Listen to the audio for today’s post.
When you read about the introduction of a U.S. law designed to control women’s bodies, what color, gender, and political affiliation of the person introducing such a law immediately springs to mind? Fuck you, Rick Santorum, you slimy piece of shit.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: April 25, 2004--
Republicans love the unborn because they get a ton of political mileage out of them for little effort. They don’t actually have to do anything for these fetuses other than prevent women’s access to healthcare. And if their mistress wants an abortion, the rich and powerful will always have access.
Festering fuckweasel Senator Santorum introduced the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban” on February 14, 2003, as his Valentine to unviable fetuses. It was signed into law by prez Bush jr. the following November. But “partial-birth abortion” is not a medical term, it’s a political one.
The procedure is called dilation and extraction (D&E), and prior to the ban only 0.2% of abortions were performed using this method. It’s for second-trimester abortions that are often medically necessary because the fetus has a fatal defect and/or the mother’s life is at risk. The method was devised as the safest method to minimize physical trauma to the woman. Not being able to overturn Roe v. Wade outright, Republican lawmakers targeted D&E as part of a strategy to ban abortion method by method.
During the 2016 presidential debate, Hillary Clinton revealed that she was the only person on the stage who understood the exact purpose of this occasionally necessary medical procedure, referring to it as “often the most heartbreaking, painful decision” for women after learning terrible news about their pregnancy from their physician. Trump, conversely, spread the most egregious bullshit on that stage that I won’t even repeat. I still loathe that piece of shit and one day will eagerly line up to piss on his grave.
Anyway, Clinton has long been a well-informed champion of women’s right to choose. On April 25, 2004, she was at the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC, along with 1.3 million others, including many celebrities, to protest the D&E ban signed into law the previous autumn, as well as to fight for other reproductive rights of women.
The massive protest was the work of many organizations, including NOW, ACLU, the Black Women’s Health Imperative, NAACP, and Planned Parenthood. At that point, the March for Women’s Lives represented the single largest protest in U.S. History. Nevertheless, the ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 by a vote of 5–4.
During the march, 16 pro-forced-birth members of the Christian Defense Coalition were arrested for demonstrating without a permit.
The book is now available! Get On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.
Image attribution: Jruh. License.