The GOP-controlled Arizona House just voted to repeal the 1864 total abortion ban and replace it with a 15-week abortion ban. It looks like the GOP-controlled Senate will also pass the bill, and Gov. Katie Hobbs says, basically, “hurry the fuck up so I can sign the bill,” so it will probably be law before the 1864 ban could go into effect in June.
The Washington Post helpfully solicited comment [gift link] from a couple of anti-abortion activists:
Caroline Helton, a 64-year-old from Mesa, said she was deeply concerned about a referendum likely to appear on the ballot in November that would protect abortion until the point of viability, or around 24 weeks.
“I’m not completely antiabortion, but they have gone too far,” said Helton, who hopes her legislators will ultimately agree to preserve the 15-week law that is currently in effect.
Deborah Tyler, 71, said she is “conflicted” about the 1864 abortion ban, in part because it does not include exceptions for rape and incest. “I don’t know,” said Tyler, who lives in the Phoenix area.
“I haven’t drawn a hard line,” she added, standing outside the statehouse last week. “I’m going to listen.”
[emphasis mine]
Here’s the problem with Arizona politics: there’s an influx of old, white retirees from somewhere else who bring their benighted views with them along with too much furniture and a silly desire to have a green lawn. These two post-menopausal anti-abortion activists have the absolute luxury to opine on this issue as if it were part of a freshman ethics seminar at the local community college. Women who can still conceive might possibly consider it differently. Perhaps the Post could have asked a couple of them, but of course they didn’t.
As usual with the big papers’ political reporting on abortion, it’s overweighted with opinions from forced birthers. That’s because they have strongly-held “beliefs” and therefore those “beliefs” must be front-and-center. The actual suffering and pain of women is secondary to their bullshit. I’ll admit that they’ve interviewed a few women who have been deeply hurt by the abortion bans in their state, but in general the ongoing suffering and pain isn’t given the same weight as the purely theoretical suffering of Jesus and friends over the abortions that are still happening.
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