Oh Ohio, no, no, no, no. We could talk for hours about how frickin’ heartless these effing bills are, but let’s talk instead, because as they carelessly take away our reproductive rights we feel it is our right to stunt on them, about how RIDICULOUS these two anti-abortion laws passing together are.
So first up, we’ve got this “heartbeat” bill. And like, here’s the thing, we don’t by any means want to tell anti-choicers to stand by their convictions. They shouldn’t at all, they are terrible. But… how you gonna pass a “heartbeat” bill and then be like “heartbeat doesn’t really mean anything.” Because that’s what they effectively have done. With a transvaginal ultrasound “heartbeats” or “just the pulses in your body that indicate you are pregnant it’s obvs not a full-blown heart at this point, you monsters” can be detected as early as 6 weeks. With regular old ultrasounds it’s detectable a little later, at 8-10 weeks. Under this law you don’t need a transvaginal ultrasound. HOWEVER, ummm… there’s no way you’re gonna know you’re pregnant at 6 weeks unless you get a transvaginal ultrasound. And then once you do… well, then a “heartbeat” woulda been detected and you’re out of luck. So this law is basically “you can get an abortion as long as you have not checked if you are pregnant yet.” Or “just schedule that abortion the minute you miss your period to be safe.”
BUT THAT IS NOT WHERE THE STUPID ENDS! Because you see, OK, hmm, let us think of how to explain this one. So there’s ANOTHER law going to Kasich that bans “D&E abortions” which are only done in the … second trimester. I mean, first let’s just say: WHAT OTHER SAFEST MEDICAL PROCEDURE ARE FUCKING POLITICIANS VOTING TO OUTLAW? Like, it’s so outrageous to ban a … medical procedure. But anyway, we’ve been screaming that since forever. Now back to the dumbness, so a D&E abortion can only be done in the second trimester. So… if the “heartbeat” bill passes, it’ll effectively already make “D&E” abortions banned. So… why even bother? I mean, we guess the D&E ban is in case the heartbeat bill doesn’t pass. Still, we just want to reiterate: these people are so, so foolish. NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio has the full breakdown of how terrible both these laws are!
So what are we left to do: one, hope it snows and none of these Senators can get back from their holidays to vote if a veto happens. And TWO make sure a veto happens! Contact Governor Kasich and tell him to veto both bills: (614) 466-3555 or message.
