MY LIFE

This is insane, but it’s from Florida, so what do you expect? Anti-Choice Floridians Peddling Constitutional Amendment to Criminalize Birth Control Pill (see also here)

Yep, you read it right.   Some right-wing idiots are trying to push a “Personhood Amendment” into the State Constitution, declaring that even a zygote is a “person”, and therefore as a person it has “rights”.

BULLSHIT!

Does the birth control pill prevent fertilization, or does it create a hostile environment in uterus to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching and developing?   It doesn’t matter!

In “Is the Fetus a Person? A comparison of Policies Across the Fifty States”, Jean Reith Shcroedel examines this question as it is dealt with in our country.  it is reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine (yes, you have to pay a small fee to access — had I known the entire 3 page review is at Amazon I could have saved a few pennies!… whatever… good information).   The review starts with this vital passage:

By examining the degree to which antiabortion forces also support other measures to enhance the well-being of fetuses and infants, Schroedel concludes that their motivations are better explained by a resistance to female autonomy. This perception is widely shared within the women’s movement, but until now it has not had the benefit of systematic empirical research to support the claim.

It is a fascinating book review and I would LOVE to have the book

Schroedel compares three phenomena: antiabortion statutes, statutes that criminalize drug use by pregnant women, and those that criminalize third-party fetal killings. Her hypothesis is that states with policies that strongly discourage abortion ought to have policies that are equally strong in their condemnation and criminal treatment of third parties who cause fetal death (usually by domestic battering of pregnant women), if the underlying justification of the antiabortion policies is indeed to protect the fetus’s right to life. In contrast, if third-party killings are largely ignored, whereas prenatal drug exposure renders pregnant women subject to prosecution or involuntary commitment, then the antiabortion policy is probably focused more on moral approbation of women’s behavior than on the protection of the rights of the fetus.

Wow… who could’ve see that one coming?  <*snerk*>    It’s what we’ve known for decades, but until Schroedel’s study documented it in 2000, there wasn’t enough proof.

Many scholars have noted that there appears to be a higher degree of sacrifice forced on pregnant women than on the fathers and mothers of children already born, even when such children were expected, wanted, and deliberately conceived. This difference in notions of parental duty, many argue, is evidence that the underlying motivation is not so much concern about the well-being of the fetus or child as it is disapproval of pregnant women’s choices.

Again, who could be surprised?

Every state seems to handle the question of personhood differently, but it is clear that the concern is NOT about fetuses, infants, and babies.  It is about controlling women and legislating their autonomy away.

Which is particularly funny.

In the article cited article we find:

Pat McEwen of Palm Bay is one of two leaders of the loose collection of activists, collectively known as Personhood Florida.

“In the original Florida Constitution in 1885, they gave Floridians the right to enjoy and defend life,” she said. “This amendment defends the unborn, and it also gives older people like me – a retired college professor – the right to make my own decisions and not have someone override it.”

Holy FUCK!   Does this bat-shit crazy women not recognize the irony of her statement?   She is concerned that nobody else has to right to control her decisions, yet she presumes to legislate that same autonomy control over other people, and steal away another woman’s right to choice!   A pregnant woman is a living, breathing, independently viable, human begin. A fetus is not.

NObody should have the right to tell a pregnant woman whether she should carry the pregnancy to term or not.  NObody should get interfere when she wants to use legally available birth control measures to prevent a pregnancy from occurring.    If birth control pills are a problem, what about IUDs?

The entire concept of interfering with a woman’s right to choice is just insane, and it is largely built on RELIGIOUS principles, rather than science, justice, or any sense of rational thought.  Those who have religious convictions on the matter are not in ANY WAY prevented from practicing their beliefs as those beliefs control that individual person.  But the enforcement of those beliefs do not, and CANNOT, extend beyond the individual believer.   There is no way to justify forcing the personal religious convictions of one group upon the rest of society, which is exactly what this group in Florida is trying to do.

Do I believe an unborn fetus has the same rights as a born, breathing, viable human being?  No.  Of course not.  The life of the mother, and her personal choices, outweigh the rights of a potential human unborn being.

And this isn’t even about abortion, but birth control pills.    Next thing you know they’ll try to outlaw IUDs.  Because it isn’t about the babies at all, it’s about control and the desire of a small group of narrow-minded people trying to steal autonomy and control from other women.  That’s all it is.   That. Is. ALL. It. Is.  Seriously.  They don’t actually give a shit about babies, or making sure babies are wanted and brought into safe, prepared, and well-funded homes where they will be loved, else they would support better sex education and make sure that those who get pregnant actually want to, and those who don’t want to or cannot handle a child are not forced to do so against their will.

I truly hope these idiots are laughed out of chambers if they try to bring this ridiculous bill to fruition.  They don’t deserve to be heard, much less approved.