Imagine going to the doctor for whatever reason. He or she diagnoses the problem and the two of you mutually agree upon a desirable option to solve the problem. Then, right when you're about to take care of it, she says, "Oh, now you're going to have to wait three days because the government doesn't think you know what's best for yourself."
That's what's happening to women all across the United States thanks to 72-hour imposed waiting period on abortions.
What if you get pregnant because of a rape, molestation, or incest? If you're in Missouri or South Dakota, you're out of luck, you still need to take three days to think about what you did.
Half of all states have a mandatory waiting period of 24 hours, but Missouri, South Dakota and Utah took it a step further. And sorry not sorry, if your pregnancy falls on a weekend or holiday, you've got to wait even longer.
According to a recent study, more restrictions were passed on abortions between 2011 and 2013 than at any other period during the preceding decade. The abortion-hating choo choo train continues on election day next Tuesday, Nov. 4th.
Colorado, Tennessee, and North Dakota all have proposed amendments to their constitutions that would further restrict abortions. Colorado and North Dakota have personhood measures, which would define the fetus as a person in criminal proceedings. The Tennessee measure would allow legislatures to pass abortion legislation more easily.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists sharply oppose personhood measures, saying that they, "erode women's basic rights to privacy and bodily integrity; deny women access to the full spectrum of preventive health care including contraception; and undermine the doctor-patient relationship."
But who cares what they say, they're just the doctors most knowledgeable about women's health, what do they know?
Jennifer Mason of Personhood USA says that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution requires equal protection under the law for everybody, "...so we believe that every human being, regardless of their location, whether they're in the womb or out of it, deserves those protections and those rights."
Waiting periods, aka Rape Time-Out Corners, new definitions of scientifically proven medical facts... what's up with all this concern with women's vaginas? Imagine the explosion that would happen if there were a 72-hour waiting period on men seeking a Viagra prescription.
I can literally think of so many other things I'd much rather the government impose a three-day waiting period on people doing. Like...
- Getting Big Gulps.
- Posting Instagram photos of whatever you're eating.
- Posting Facebook pics of your baby.
- Status updates that include your current mood.
- OkCupid sending that "Quiver" email.
- LinkedIn letting me know that dummy asked to follow me.
- Websites posting those ads that start to play without my consent.
- Any phone call ever.
- Inviting people to Facebook events.
- Inviting people to "Like" your Facebook page.
- My mother asking if I have a boyfriend.
- My compulsive obsession with bread.
- Debt collectors calling.
- Turning in my timesheet.
- Basically turning in anything ever.
- Between dates (I'm getting older and tired).
- Google's launch of Google Plus.
Point being, conservatives talk a lot about getting the government out of our lives, even though they consistently have their faces down the pants of every woman in the United States. There's a reason Roe v. Wade was passed, and it was because the United States recognizes the right of women to make their own medical decisions. Imposing waiting periods and redefining scientific facts are just swarmy ways of getting around a constitutionally proven issue: that women have a right to an abortion.