just go somewhere it's legal" would still apply. But this law charges women who go where it's legal with conspiracy to commit murder.
This is not about preserving life. Because they also make a woman carry an ectopic pregnancy. (Whoops! That's Ohio. They also just signed a new heartbeat law. You can understand how I got this all mixed up, so I'll just leave it in anyway.) This is about power and control over women, pure and simple.
This is not about religion. My religion pretty much states that embryos and fetuses are not people, and dictates an abortion if a woman is ill or in danger. So this law impinges on my 1st amendment right to exercise my religion freely.
This is not about anything except controlling women and putting them back in their place, subservient to men and making sammiches – and severely punishing them if they refuse to comply.
You'd better hope you never have a miscarriage in the state with one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the nation. Or travel elsewhere and have a miscarriage.
This is why goddamned elections matter, people. At the local, state and national level.
Because the goal of all of these laws, in addition to punishing women for daring to want any autonomy over their body and decisions, is to get a case up to the Supreme court.
It's why the GOP have been packing the courts all during the Trump presidency.
It's why the rat bastard Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing for Merrick Garland and then rushed through 2 right wing SCOTUS candidates who care nothing for the rule of law or for women.
It's why the GOP has sold its soul and is gleefully happy about it.
It's why they are willing to let the United States become a laughingstock across the globe.
It's why they are willing to give up any semblance of a decent reputation that they might have once had.
Because they all get to pack the courts for decades to come with far right wing crazy-ass shitheads who only care about anyone who is a rich white "Christian" man or a wealthy corporation.
You need to get your ass to the polls and vote. Vote in person, vote by mail, vote by fucking osmosis. Because next, they're coming for you. Whoever "you" are.
In a time when women are blamed for getting raped, and blamed for being poor mothers, and being blamed for working outside the home to support their children, and being blamed for the sun setting at night, we are once again going to blame them for something that naturally occurs in 25% of all pregnancies.
If only companies would get on board with moving out of Georgia, and not holding events there like they rightly did with the bathroom bill in NC.
But, you know. This is about women, so.
Blessed be the fruit, and all that jazz.
