America is Fucked Up

[sesquepadalia]

Ok, so a lot of people have been posting about the Mississippi Personhood amendment, which is pretty damn sickening in itself, but I've just come across another utterly horrific piece of legislature under consideration in the states.

That would be the H.R. 358 bill, which, among other things, overrides something called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Under EMTALA, hospitals must stabilize a pregnant patient who, for example, is facing an emergency obstetric condition or life-threatening pregnancy and either treat her--including an emergency abortion--or if the hospital or staff objects, to transfer her to another facility that will treat her.

Even the staunchest anti-abortion people that I know (or have argued with on the internet) will make exceptions for situations where the mother's life is at stake. And yet this bill is attempting to overturn current legislature which guarantees that. 

Quite seriously, if this bill were to become law, it would be completely legal to leave pregnant women in labour to die, rather than perform an abortion that would save their life. 

I'll let that sink in.

Now try this one: This bill has PASSED in the house of Representatives. 

It has not yet gone before the senate, and Obama has (quite rightly) said that if the bill lands on his desk he will be exercising presidential veto, but the fact that this bill has, not only been proposed, but has gone this far is an enormity beyond words. 

Comments

[sarahlascelles.livejournal.com]

You know, I really dont understand this one at all.

Its not even 'pro-life' (oh and how inappropriate is that term?) - in all the situations I can think of where the EMTALA applies, leaving the woman to die will also mean the foetus dies. The 'logic' is totally obscure to me.

And as for the rest of this piece of legislation, WTF??? The Handmaid's Tale seems to be a fucking manifesto for these nutters.

Do we need to start setting up the underground railroads so women can get out of Gilead? Oh wait, they arent calling themselves Gilead yet.

[sesquepadalia.livejournal.com]

It's not "pro-life" it's anti woman, pure and simple. And pandering to the Christian Wrong.

[sarahlascelles.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

And that applies to the 'pro-life' movement in general, they dont give a flying fuck about life, all they care about is control.

[fearmeforiampink]

I'll note there's already something a little like that, in that there's a charity that exists to help women in Ireland (I forget if they do both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, or just the latter, as it's illegal except if the mother's health is at risk in both) to get to the UK so they can have an abortion.