On Sunday,
Federal Judge John deGravelles ruled against a law intended to restrict women's reproductive rights.
The restrictive law, under the guise of 'protecting women,' would have closed down five abortion clinics in Louisiana. It was passed last June, and set to go into effect on Labor Day. The anti-choice Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindall, is one of the many GOP extremists to pass the very insidious law that requires abortion-performing doctors to have patient admitting privileges at a hospital within a 30-mile radius. In other words, Republicans think they have found a way to break the constitution, by implementing laws that make it difficult for women to seek and have abortions.
Judge deGravelles stated in his ruling:
"Plaintiffs will be allowed to operate lawfully while continuing their efforts to obtain privileges."
Judge deGravelles ruling came only days after Friday's ruling by Federal
Judge Lee Yeakel, who struck down key parts of the Texas abortion restrictions that were implemented in the Fall of 2013, courtesy of Governor Rick Perry and the Texas GOP. Ruling against one of the restrictions, similar Louisiana's, Yeakel said:
The rule “is unconstitutional because it imposes an undue burden on the right of women throughout Texas to seek a pre-viability abortion."
Yes, it's a start. Pro-choice activists are somewhat relieved with both rulings, but it's a far cry from where women's rights were prior to the infamous
War Against Women - and most of us know, it's a very real war.
Since 2012, hundreds of anti-choice/anti-women bills have been introduced/passed. Here are some of them:
Before being allowed to have an abortion, some states actually require:
1. A mandatory intrusive vaginal ultra-sound probing
2. Mandatory lectures on abortion given mostly by non-physician staff members
3. Longer waiting periods and more permissions needed
4. New restrictive hospital admitting requirements
And one of the most offensive and ridiculous:
5. Giving fetuses legal 'personhood' rights that override the life, as well as reproductive and constitutional rights, of a woman. I mean, really, wtf?
Some of the laws have been shot down/overturned. Others are surprisingly still standing. An extensive list of state-by-state abortion laws can be found on the Guttmacher Institute site.
Before the deGravelles ruling, only one doctor had hospital admitting privileges in the state, which means
only one doctor could legally perform abortions in the
entire state of Louisiana. It's hard to comprehend women have been driven so far back. Everyday women and men, as well as women's rights organizations around the country, are not hesitating to say they will remember the lawmakers who passed these misogynist laws come Midterm Elections this November.
It was Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who sued to block Jindal's law. She made this statement after the ruling:
"Today's ruling ensures Louisiana women are safe from an underhanded law that seeks to strip them of their health and rights."
In a little over a week, the
We Are Woman national organization along with other women's right organizations around the country will be holding a two-day event in Washington DC on September 12th & 13th. On Friday, participants will be visiting members of Congress, and on Saturday, there will be the
Constitution Day/We Are Woman Rally, which will also be promoting the Equal Rights Amendment. A large turn out is expected.
Additional Sources: Guttmacher Institute and NPR
h/t Bob T.