I live in GA and I am beyond ashamed, outraged and terrified of my Governor and my state. The terrifying, cruel, harsh, draconian abortion ban he signed into law is straight out of A Handmaid’s Tale. In GA all women and girls must give birth, no matter what, or go to prison.
Any abortion past six weeks and you face life in prison — even though most doctors won’t see you to verify that you’re pregnant until eight weeks. All miscarriages will be investigated and if it is subjectively determined that you did anything (had some drinks or engaged in strenuous exercise) that may have “caused” your miscarriage, it’s up to ten years in prison. If you travel out of state to obtain a legal abortion elsewhere, you and whoever assisted you, such as your husband or boyfriend, both face prison. (They will know you got an abortion because your Georgia GYN/OB will have your records of you being pregnant — and now you are not, so you will be investigated.)
We have all been stripped of our basic freedom to our lives, our bodies, our ability to travel.
All Georgia women and girls are now chattel prisoners within our state.
Chattel refers to personal items, as opposed to actual land property. It was once used to describe slaves and cattle, which is why referring to something or someone as chattel isn't very nice — you're essentially saying they're just property, somehow less than human.
The Ohio abortion ban is just about as bad as Georgia, and other states including Alabama and South Carolina are also racing to jump on this dystopian bandwagon. But one thing I haven’t noticed in the conversation these barbaric laws is the logical next step about prenatal scans and testing.
If the Government is going to force all women and girls to carry any and all pregnancies to full term no matter what, then what is the point of any prenatal testing?
I am being deadly serious.
Most prenatal testing is done to check on the health and wellbeing of the fetus, to ensure that you will have a “healthy” child and give women the option that if something is terribly wrong, they can make an informed choice to continue the pregnancy or to terminate it. There are many things that can go wrong with a fetus including serious genetic conditions or malformities that are not compatible with life, such as anencephaly.
A baby with anencephaly has some or most of the brain missing. These infants are unconscious, cannot feel, and are usually blind and deaf. In many cases, some brain tissue may be exposed because parts of the skull are missing. Most babies with anencephaly die before birth, although some may survive a few hours or a few days after birth. Those that survive longer typically live in a vegatative state.
For many women, these choices are stark and heartbreaking but if they choose to terminate a non-viable fetus it is often done out of love and mercy for the fetus so it will not grow to be a baby living a life of suffering. It is done out of love and survival for her existing or future family as to not cause massive, endless medical bills that will financially ruin her and her family’s lives. It is done to avoid the excruciating, debilitating, financial burden of caring for an extremely deformed child 24/7/365 with no quality of life.
Some of the testings to check on the health and viability of the fetus include:
- Blood, saliva and urine tests
- Ultrasound, including nuchal translucency
- Amniocentesis
- Chorionic villus sampling (CVS)
- Percutaneous umbilical blood sampling (PUBS)
My point is that if women must give birth under any and all circumstances, there are no more abortions allowed for babies with no brain or other horrific genetic conditions, then what is the point of any and all prenatal tests?
By the logic of the state of GA, these standard, routine tests are now frivolous and unnecessary. These ultrasounds, bloodwork, amniocentesis and other tests are no longer medically necessary in the state of Georgia because all women and girls must give birth no matter what.
There is zero need to waste time and money on all these expensive prenatal tests. There is zero need for women and girls to know anything about their fetus because no matter what might be wrong with it, the Government in the State of Georgia is going to force you to carry that pregnancy to term. And remember, it is illegal to go to another state to terminate your pregnancy and knowing that something is wrong with your fetus might tempt you to travel illegally to get a legal abortion which is illegal in Georgia.
These draconian patriarchal laws are being made mainly by men (but a lot of women are doing the heavy lifting too) in a cruel, radical, vacuum by zealots who have twisted and warped their religion. These people have no regard for the life, body, and autonomy of a woman. They pretend to care about the “fetus” but they don’t. If they did, having a baby would be free ...
The Republicans of Georgia don’t realize what a terrifying thing they have done.
And all the people in America need to wake up.