The great Dahlia Lithwick:
The Reason Anti-Abortion Activists Just Won’t Stop
Excerpt:
Every day between now and November we are going to hear about atrocities befalling women whose complicated pregnancies, miscarriages, and forced birth are not the stuff of Hallmark movies. These tales are becoming part of virtually everyone’s collective muscle memory. This week alone, we have endured the story of the Louisiana woman, Nancy Davis, who will be forced to carry a skull-less fetus for the next six months, and the 16-year-old in Florida deemed too immature to abort, but seemingly just fine to be a parent. Republicans devoted last month to calling a child rape victim who was denied abortion care in Ohio and flown to Indiana for treatment a liar. We’re hearing horror stories about women denied access to methotrexate, which is used to treat certain types of cancer, because it can be used for abortion. We’re hearing about pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for Plan B and oral contraceptives. We’re hearing about the Texas woman who carried a dead fetus for two weeks, and the women who cannot be treated for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages until their own lives are at risk are now the stuff of daily reporting, as are the certifiably insane responses from Republican candidates, including Michigan’s GOP candidate this week, who argued that 14-year-old rape victims should be forced to carry to term because the forced birth will provide a “bond” that is “healing.”
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