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disneydream06South Dakota Legislature To Approve Murdering Abortion Providers
posted by: Robin Marty
It was well understood out here in the Midwest that after the 2010 elections, abortion rights were going to be highly curtailed in our states. I sat in on conference calls discussing the various things reproductive rights activists could expect to see in the next legislative session: personhood bills, removal of public funding from any entity that provided abortion, more waiting periods, ultrasounds, hoops and hurdles, even outright bans, regardless of how unconstitutional the laws would be.
But no one ever thought we would actually see a bill stating abortion providers could be murdered under "justifiable homicide."
Not until South Dakota, that is.
Via Mother Jones:
A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, has passed out of committee on a nine-to-three party-line vote, and is expected to face a floor vote in the state's GOP-dominated House of Representatives soon.
"The bill in South Dakota is an invitation to murder abortion providers."
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state's legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person "while resisting an attempt to harm" that person's unborn child or the unborn child of that person's spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman's father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted one.
Jensen did not return calls to his home or his office requesting comment on the bill, which is cosponsored by 22 other state representatives and four state senators.
"The bill in South Dakota is an invitation to murder abortion providers," says Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers. Since 1993, eight doctors have been assassinated at the hands of anti-abortion extremists, and another 17 have been the victims of murder attempts. Some of the perpetrators of those crimes have tried to use the justifiable homicide defense at their trials. "This is not an abstract bill," Saporta says. The measure could have major implications if a "misguided extremist invokes this 'self-defense' statute to justify the murder of a doctor, nurse or volunteer," the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families warned in a message to supporters last week.
The original version of the bill did not include the language regarding the "unborn child"; it was pitched as a simple clarification of South Dakota's justifiable homicide law. Last week, however, the bill was "hoghoused"—a term used in South Dakota for heavily amending legislation in committee—in a little-noticed hearing. A parade of right-wing groups—the Family Heritage Alliance, Concerned Women for America, the South Dakota branch of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, and a political action committee called Family Matters in South Dakota—all testified in favor of the amended version of the law.
It cannot be made more clear -- the South Dakota legislature is proposing a bill to call murder "justifiable" if someone is "attempting to harm" the fetus of anyone associated with that person. Including a doctor, performing a legal and wanted abortion on a woman who has given her consent.
This makes it legal to go into any women's health clinic, any hospital, and shoot anyone providing assistance in an abortion, if you have a relationship with the woman who is having the procedure.
South Dakota is legislating murder. Isn't murder what anti-abortion activists are supposed to be trying to stop?
How is this "pro-life?"
posted by: Robin Marty
It was well understood out here in the Midwest that after the 2010 elections, abortion rights were going to be highly curtailed in our states. I sat in on conference calls discussing the various things reproductive rights activists could expect to see in the next legislative session: personhood bills, removal of public funding from any entity that provided abortion, more waiting periods, ultrasounds, hoops and hurdles, even outright bans, regardless of how unconstitutional the laws would be.
But no one ever thought we would actually see a bill stating abortion providers could be murdered under "justifiable homicide."
Not until South Dakota, that is.
Via Mother Jones:
A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, has passed out of committee on a nine-to-three party-line vote, and is expected to face a floor vote in the state's GOP-dominated House of Representatives soon.
"The bill in South Dakota is an invitation to murder abortion providers."
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state's legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person "while resisting an attempt to harm" that person's unborn child or the unborn child of that person's spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman's father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted one.
Jensen did not return calls to his home or his office requesting comment on the bill, which is cosponsored by 22 other state representatives and four state senators.
"The bill in South Dakota is an invitation to murder abortion providers," says Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers. Since 1993, eight doctors have been assassinated at the hands of anti-abortion extremists, and another 17 have been the victims of murder attempts. Some of the perpetrators of those crimes have tried to use the justifiable homicide defense at their trials. "This is not an abstract bill," Saporta says. The measure could have major implications if a "misguided extremist invokes this 'self-defense' statute to justify the murder of a doctor, nurse or volunteer," the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families warned in a message to supporters last week.
The original version of the bill did not include the language regarding the "unborn child"; it was pitched as a simple clarification of South Dakota's justifiable homicide law. Last week, however, the bill was "hoghoused"—a term used in South Dakota for heavily amending legislation in committee—in a little-noticed hearing. A parade of right-wing groups—the Family Heritage Alliance, Concerned Women for America, the South Dakota branch of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, and a political action committee called Family Matters in South Dakota—all testified in favor of the amended version of the law.
It cannot be made more clear -- the South Dakota legislature is proposing a bill to call murder "justifiable" if someone is "attempting to harm" the fetus of anyone associated with that person. Including a doctor, performing a legal and wanted abortion on a woman who has given her consent.
This makes it legal to go into any women's health clinic, any hospital, and shoot anyone providing assistance in an abortion, if you have a relationship with the woman who is having the procedure.
South Dakota is legislating murder. Isn't murder what anti-abortion activists are supposed to be trying to stop?
How is this "pro-life?"
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Date: 2011-02-16 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-02-17 04:58 pm (UTC)