More Hoosier Madness

Indiana State Rep. Troy A. Woodruff, R-Misogynyville has proposed a measure that would criminalize abortion in the entire state, even for women who are victims of rape or incest.

The only exception allowed under House Bill 1096 would be for women whose health or life would be permanently impaired if a pregnancy continued. The bill would define life as beginning at conception and make it a felony to perform all other abortions. Anyone convicted would face up to eight years in prison.

Not to get all logical or anything, but how does forcing a woman to have a child she doesn’t want not qualify as permanently impairing her life? I’m sure Mr. Woodruff would suggest adoption, since, as everyone knows, once you give away a child, it immediately leaves your mind forever and you never have to think about it again. Honestly, who the fuck are these people?

I haven’t yet found what the punishment, if any, would be for women who have the abortion under this proposal.

Woodruff said the time is right for Indiana to confront this issue.

"It's something I've prayed about, and it's weighed on my heart," said Woodruff, who also is an aide to U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind.

"It's an emotional issue," Woodruff acknowledged, but he added that he thought most Hoosiers support a ban.

An Indiana law banning most abortions most likely would be challenged in the courts and could end up as a test case before the U.S. Supreme Court to possibly overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Woodruff said the issue should have been left up to the states, and he's hoping a newly constituted Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts and with the possible addition of Samuel Alito, will decide the abortion issue differently than the 1973 court did.

Something tells me that last paragraph has a hell of a lot more to do with this maneuver than prayer, emotion, or what most Hoosiers want or don’t want. The anti-choice brigade sees a future where they’ve got a chance to criminalize a woman’s right to choose, and so they’re gunning for it, laying the groundwork for a challenge as soon as the court swings in their favor.

This is why the Democrats need to filibuster Alito. See LeMew for more on that one.

As a side note, my bass-ackwards home state’s House Roads and Transportation Committee has also approved a bill that would create an "In God We Trust" license plate, and the House Judiciary Committee has established a subcommittee with the express purpose of “exploring” the details of a bill that would “prevent notes of sympathy or apology from being used in a lawsuit, including medical malpractice.” Jeebus.

How about spending some time on our massive state deficit, helping the thousands of people who are getting bankrupted by outrageous increases in property taxes to make up for it, and getting some jobs (in addition to “nurse” and “truck driver”) into the bloody state, you useless wankers.