Politics February 13, 2017
Well, the attack on women’s reproductive rights just got even more absurd.
A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma believes pregnant women are just “hosts” and therefore need a man’s permission to get an abortion.
That’s right. That hyperbolic argument that women don’t even own their own bodies anymore will actually legally be true if Justin Humphrey has his way.
The horrifying house bill – HB 1441 – requires a woman to obtain written permission from her sexual partner in order to get an abortion. It also forces the pregnant woman to give the name of her sexual partner to the doctor, and allow for the procedure to be forestalled if the man wants to challenge paternity.
A new house bill in Oklahoma would require women to get men’s permission for abortion. Image via Giphy
It seems absolutely insane and unconstitutional, but if you look at State Legislator Humphrey’s explanation, then it all makes sense.
You see, he had initially just wanted to give men a say in the process, because, you know, the poor men of society have famously been oppressed and silenced while women go on running their mouths.
And it isn’t even an argument of autonomy, because once a woman gets pregnant, her body literally isn’t hers. Humphrey explained that at that point, the body is “a separate – what I call them is, you’re a ‘host’.” And since women go into the relationship knowing that they can become a host, they better take the proper precautions if they don’t want to end up losing their bodily rights.
“So that’s where I’m at. I’m like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in,” Humphrey told The Intercept.
Women who want abortions have merely been irresponsible, and therefore should leave any further decision-making up to the very smart and responsible men in their lives. See, it all makes sense now.
Wait… No. It’s still blood rushing to your face, temperature rising until you could blow fire like that character from “Inside Out”-levels infuriating.
An Oklahoma lawmaker believes that pregnant women are just “hosts” and therefore don’t actually have any rights over their own bodies. Image via Pixar/Giphy
Amanda Allen, a senior state legislative counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights called it “a new low for Oklahoma,” which – to clarify, is ranked by the Guttmacher Institute as second only to Louisiana in sheer number of abortion restrictions passed since 1973 (the year the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade). Aka, this is really, really bad.
And Rev. Shannon Speidel, a minister from Enid, Oklahoma and member of the Faith Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute calls out the hypocrisy in condemning abortion, while barring access to sex education or family planning.
Oklahoma currently ranks second behind Louisiana for number of abortion restrictions passed since 1973.
“I say to them, it is immoral and anti-Christian to pass restriction after restriction after restriction and then to do nothing to support women and families in this state. If you really want to make abortions be gone, then do everything possible to provide birth control, to have comprehensive sex education and, more importantly, to make sure there are programs in place that are going to help women and families,” she said.
So abortion restrictions in Oklahoma are so insane, that even religious people – who are thought to be the most staunch pro-life supporters – are calling foul. And who could blame them? Even developing countries like Nepal have better practices in place for safe abortion.
And this comes after President Donald Trump signed his new and improved “global gag rule,” which could affect $9.5 billion in global health funding, as it bars U.S. foreign aid from going to any nongovernmental organization (NGO) that not only provides, but even discusses abortion with its patients as a family planning option.
So, if for some reason you were still skeptical about the attack on women’s reproductive rights happening in this country right now, it’s really time to face the facts and get serious.
