The government has finally been ushered out of the exam room.
In a definitive step protecting women and their very private decision-making, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth District on December 22 permanently blocked a 2011 North Carolina law that created huge physical and emotional trauma for women seeking abortions. Not to mention trampling on doctor-patient relationships and the rights of physicians themselves to have rational conversations with their patients.
Those fighting the extremely punitive law included the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and others
The law required providers to show an ultrasound and describe what’s on the screen. That is certainly right and proper if patient and provider so choose. But suppose the woman chooses otherwise? The law allowed her to close her eyes and cover her ears, but said the provider still had to go through this narration, regardless of circumstances. Suppose this pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, or there were serious health risks or fetal anomalies — the woman still had to cover her eyes and ears, perhaps singing “La, la, la, la…” to drown out the narrative. Is there any conceivable way in which any of this makes sense?
Fortunately, the Fourth District Court of Appeals thought not.
What has been so appalling about the evolution of this law and the political fight to keep it in effect is the total absence of empathy or concern for women. The same is true for literally hundreds of other state laws still on the books that are designed to shame or coerce women out of having abortions. Public outcry is raised about “protecting the fetus,” often by politicians and others whose concern for that fetus ends as soon as it becomes an unwanted child. With these laws, sanity, good medical practice and women’s rights go out the window. And who loses? The woman. Particularly if she is poor, or disempowered and thus can’t travel to somewhere safe and free from harrassment.
None of us, whatever our politics, want to see women’s lives made worse. None of us really want to see children brought into the world to suffer, other children forced to bear babies who are the result of personal tragedy, or families plunged into chaos and despair. Most of us credit women with having perfectly good brains and don’t want to see them denied use of their brains or control of their bodies. But these are the results of punitive abortion restrictions. At least this one punitive law is now gone, a holiday gift to us all.
Thank you, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth District.
Glad to hear some good news on this front!
I simply cannot fathom why men want to tell women what to do with their bodies. I suspect, however, there is something instinctual involved – the desire of men to control women so that they can be sure any fetus carried by the woman has been fathered by the controlling male.
BTW, I finally wrote (and posted) the final blog in my three-part series on contraception and human/environmental well-being. http://joannevalentinesimson.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/birth-control-key-to-averting-environmental-disaster/
These things should be obvious, but they don’t seem to be.
I think right now it’s more about conservative politics than anything else. And conservative religions whose believers fervently believe they should dictate what women do with their bodies. Thanks for link to GREAT series I am going to steal from when I get dug out and back to the business of writing.