Ohio senators hear 'heartbeat' bill

[luckylibrarian]

I'm so embarrassed to be an Ohioan. :(

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/artic ... ll/?page=1

Selected bits of WTF-ery:

Jack Willke, who founded Ohio Right to Life and the International Right to Life Federation, also told the committee members he believed the bill had a shot at overturning Roe v. Wade.

"This has scared the wits out of pro-abortion organizers," he said. "There is something almost magical about a heartbeat."

So now we're crafting legislation because of a warm fuzzy feeling.

The GOP-led Ohio House passed the measure with a 54-44 vote in June. It's been stalled in the Senate since then. Wednesday was its first hearing before senators.

The heartbeat measure includes an exception for medical emergencies, but not in cases of rape or incest.

This is so anti-woman it's sick. It's more of the "blame the victim" mentality, and it just says that these people think the victim is responsible for her rape.

The Senate hearing was more conventional in tone than those in the Ohio House, though just as crowded. At one House hearing, ultrasounds were performed on two women who were early in their pregnancies, so legislators could see and hear the fetal hearts.

One of the babies, whose heartbeat was heard in the House hearing, was carried into the room for senators to see.

"The House heard her heart," said Ducia Hamm, executive director of the Ashland Care Center, who oversaw the ultrasound in the House. "You get a chance to see her face and look into her eyes."

Again - they are determining legislation based on a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Here is a link to the website of the pregnancy center that oversaw the ultrasound. http://www.ashlandcarecenter.org/ They don't seem to be a crisis pregnancy center. I wonder why they participated in that spectacle.

Frightening. I need to move to Canada.

[Nothing2CHere]

OK, as a pregnant Ohioan who got to hear my in utero baby's heartbeat for the first time a few weeks ago, yeah, it was pretty damn amazing at the doctor's office. And then I went home (with my loving, supportive husband) and BAWLED MY EYES OUT about, "Oh my God, I'm going to be a mom, I am so not ready for this, what the hell have I done????" And this is a baby we were purposely trying to conceive. I didn't realize that hormones were going to hit me so hard in the first trimester and leave me a sobbing, emotional mess questioning whether I really wanted to be a mother after all. If anything, becoming pregnant myself has made me more pro-choice, because NO ONE should have a right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do when she's pregnant.

Going to write to all the senators I can find now....

[desertvixen]

Again - they are determining legislation based on a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Well, of course THEY have a warm, fuzzy feeling about it because it's not their pregnancy, they won't have to deal with the issues, and they'll probably vote to defund some children's programs. How can we justify spending money on this BS and not spending money on, I don't know, kids who need health care, food, and education?

Nothing2CHere:

If anything, becoming pregnant myself has made me more pro-choice, because NO ONE should have a right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do when she's pregnant.

This, so much. People always look surprised when I say this, but becoming a mother did not give me some warm, fuzzy pro-life feelings - it just made me that much more convinced that it should only be done by volunteers. Not only that, but I have a daughter, and I will be damned if she has to grow up in a world where her reproductive rights vanish.

[Austin]

I have no doubt this will pass, Ka-suck will sign it and it will become law. Then it will go to the courts and be tied up there for years, wasting untold numbers of taxpayers' dollars. Yay. That's a real victory for the average Ohioan, anti-choicers.

[luckylibrarian]

It's bills like this that make me think Roe v. Wade will be overturned someday. The fundies just have too much political power.

[tanksmom]

As someone who has worked with victims of rape & incest this bill sickens me to no end. Yes it can be magical to hear a baby's heartbeat. But it can also be a constant reminder of what happened. And when people have the glib answer of "Well adoption is an option" I have to remind them that the father can contest the adoption. So a pedophile and fight (and win!) to get the baby of the child they attacked. Or a rapist can cause years of torment and obscene costs to their victim by tying them up in court for visitation rights.

Yeah but at least the elected officials can have a warm fuzzy feeling, screw those women. Grrr

[ilovetchotchkes]

As someone who has worked with victims of rape & incest this bill sickens me to no end. Yes it can be magical to hear a baby's heartbeat. But it can also be a constant reminder of what happened. And when people have the glib answer of "Well adoption is an option" I have to remind them that the father can contest the adoption. So a pedophile and fight (and win!) to get the baby of the child they attacked. Or a rapist can cause years of torment and obscene costs to their victim by tying them up in court for visitation rights.

Yeah but at least the elected officials can have a warm fuzzy feeling, screw those women. Grrr

This, i have a friend who had to have an abortion because the boyfriend was beating her senseless and would have fought for the baby just to make her life miserable.

[emmiedahl]

Is having a beating heart what makes us human now? I mean, so many organisms have heartbeats, they can even make artificial hearts. I would like to think that Descartes was right and that we need a certain amount of awareness in order to be considered a person.

Good news for the gay people though--someone on the right is acknowledging that you are human, even if they are doing it accidentally.