I had to call a legislator last night because I couldn’t believe what I had heard. She confirmed it, the legislature passed a bill that counts weeks of pregnancy from a woman’s last menstrual period.
Yep, that would mean before conception.
One thing that amuses me is that the word “menstrual” is in there. My experience with the sort of men that pass this sort of legislation is that they think words like “menstrual” are icky. This is not a coincidence.
To be fair, doctors use this date when doing calculations about fetal development. However, the policy (not to mention political) problems with such a date are such that in other states with twenty week bans, there is language to make the date that the twenty weeks is calculated from matches up with the probable date of conception. But, our legislature, despite having the opportunity to do so, decided not to do this and kept the start at up to 14 days before conception occurs.
Of course, the “egg drop” date is about having a head on the wall. It’s so the good folks at the Center for Arizona Policy can brag that they essentially got an 18 week ban passed. Heck, it’s better than having to admit that fighting for the right to beat the hell out of gay kids was your biggest legislative victory.
Still, you gotta wonder: didn’t they realize that declaring that pregnancy starts before a woman has had sex could be a bit politically problematic? Heck, they basically wrote the NARAL press release for them.
8 Comments
I cannot believe this. Can you publish the authors and supporters of this travesty so they can be publicized widely among thinking women?
Technically, wouldn’t this make an IUD, or any other form of contraception at prevents the egg from implanting on the uterus wall, illegal???
AZW-
The bill only sets that date as a marker for counting weeks for abortion, so I’d think not. But, it says a lot about the mindset at work.
AZW88, it’s got more implications than that.
In other states there are already efforts being made to make a woman responsible for a miscarriage if she had engaged in any behavior that could harm a developing embryo. I’m not sure whether charges were filed in Georgia(?) recently, but a (Republican) DA was at least considering manslaughter charges against a woman who had miscarried at about 7 weeks, based on a rumor that she could have had an alcoholic drink at some point in those seven weeks.
Based on that approach, it could become illegal to serve alcohol to any woman below the age of menopause because she COULD become pregnant within the next several weeks. Even a purity-pledge virgin would be included because she might change her mind and become promiscuous, or be raped.
The definition of “risky behavior” makes this even more disturbing. The kind of brilliant medically informed mind that crafted this legislation is of the same sort that is still mostly convinced that running, riding, or just about any other activity not connected to being pregnant and in the kitchen could harm either a developing embryo or the girl/woman’s “female parts.” As a result, any girl over the age of about 10 (who could be ready for her first period) through to women ending menopause could be penalized or “protected” in order to make sure no remotely possible pregnancy should be put at risk.
Is this an extreme and absurd extension of the concept? I’d like to think the answer was YES to both, but recently enacted laws in Virginia and the content of this legislation give me a disturbing sense that I am not being either extreme or absurd as far as those legislators are concerned.
I’m just sorry that Jan Brewer is clearly past menopause. I’d dearly love to see a waiter at a state function tell her she couldn’t have a glass of wine because of the possibility that she might be pregnant.
Cooking is actually pretty dangerous. There will be laws limiting us ladies to only making sammiches with pre-sliced meats, cheeses and other items soon enough Andrew in NH.
Obviously there are good eggs, and there are bad eggs … and then there are pre-born eggs, which are always good – until they’re born and demand health care or other benefits.
Hey, Appleblossom, there could be salmonella in those pre-sliced meats. That’s risky right there. Can’t have you endangering a potential child there.
I am sure that the overlords will allow us to wash the vegetables at least so we can make most of the sammich if not all of it.