Panic in Funland
GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker can't wait to start arresting doctors for performing abortions
May 26, 2015 4:33PM ET
Wisconsin GOP lawmakers are hell bent for leather to make sure that women are unable to get a perfectly legal abortion after 20 weeks -- no matter if they have been raped or are a victim of incest -- and Gov. Scott Walker is standing by and more than willing to help handcuff the doctors and have them hauled away.
A bill before the Wisconsin legislature would make it illegal for anyone who performs or attempts to perform an abortion after 20 weeks subject to three and a half years in prison, in addition to a $10,000 fine.
Anti-choice Republicans are pushing the bill through -- assigning it more importance than working on the budget -- and, according to Rep. Jesse Kremer (R), Gov. Walker is fired up to sign it. As for instances of rape and incest: too bad, victims. Jesse Kremer and Scott Walker are only looking out for your best interests.
Kremer used what could be charitably called an "unfortunate" term, when talking about allowing an exception.
"As a husband, father and EMT, I feel absolutely terrible for a woman who's involved in one of those heinous crimes," Kremer said. "However, that does not mean we should put carve-outs in this bill that would essentially double down on that awful situation and selectively decide which children should and should not be inhumanely tortured to death by tearing them apart, limb from limb."
The "EMT" was undoubtedly thrown in there by Kremer because EMT's are just like doctors -- except not.
As for Walker, he has in the past softened his hardline abortion stance when in a tough race, saying in 2014 that the final decision should be between "a woman and her doctor." The reality is that Walker has a history of creating an obstacle course for a woman and her doctor to navigate.
Under cover of the 4th of July weekend in 2013, Walker quietly signed a bill forcing women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound or transvaginal-wanding in order to proceed. The bill also banned doctors who lacked admitting privileges at nearby hospitals from performing the procedures.
In March a federal judge threw out the admitting requirement, saying it was apparent that it had nothing to do with medicine and everything to to do with interfering with a woman's right to an choose.
As for the ultrasounds, the law signed by Walker compels technicians to describe "what the ultrasound is depicting," including the "dimensions of the unborn child and a description of any external features and internal organs that are present and viewable on the image," as well as forcing them to show the images to the patient. This was apparently adopted under the assumption that a woman who lacks the intelligence to understand exactly what "being pregnant" means, should be emotionally blackmailed into having a baby.
The reason this is important is because choice-hostile Scott Walker is one of the leading candidates for the 2016 GOP nod. With an aging Supreme Court closely divided on allowing women to keep their medical choices private -- and with several seats on the court likely to come open after the 2016 election -- every vote for Scott Walker is a vote for taking the decision away from "a woman and her doctor" and letting Scott Walker decide.
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