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... Ironically, these authoritarians are mostly self-proclaimed small-government conservatives, yet they demand that the government be given practically unlimited power to control the minds and intrude most intimately into the bodies of women. This includes forced abdominal ultrasounds; transvaginal probes; interference with doctors' medical judgments; required reading of state-written, anti-abortion scripts to abortion seekers; mandatory viewing of graphic, quasi-religious, government-made propaganda videos; arbitrary waiting periods; contrived barriers to deny access to doctors and facilities; and eliminating any abortion option for women made pregnant by rape or incest.
No matter how invasive one state law becomes, there's a push elsewhere to up the ante. The new Texas law says a woman has no choice after 20 weeks of pregnancy (including if she was raped). But as Salon.com reports, Arkansas passed a law criminalizing abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (around 12 weeks). A new North Dakota law bars abortion after six weeks (before most women even realize they're pregnant). An Alabama proposal would lower the bar to the moment an egg is successfully fertilized (thus extending the full legal rights of "personhood" to a spermatozoa, making contraception illegal). And, lest you think it's impossible to be any more restrictive, an Arizona law declares that pregnancy dates back to the first day after a woman's last menstrual period prior to getting pregnant (meaning a "baby" would legally exist two weeks before conception--miraculous, indeed). ...
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