Chipping Away at Roe

In Texas:

On the 38th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Governor Rick Perry told the crowd at the "Rally For Life" that the Supreme Court's decision is a tragedy and Texas would no longer sit idly by.

John Seago, Senior Legislative Associate with Texas Right To Life, says with the Republican supermajority, the bill [which would require women seeking abortions to undergo a sonogram] has a strong chance of becoming law.

...In addition to the sonogram, the bill would require women to hear a doctor explain the physical characteristics of the fetus as well as listen to audio of the heartbeat.

Because women are stupid babies who don't know what being pregnant means.

I don't know how many different ways I can say this, and I've already said it what feels like 3,000 times in the last six years, but forcing a woman to stare at an ultrasound and listen to a heartbeat will not change the fact that that woman does not want to have a child. Even if it changes her mind about terminating the pregnancy, it doesn't change whatever circumstances brought her to an abortion clinic in the first place.

She'll still walk out just as devoid of choices, just as un- or underemployed, just as broke, just as in debt, just as uninsured, just as lacking daycare, just as unable to care for herself and/or her existing children, just as in need of medication that she can't take while pregnant, just as enmeshed in an unhealthy or abusive relationship, just the same as she was when she walked in.

She'll just have been guilted into making sacrifices she doesn't want to make, to honor someone else's mistaken perceptions about her morality.

All of these "LOOK IT'S A BABY!" barriers to termination are utter hogwash, rooted in the damnable fairy tale that women are incapable of making the best decisions for themselves and their own bodies (and, frequently, for the children they already have).

The reality is this: There is an inextricable link between the economy, the funding of social services, and abortion. If "pro-lifers" really wanted women to want to have babies, they would stop forcing them to look at ultrasounds and start arguing for universal healthcare, just for a fucking start.

[H/T to @PeterDaou.]