There's an awesome diary on the rec list about South Dakota's moves to make killing abortion providers legal, never mind that South Dakota has been shooting down pro-life law after pro-life law for the last five years (no, really.) It's clear that the state does not want to deal with THAT much right-wing insanity. What isn't clear is just how far the GOP will go to prevent women from obtaining abortions.
If a fetus is the exact same as a born baby, than any woman who obtains an abortion is a child murderer. What do we do with child murderers? What does the GOP do? They execute them. There's nothing the "pro-life" Republicans like more than executing people who may or may not be guilty of the crimes for which they are accused. Does this bill stop short of providing for the murder of a woman who wants an abortion, as long as the fetus can be saved? Would Republicans stop short, if they could? After all, a fetus can survive after 22 or so weeks. Republicans approve of George Tiller's murder - would they approve of attacking a woman who was thinking of visiting his clinic before the murder, even if the attack resulted in her eventual death? Do they approve of the death penalty for the women who did?
I saw a rather sad video a year or two ago that I'm unable to locate now. A man went around asking anti-abortion protesters whether they feel abortion is murder. Of course, all of them answered with an emphatic YES. They were then asked what should be done with women who obtain abortions. The most common answer was "pray for them." No one answered jail. But if abortion is murder and fetuses are persons, aren't women who obtain abortions no different than Susan Smith?
Make no mistake about it - this is a Republican fantasy. This is where they dearly wish they could go.
The only bright spot in this morbid parade of misogyny is that when confronted with this reality, the American people reject this rhetoric. South Dakota will reject this measure. When we lay bald the Republican hatred of women, their Handmaid's Tale-esque vision of reproduction and women's rights, their reduction of women to mere incubators, people stand up resounding anger. The further into crazyland the GOP goes, the more obvious their rabidly pro-death stance, the less chance they have of victory.