At 11th Hour, Georgia Passes "Women As  Livestock" Bill

By Lauren Barbato 
Ms.Magazine Blog
March 31, 2012

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/03/31/at-11th-hour-georgia-passes-women-as-livestock-bill/

After an emotional 14-hour workday that included fist-fights
 between lobbyists and a walk-out by women Democrats, the
 Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night
 that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks.

The bill, which does not contain rape or incest exemptions,
 is expected to receive a signature from Republican Gov.
 Nathan Deal.

Commonly referred to as the "fetal pain bill" by Georgian
 Republicans and as the "women as livestock bill" by everyone
 else, HB 954 garnered national attention this month when
 state Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn) compared pregnant women
 carrying stillborn fetuses to the cows and pigs on his farm.
 According to Rep. England and his warped thought process, if
 farmers have to "deliver calves, dead or alive," then a
 woman carrying a dead fetus, or one not expected to survive,
 should have to carry it to term.

The bill as first proposed outlawed all abortions after 20
 weeks under all circumstances. After negotiations with the
 Senate, the House passed a revised HB 954 that makes an
 exemption for "medically futile" pregnancies or those in
 which the woman's life or health is threatened.

If this makes its seem like Rep. England and the rest of the
 representatives looked beyond their cows and pigs and
 recognized women as capable, full-thinking human beings,
 think again: HB 954 excludes a woman's "emotional or mental
 condition," which means women suffering from mental illness
 would be forced to carry a pregnancy to term. It also
 ignores pregnant women who are suicidal and driven to
 inflict harm on themselves because of their unwanted
 pregnancy.

In order for a pregnancy to be considered "medically futile,"
 the fetus must be diagnosed with an irreversible chromosomal
 or congenital anomaly that is "incompatible with sustaining
 life after birth." The Georgia "fetal pain" bill  also
 stipulates that the abortion must be performed in such a way
 that the fetus emerges alive. If doctors perform the
 abortion differently, they face felony charges and up to 10
 years in prison. Given all this, the so-called compromise
 suddenly does not look like much of a bargain.

For anti-choice lawmakers, it is an item of faith that
 fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks. But scientists disagree.
 Reviews of all existing medical evidence have found that
 fetuses have not developed the neurological structures to
 feel pain until at least 25 weeks, and likely not until 28
 weeks, in the third trimester.

Although Roe v. Wade set the precedent for abortion to be
 legal up to 24 weeks, state legislatures continue to ram
 through restrictive anti-choice laws. Georgia will join six
 other states with fetal pain restrictions-Nebraska, Indiana,
 Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Alabama. North Carolina
 prohibits abortion after 20 weeks.

Arizona is now poised to join the roster, as the Senate
 passed a 20-week abortion restriction Tuesday. The bill,
 which awaits final approval from the House, also requires
 women seeking abortions to look at a state-run website
 littered with anti-choice propaganda.

And in the Northeast, arguably the country's most pro-choice
 region, the New Hampshire House voted Thursday to ban
 abortion after 20 weeks. The bill now moves to the Senate to
 join four other anti-abortion bills passed by the House this
 month.

Although GOP's war on women continues to deal blow after
 blow, this week held two small victories: The Oklahoma
 Supreme Court struck down mandated ultrasounds while the
 Idaho House dropped the ultrasound bill all together.

___________________________________________

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