more on South Dakota

The WaPo picked up the South Dakota story today, making it ever more clear that this isn't about "helping women" it's about power and control and political game playing:

"The momentum for a change in the national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future," said Rep. Roger W. Hunt, a Republican who sponsored the bill. To his delight, abortion opponents succeeded in defeating all amendments designed to mitigate the ban, including exceptions in the case of rape or incest or the health of the woman. Hunt said that such "special circumstances" would have diluted the bill and its impact on the national scene.

"And it's impact on the national scene". What about those women in South Dakota who are victims of rape? Of incest? Whose health will be gravely affected by pregnancy (but not die)? Fuck 'em, eh? They're just unfortunate losses in a game of power-playing for control, right? Disgusting. And these people dare call themselves moral.

Anyway, yesterday when I first heard of the proposed bill, I asked:

Really, what is next? The birth control that the same group of anti-choicers call “abortificants” because they can prevent implantation? That’s all hormonal birth control.

And emergency contraception. Lest we forget:

[T]he American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists explains, ‘the primary contraceptive effect of all the non-barrier methods, including emergency use of contraceptive pills, is to prevent ovulation and/or fertilization. Additional contraceptive actions for all of these also may affect the process beyond fertilization but prior to pregnancy.’

EC is just a high dose of birth control pills, given in hopes of stopping ovulation or implantation. A woman does not need EC pills to do this, she can take more than one birth control pill to achieve the same function.

What does this have to do with the South Dakota legislation? Why this, taken from the text of the law:

No person may knowingly administer to, prescribe for, or procure for, or sell to any pregnant woman any medicine, drug, or other substance with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of an unborn human being.

That succesfully takes care of emergency contraception and mifepristone (commonly known as RU-486). A woman may not be pregnant but if she or a doctor believes she may be due to rape or regular ol' unprotected sex, EC cannot be given because the intent is to not continue a pregnancy (as it would prevent implantation if fertilization occured). It's a Class 1 Felony to do so.

BTW, this is oficially called "Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act". What a crock of shite. It's no more about protecting women's health than "No Child Left Behind" is about genuinely helping children and public schools.