Georgia, out of its mind

Georgia, out of its mind

by digby

Another day, another abomination for women’s rights:

After an emotional 14-hour workday that included fist-fights between lobbyists and a walk-out by women Democrats, the Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks.
The bill, which does not contain rape or incest exemptions, is expected to receive a signature from Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.

Commonly referred to as the “fetal pain bill” by Georgian Republicans and as the “women as livestock bill” by everyone else, HB 954 garnered national attention this month when state Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn) compared pregnant women carrying stillborn fetuses to the cows and pigs on his farm. According to Rep. England and his warped thought process, if farmers have to “deliver calves, dead or alive,” then a woman carrying a dead fetus, or one not expected to survive, should have to carry it to term.

The bill as first proposed outlawed all abortions after 20 weeks under all circumstances. After negotiations with the Senate, the House passed a revised HB 954 that makes an exemption for “medically futile” pregnancies or those in which the woman’s life or health is threatened.

If this makes its seem like Rep. England and the rest of the representatives looked beyond their cows and pigs and recognized women as capable, full-thinking human beings, think again: HB 954 excludes a woman’s “emotional or mental condition,” which means women suffering from mental illness would be forced to carry a pregnancy to term. It also ignores pregnant women who are suicidal and driven to inflict harm on themselves because of their unwanted pregnancy.

In order for a pregnancy to be considered “medically futile,” the fetus must be diagnosed with an irreversible chromosomal or congenital anomaly that is “incompatible with sustaining life after birth.” The Georgia “fetal pain” bill also stipulates that the abortion must be performed in such a way that the fetus emerges alive. If doctors perform the abortion differently, they face felony charges and up to 10 years in prison. Given all this, the so-called compromise suddenly does not look like much of a bargain.

I’d say so. I don’t know what this means in terms of medical procedures, but I don’t understand it. They allowed abortion when the fetus cannot live after birth but they are requiring that the fetus be delivered alive? Is this so that these fetuses can be put on life support? What’s the logic here except to make the woman feel as terrible as it’s possible to make her and interfere again in a medical procedure they have no expertise (or business) interfering with. These laws are just ghoulish.

Oh, and in case this falls into the “who cares” side of the ledger for you, how about this?

Although not as emotional, a similarly controversial debate has been had about proposed cuts to unemployment benefits.

House Bill 347 was proposed because Georgia needs to repay more than $700 million it borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits during the Great Recession. Supporters of the bill say they are trying to do that without putting too much pressure on businesses still trying to recover.

HB 347, as a compromise, would not delay distributing the first unemployment check by a week as was originally proposed. However, unemployment payments would drop from 26 weeks to a sliding scale of 14 to 20 weeks. It also would increase the amount taxed for unemployment insurance.

Georgia’s unemployment rate stands at about 9.1 percent, above the 8.3 percent U.S. jobless rate.

The good news is that they decided not to cut people off who are already in the system. It’s just for the new lucky duckies. At 9.1 unemployment that adds up to quite a few people.

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