Ohio, What the Heck Happened to You?

I swear, the election of John Kasich has brought out the stupid in Ohio legislators. I'm so sick of conservatives pushing their ridiculous anti-woman on the rest of us. Isn't the whole mantra of conservatism that the government shouldn't be involved in our private, personal lives? Apparently the exception is my uterus. Every old white man in the state government gets to have a say.

Three disgusting bills were passed in the House today. Hopefully, the Senate will be smart enough not to make them law:

• House Bill 125, the "Heartbeat Bill," -- bans all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable via ultrasound, which is before most women even know they are pregnant. No exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or the health of the mother.
  
  
• House Bill 78 -- bans abortion after a pregnancy is viable, with no exceptions for rape, incest, mental health complications, or fetal abnormalities.
  
  
• House Bill 79 -- excludes abortion coverage under the new health care reform act so women would not even be able to use their own money to purchase abortion coverage for themselves. This is stupid because it's already illegal to pay for abortion coverage with tax dollars.

On top of all this crap, another rep is introducing legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in Ohio, which means thousands of low-income women (and students) will no longer be able to get affordable contraception and cancer screenings.

Even though these state representatives were voted in to create jobs and fix the economy, their priority seems to be stealing away women's rights.

Like I've said numerous times before, I understand why people don't like abortion. Heck, I don't like abortion. But, I think it's a personal, private decision that people need to make with their doctors.

I read a really interesting article today in the New York Times. (Click here to read it.)

A woman's water broke at 26 weeks and lung/limb development stopped in the fetus. The doctor said the fetus had a very remote chance at surviving but that the mother was likely to get a serious infection from the situation. The parents decided they wanted to induce labor. Normally, this would be simple medical procedure. The hospital's lawyers decided that the procedure would be considered an abortion under the state's restrictive new laws. The mother was forced to wait 10 days for the fetus to be delivered naturally. The fetus lived 15 minutes and the mother got a very serious infection that had to be treated with intravenous antibiotics.

It's all fine and dandy to pass these restrictive laws, but when they prevent women from getting the legal medical attention they need, something is wrong.

It says something about our country when our representatives' biggest priority is preventing low-income women from getting Pap smears.