Welp, that didn’t take too long. On June 24th, the Catholic Republicans of SCOTUS banded together to dismiss the medical concerns of over half the US citizenry by tossing abortion laws back to the States. Those of us hollering loudly that we would soon see bills passed that included zero exceptions for the life of the mommy-to-be were also dismissed as a bunch of cranky-pants Liberal hysterics. We can thank the Republican men (yes, it was largely a white male fest) of Idaho for proving that the Crankypants Contingent know Republican men well, and their deadly capabilities.
On Saturday, July 18th, (24 days ago!) Idaho Republicans gathered together for a Convention, not in a dark cave more in keeping with their primitive thinking, but in brightly lit rooms on the green, leafy campus of The College of Southern Idaho to put together their newest party platform.
Scott Herndon, candidate for Senate, wasn’t satisfied that his party is not doing more to insure that the pregnant ladies stay pregnant - even if it kills them, and the fetus they are carrying. He was joined by his fellow Republicans in a four-to-one margin that rejected an amendment to their State Constitution allowing for an exception to save the life of the mother. Yes, Lady Golden Eagles, you read that correctly - if your guy gets you pregnant, and you have a pregnancy complication that will kill you, he’ll have to let you just.....die.
Gentlewomen of Idaho, we know you have better things to do today, but please, take a moment and sit down with your husbands, boyfriends, fiancés, or whatever man you are currently allowing to have sex with you, and ask this question: Will You Let Me Die?
Scott Herndon resembles a bearded Tom Hanks, and there’s a lovely family photo on his campaign website featuring six women. Six possible future corpses, if Herndon has his way. Even if his wife is past her childbearing years, the rest of the pack is in danger from Scott, and the majority of the Republicans who demand their deaths as sacrifice to the Almighty Fetus God. Mrs. Herndon, your husband will let you die. He will not rescue you, he will turn away from your suffering, and he will quote the Law he wants to create as you lay dying. He will do the same to your daughters, your daughters-in-law, and your female grandchildren. He, and his fellow Republicans, will let every woman in the town you inhabit die through simple inaction if their pregnancies go wrong. He will walk away, likely bleating nonsense about how morally superior he is to follow through with his ghastly, deadly proposal. So, Herndon girls, it’s up to you to ask Scott some version of ‘WTF are you thinking, dude?’
Idahoan Republican men like to think they are the heroes of their own story - self-reliant, independent guys who protect their womenfolk. They have now shown us who they are, and they are not protectors, they are homicidal. If they can’t have that fetus, then why bother with either of these people? The mother dies, the future baby dies, and the man washes his hands clean of both of them, going on to find his next victim. Yes, victim. Because this is a very one-sided affair. Men always emerge from these incidents alive. No man ever dies from pregnancy complications. Not. One. In. All. Of. History.
Perhaps that is what makes these Republican death-bringers so unsympathetic, they need never fear dying from pregnancy. It’s just not their problem. And that level of contempt for their women should be the ultimate lady-boner killer. There’s a reason that romance novels don’t have their hero knocking up women and abandoning them to death when stuff goes sideways - it isn’t sexy. Idaho Republican men are now at an alarming level of Not Sexy - a level that includes people like serial killers, and child porn content creators. Well played, Republican men!
The Crankypants Contingent wants you to know that this is merely the first shot over the reproduction bow. Other states will follow, because if there’s one thing we know about Republican men, they never met a law controlling women that they didn’t like, and they’re like lemmings. When one goes over the cliff, the rest swiftly fling themselves off the heights. Kristi Noem is likely wondering why she didn’t propose it first, and the Republican political men in Tennessee are congratulating their fellows in Idaho and rushing to the office to draft their version of this cruel, murderous platform plank.
The good news is that this only a piece of the platform, not a Law. But, we see where they’re headed, thanks to Scott Herndon who bravely stood up to declare that his wife, and other assorted female relatives, are as disposable as chewed gum wrapped in a used tissue. As for Mrs. Herndon, who married this man who would let her die, their future baby die, and then waltz off to find his next willing victim....you have some difficult conversations to have, if you are willing. We hope you are, for all of our sakes. Ask Scott if you can count on him to protect you, and the women of your community, by not murdering them with medical neglect. You’ll then have a true measure of your value in his life. Because from where we sit, it looks like your husband has already declared that you are a disposable wad of gum.
