4/24/2012

Your State Sucks: Wisconsin Says, "All Your Fetus Are Belong to Us":
In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker, who is a motherfucker by just about any definition of the word, short of actually fucking his own mother, which, considering the way his narrow eyes make him look like any backwoods inbred Jed, is not outside the realm of possibility, signed into law a new abortion-restricting bill that "requires the physician to inform the woman that she must return to the abortion facility for a follow-up visit 12 to 18 days after she takes the medication at home." By the way, that's in addition to the forced 24 hour waiting period and in addition to doctors being forced to give women pamphlets about adoption agencies. So that's three visits for a single dosage of a pill.

Wait, that doesn't really get into how fucktardedly precise the law is. The family planning clinic where the woman has gone to take a pill to induce a miscarriage early in the first trimester must receive "Geographically indexed materials that are designed to inform a woman about public and private agencies, including adoption agencies, and services that are available to provide information on family planning...including natural family planning information, to provide ultrasound imaging services, to assist her if she has received a diagnosis that her unborn child has a disability or if her pregnancy is the result of sexual assault or incest and to assist her through pregnancy, upon childbirth and while the child is dependent. The materials shall include a comprehensive list of the agencies available, a description of the services that they offer and a description of the manner in which they may be contacted, including telephone numbers and addresses, or, at the option of the department, the materials shall include a toll-free, 24-hour telephone number that may be called to obtain an oral listing of available agencies and services in the locality of the caller and a description of the services that the agencies offer and the manner in which they may be contacted. The materials shall
provide information on the availability of governmentally funded programs that serve pregnant women and children." And if you don't include every one of those items, hellfire shall be brought down on your baby-killing heads.

If any of this wasn't degrading and infantilizing enough for women, "The physician prescribing the drug also must perform an examination before giving the drug and must be physically present in the room when the woman receives the drug." Oh, and if said physician doesn't tell a woman she must return to the very same clinic for a follow-up, he or she can receive a $10,000 fine. Oh, and if said physician is not physically present when the woman takes RU-486 or doesn't give a completely useless exam, he or she can go to prison for up to 3 1/2 years for a Class I felony, the same as possession of child pornography, theft, embezzlement, and battery with substantial bodily harm.

But wait. Because there's so very much more in the new law. First off, the physician has to play cop: "The physician who is to perform or induce the abortion shall determine whether the woman's consent is, in fact, voluntary." In addition, the physician and clinic can have the fuck sued out of them if the doc's not present at the time of the pill swallow or if the aforementioned completely useless examination isn't performed. And not just by the woman. Nope, they can be sued by the parents of a minor who takes RU-486. And by "The father of the unborn child aborted as the result of an abortion-inducing drug given in violation" of the new law. There's an exception there. If the father is a rapist and the pregnancy is the result of his raping, then he doesn't have standing to sue. Let it never be said that there's no compassion in these vicious times.

So, honestly, it's no wonder that Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said, "Are you fucking kidding?" and stopped providing abortion-inducing drugs to women. Planned Parenthood will still provide surgical abortions in the few locations in Wisconsin that do so. So, hey, ladies, you can get that far more invasive medical procedure. It's your choice.

The law ends on an entirely unnecessary and dickish note: "Nothing in this section may be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion." Really? You don't think that the entirety of the law makes that point crystal fuckin' clear?