I've done a lot of work on the briefs to block and overturn this nonsense thru the courts. Let me add what a total joke the rape "exceptions" are and how this bill puts survivors of sexual and domestic abuse at even greater risk. The law only considers "incest" between blood relatives. It is unclear if it would include step-fathers or step-brothers. The rape must have been "reported within 45 days" (or within 140 days for incest) but there is no definition of what constitutes a report. What about a person who was roofied and doesn't even know until much later that she was raped? Not to mention that the abortion law uses the term "rape" even though there is no definition of rape anywhere in the Iowa Code.
Abusive partners commonly use pregnancy as a form of entrapment; they know that a child will give them permanent connection and control over someone. Over half of women in family planning clinics reported physical or sexual partner violence, 19% reported pregnancy coercion, and 15% reported birth control sabotage. One third of respondents reporting partner violence (35%) also reported reproductive control. (Miller E, Decker MR, et al. Pregnancy coercion, intimate partner violence and unintended pregnancy. Contraception. 2010 Apr;81(4):316-22.) In the United States, homicide by an intimate partner is the leading cause of death among pregnant women.
Obviously, I have big feels about this. In the meantime, everyone should have emergency contraception on hand just like bandaids and other first aid. Be that friend, be that auntie.
This is in the linked piece about the absurd math of six-week bans and I think it's worth highlighting:
"The reason pregnancy math works so strangely is practical: it’s easier to pinpoint the first day of someone’s last period and count from that point as a standard marker because dates of ovulation and conception are harder to identify. But counting pregnancy as beginning during the last period includes two weeks prior to actual pregnancy and can inspire public health policy considering all women of reproductive age to be 'pre-pregnant,' such as health messages that recommend that all women of reproductive age abstain from alcohol. Given a lack of adequate education in health and biology—educational information that is often another target for evangelical Christians—some may think 'six weeks of pregnancy' is plenty of time to realize you are pregnant. But at only four weeks post-conception, and three weeks post-implantation, there is a limited window to even affirm pregnancy."
Six weeks *includes* the roughly two weeks before conception can occur and the remaining four weeks are barely enough to consistently/reliably detect a pregnancy with a home test. So if the six-week clock starts before conception and ends before you might even know you are pregnant it's a total ban.
What if the end goal is to get all women classified in the pre-pregnant category? And then any/all women in that category can be monitored, policed, controlled, abused and treated like property in the name of protecting a future hypothetical life? "But counting pregnancy as beginning during the last period includes two weeks prior to actual pregnancy and can inspire public health policy considering all women of reproductive age to be 'pre-pregnant,' such as health messages that recommend that all women of reproductive age abstain from alcohol."
“manipulating medical language”: exactly. And it is so easy to fall for such serious-sounding language when we forget the basic biology lessons we all had in school.
Just another vote here for science in the schools!
I learned I was pregnant at 5.5 weeks. Which, under a “6 week ban” would have meant I could get an abortion in Iowa City. If it wasn’t a three day weekend. And I could get off work. And find someone to drive me.
Without all those things, it wouldn’t matter even if you were under six weeks.
One thing that should be added is that when people respond in polls that they are opposed to second or third trimester abortion, they are most likely thinking of elective abortion, and elective abortions just don't happen in those time periods. These are almost always tragic medical cases of wanted pregnancies, and most people will support abortion care under those circumstances. (And in the event something else was going on, like a rape victim in denial about the pregnancy, people would usually support care there too).
Gawd. Reading this makes me think about how convenient it is for Conservatives that folks who have periods are taught to be ashamed and grossed out by them, so while the Conservative mindset is, "periods are monthly and if you don't get one every four weeks you would notice so six weeks is generous!" when your average period-having human probably isn't tracking that close and so yeah, it's not until TWO are missed that a person might notice. Saying from experience as someone who absolutely internalised misogyny about periods and didn't start any kind of tracking until I was in my mid-twenties because why pay attention to the shameful t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶ bodily function? *ahem*
Nikki Haley said she would have signed a 6 week ban and people keep referring to her as moderate. I’m totally opposed to any anti abortion legislation. I’m 74 and haven’t forgotten the pre Roe days. People seem to think this will fade as an issue. I think not.
Speaking of manipulating language, I really wish people would stop saying "rape and incest."
How many cases of consensual incest result in pregnancies do ya think?
Incest IS rape.
The phrasing reinforces the false notion that "rape" is only when some stranger attacks...rather than, as is far too often the case, a trusted family member or friend does.
So "rape or incest" (because, yeah: "rape including incest" is unwieldy...).
In 2024, the Roberts' Court will be tasked with parsing just how much needless suffering a state may impose on pregnant women. I appropriated, and edited, this observation from Moira Donegan (Guardian).
I am a man. I am sick and tired of hearing men talk about abortion and legislate it. It MUST stop. It is not ANY of ANY males business. It is a health state of women only and should be handled ONLY by women. Period!
Yes, but there are lots of conservative women involved in anti-abortion too, and they can be just as awful. It's better for men to be allies and stand up for bodily autonomy than it is to not be involved.
One theory I've been told is that because their own life choices were so heavily restricted, there's a lot of resentment that someone else might have it better. In order to accept their own situations, they have to believe it's just, and the attitude becomes, "I was virtuous and suffered and now you have to too."
What is the best, pithy language that Biden and his surrogates/supporters can use to make this valuable point: that the six week is effectively a total ban?
My second and last pregnancy had a diagnosis at 11 weeks (when I found out I was pregnant bc like who gets a period on the pill?) of about a 20 percent chance of a pregnancy free of genetic or cardiac anomaly. And I had to push HARD for that number. I was basically a walking time bomb until all the tests could actually be done by 22 weeks to say "okay yeah you are probably okay and if it's not it's something fixable with surgery post birth." Like that's a lot. 11 weeks of "well okay let's give this a whirl and hope for the best".
I've done a lot of work on the briefs to block and overturn this nonsense thru the courts. Let me add what a total joke the rape "exceptions" are and how this bill puts survivors of sexual and domestic abuse at even greater risk. The law only considers "incest" between blood relatives. It is unclear if it would include step-fathers or step-brothers. The rape must have been "reported within 45 days" (or within 140 days for incest) but there is no definition of what constitutes a report. What about a person who was roofied and doesn't even know until much later that she was raped? Not to mention that the abortion law uses the term "rape" even though there is no definition of rape anywhere in the Iowa Code.
Abusive partners commonly use pregnancy as a form of entrapment; they know that a child will give them permanent connection and control over someone. Over half of women in family planning clinics reported physical or sexual partner violence, 19% reported pregnancy coercion, and 15% reported birth control sabotage. One third of respondents reporting partner violence (35%) also reported reproductive control. (Miller E, Decker MR, et al. Pregnancy coercion, intimate partner violence and unintended pregnancy. Contraception. 2010 Apr;81(4):316-22.) In the United States, homicide by an intimate partner is the leading cause of death among pregnant women.
Obviously, I have big feels about this. In the meantime, everyone should have emergency contraception on hand just like bandaids and other first aid. Be that friend, be that auntie.
This is in the linked piece about the absurd math of six-week bans and I think it's worth highlighting:
"The reason pregnancy math works so strangely is practical: it’s easier to pinpoint the first day of someone’s last period and count from that point as a standard marker because dates of ovulation and conception are harder to identify. But counting pregnancy as beginning during the last period includes two weeks prior to actual pregnancy and can inspire public health policy considering all women of reproductive age to be 'pre-pregnant,' such as health messages that recommend that all women of reproductive age abstain from alcohol. Given a lack of adequate education in health and biology—educational information that is often another target for evangelical Christians—some may think 'six weeks of pregnancy' is plenty of time to realize you are pregnant. But at only four weeks post-conception, and three weeks post-implantation, there is a limited window to even affirm pregnancy."
Six weeks *includes* the roughly two weeks before conception can occur and the remaining four weeks are barely enough to consistently/reliably detect a pregnancy with a home test. So if the six-week clock starts before conception and ends before you might even know you are pregnant it's a total ban.
What if the end goal is to get all women classified in the pre-pregnant category? And then any/all women in that category can be monitored, policed, controlled, abused and treated like property in the name of protecting a future hypothetical life? "But counting pregnancy as beginning during the last period includes two weeks prior to actual pregnancy and can inspire public health policy considering all women of reproductive age to be 'pre-pregnant,' such as health messages that recommend that all women of reproductive age abstain from alcohol."
That IS the end goal. To Christian Nationalists, women (and girls) are birthing appliances, nothing more.
Christian Nationalist or Christian Neanderthals (I know that is unfair to Neanderthals)
Hypothetical life seems to be the only life "pro-lifers" actually care about in practice.
Once that hypothetical life becomes real, they are simply denied care.
It really bugs me that the anti's wave the 6 weeks as a compromise. One of their most disingenuous positions.
Please keep up the pressure and the writing.
“manipulating medical language”: exactly. And it is so easy to fall for such serious-sounding language when we forget the basic biology lessons we all had in school.
Just another vote here for science in the schools!
I don't care about the details: abortion should be legal and entirely up to the pregnant woman. Period.
I learned I was pregnant at 5.5 weeks. Which, under a “6 week ban” would have meant I could get an abortion in Iowa City. If it wasn’t a three day weekend. And I could get off work. And find someone to drive me.
Without all those things, it wouldn’t matter even if you were under six weeks.
And if you could get an appointment slot within two days.
That too. Slightly easier here because we have two clinics (I was able to get a next appointment once), but yeah, still.
One thing that should be added is that when people respond in polls that they are opposed to second or third trimester abortion, they are most likely thinking of elective abortion, and elective abortions just don't happen in those time periods. These are almost always tragic medical cases of wanted pregnancies, and most people will support abortion care under those circumstances. (And in the event something else was going on, like a rape victim in denial about the pregnancy, people would usually support care there too).
Gawd. Reading this makes me think about how convenient it is for Conservatives that folks who have periods are taught to be ashamed and grossed out by them, so while the Conservative mindset is, "periods are monthly and if you don't get one every four weeks you would notice so six weeks is generous!" when your average period-having human probably isn't tracking that close and so yeah, it's not until TWO are missed that a person might notice. Saying from experience as someone who absolutely internalised misogyny about periods and didn't start any kind of tracking until I was in my mid-twenties because why pay attention to the shameful t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶ bodily function? *ahem*
Nikki Haley said she would have signed a 6 week ban and people keep referring to her as moderate. I’m totally opposed to any anti abortion legislation. I’m 74 and haven’t forgotten the pre Roe days. People seem to think this will fade as an issue. I think not.
Speaking of manipulating language, I really wish people would stop saying "rape and incest."
How many cases of consensual incest result in pregnancies do ya think?
Incest IS rape.
The phrasing reinforces the false notion that "rape" is only when some stranger attacks...rather than, as is far too often the case, a trusted family member or friend does.
So "rape or incest" (because, yeah: "rape including incest" is unwieldy...).
In 2024, the Roberts' Court will be tasked with parsing just how much needless suffering a state may impose on pregnant women. I appropriated, and edited, this observation from Moira Donegan (Guardian).
Here is a link to Ms Donegan's article detailing the horrible 5th Circuit decision that leads to the observation reference above - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/10/pregnant-women-urgent-medical-care-us-court-texas
I am a man. I am sick and tired of hearing men talk about abortion and legislate it. It MUST stop. It is not ANY of ANY males business. It is a health state of women only and should be handled ONLY by women. Period!
Yes, but there are lots of conservative women involved in anti-abortion too, and they can be just as awful. It's better for men to be allies and stand up for bodily autonomy than it is to not be involved.
The most vocally anti-abortion people in my life were the church women I grew up around.
One theory I've been told is that because their own life choices were so heavily restricted, there's a lot of resentment that someone else might have it better. In order to accept their own situations, they have to believe it's just, and the attitude becomes, "I was virtuous and suffered and now you have to too."
Lyz,
What is the best, pithy language that Biden and his surrogates/supporters can use to make this valuable point: that the six week is effectively a total ban?
I think I provided quite a bit here
My second and last pregnancy had a diagnosis at 11 weeks (when I found out I was pregnant bc like who gets a period on the pill?) of about a 20 percent chance of a pregnancy free of genetic or cardiac anomaly. And I had to push HARD for that number. I was basically a walking time bomb until all the tests could actually be done by 22 weeks to say "okay yeah you are probably okay and if it's not it's something fixable with surgery post birth." Like that's a lot. 11 weeks of "well okay let's give this a whirl and hope for the best".
At six weeks it's still just an embryo.