It's also about women being treated with the respect they deserve. The policing of women's bodies has only gotten worse since Roe was overturned. Here's the news from 2024 so far: Brittany Watts and the Lies of the Extremist Right An Ohio woman by the name of Brittany Watts will not be charged with "abuse of a corpse" after experiencing a miscarriage at home. The case began last year after Watts had been to a hospital and told that her fetus was "not viable," and then she ultimately lost the pregnancy at home. While the case itself has many layers of grey area, it is essential to note that women miscarry at home every day in the United States in all stages of pregnancy. A specific part of the right's rhetoric has been that pro-life legislation will not "punish women." However, it is evident in nuanced and tragic cases like a miscarriage that women may have reason to fear prosecution and retaliation when reporting medical events in their reproductive life. An Update on Kate Cox Since her case made national headlines and highlighted the senseless cruelty of the Texas GOP, Kate Cox was forced to leave Texas for an abortion procedure. After her fetus was diagnosed with Trisomy-18 and she went before a court to receive the procedure in Texas, the state's Supreme Court and AG Ken Paxton shot her down. Not only was their stubbornness a warning to women across the state, but it also served as an explicit political gesture. Texas Republicans will not only put the lives of women at risk to prove their "pro-life" stance, but they will also continue to threaten doctors and debate medical nuances that they know nothing about. Senate Pro-Life Extremism Senator Marsha Blackburn (TN) has revived a bill known as the "Woman's Right to Know" Act (2021), which is part of a broader call to a pro-life base from the Senate as we enter the 2024 election cycle. While it is not a federal ban, it is a national version of what takes place across the nation in abortion care centers. The bill, previously known as S. 1325 during the 117th Congress, includes mandatory informed consent 24 hours prior to an abortion procedure. That "informed consent," however, would consist of medically inaccurate and scientifically debated and debunked information on the risks of abortion. This practice of giving women false information already takes place in several states that attempted restrictions on abortion access before the Dobbs decision. The bill also defines a person at the point of fertilization, which is a nod to the attempts of the rightwing to create "fetal personhood" laws.
It is evident that despite growing news coverage and stories becoming viral of women with complicated situations in pregnancies, the "life of the mother" and "not punishing women" are not priorities for the GOP. They have shown time and time again that they will use the suffering of women and children for cheap political wins, all in the name of being "pro-life." Help us stop them by electing pro-choice leaders and champions for women's healthcare: |