Within the past few months, there has been a slew of proposed and enacted legislation made by Republicans from various states and in Congress. These rulings all have one ignominious common thread: they are all ways to assault the rights of women. They not only wish to deprive women of their reproductive rights, but often propose absurdly violent means to do so, which I shall elaborate on later. That’s just the tip of this giant, misogynistic iceberg. Some might wave this off as a feministic tirade, but if the contents of the laws are examined, then it can be plainly seen that women are being deprived of basic human rights. Some of these laws are summarized here, and the readers are left to draw their own conclusions.
In Georgia, a bill has been introduced by State Representative Bob Franklin. This bill mandates that the word “victim” would be replaced by the term “accuser” in all statutes involving rape, stalking, child and family violence. However, Franklin seems to think that crimes that don’t primarily affect women — such as burglary, assault and fraud — can continue to label the affected parties as “victims.” Some might cite the supposed high rate of false rape accusations as solid grounds for such a change. However, there are more rapes that go unreported than there are that are reported — even if falsely. This alteration would just further impede not only rape victims, but also those suffering from domestic violence and other gendered crimes from speaking up.
The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” attempted to narrow the definition of rape to “forcible rape,” which would imply that only women who were assaulted with physical force would receive any government funds for abortion. This just happens to leave out many other common forms of rape such as date rape, the violation of a woman who has been drugged, statutory rape and sexual abuse targeting mentally incompetent women. This proposed change in the act has been withdrawn after a general outcry from progressive groups. Despite this small victory, the rest of the act still targets women’s reproductive rights. It bans federal funding for abortion, and does not allow women to pay for an abortion out of a health savings account.
In South Dakota, there was a proposed law that sought to expand the definition of “justifiable homicide” to include murders that take place in order to prevent harm inflicted on a fetus, which could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions.
According to the act, “homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child.” House legislation is supported by Republicans and is expected to soon be considered by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.
The proposed “Protect Life Act” would allow hospitals to let a pregnant woman die of complications instead of performing the abortion that would save her life. The bill also says that hospitals that receive federal funds must turn away women who require emergency pregnancy termination in order to stay alive.
The House Appropriations Committee proposed a $758 million cut from food assistance to infants, children and low-income women. This does not require any elaboration; the atrocity is apparent.
Bobby Franklin returns with a bill that requires authorities to investigate all miscarriages, both inside and outside of hospitals. Doctors who are mere suspects for “prenatal murder” would have their licenses suspended until found innocent. This basically flips the idea of innocent until proven guilty. Basically, if your baby dies inside of you due to natural causes, you will still be subjected to intrusive investigations while you are suffering from an emotional upheaval and trauma.
