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North Dakota Tries to Ban Abortions Before Most Women Even Know They Are Pregnant


I have to wonder if anti-choice lawmakers have some kind of bet going on as to who can pass the most extreme anti-woman law this year because there has to be an explanation for this monstrosity coming out of North Dakota.

Anti-choice lawmakers in the oil-rich state passed a series of regulations, including a straight “heartbeat ban” that would make abortion illegal at the point that an embryonic heart beat can be detected, which is typically around 6 weeks pregnancy or earlier via transvaginal ultrasound. Another restriction would also ban abortions based on the gender of the fetus while yet another bans abortions based solely on genetic abnormalities.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights which represents the only clinic in the state to provide abortions, the six-week ban would take effect before many women would know they were pregnant. “The passage of this law is nothing short of a frontal assault on the U.S. Constitution, 40 years of Supreme Court precedent, and the health and fundamental rights of women,” said Nancy Northup, the center’s president and CEO.

Both the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood urged Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple to veto both bills. More than half of the patients at a Planned Parenthood clinic across the border from Fargo in Moorhead, Minnesota, are North Dakota residents. “With this vote, politicians in North Dakota have proven their disregard for a woman’s personal medical decision-making,” Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, said in a statement.

Don’t think banning abortion before most women even know they are pregnant is the end of the restrictions anti-choice lawmakers in North Dakota have planned this year. They are also considering several bills that would put restrictions on abortion including a proposed amendment to the state constitution that declares that life begins at conception. That would be put before voters in November 2014 if the state House approves the provision.

Women’s health advocates plan to challenge the 6 week ban in court, but given how much money the state has from its oil exploits, the idea of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars defending a clearly unconstitutional law is not something they are worried about. And that’s likely why anti-choice lawmakers chose North Dakota to push the 6 week ban in the first place.

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5:58PM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

So by Pat P's irrefutable logic he's just proved that humans (well some of them) can fly. How you ask - A person dies, gets cremated and the ashes get thrown in the air - TAH DAHHHH the person is flying. No Pat, it's just ash in the air. The reason a fetus is called a fetus is because that is what it is - it's not a person because it has not physically developed into one yet.
Oh, and as a side note you've managed to jump the shark a bit. Stretching PP to compare it to the nazis is a truly inspired bit of loopy logic but you've left your craziness nowhere left to maneuver. Where can you possibly go after claiming that PP is the equivalent of nazi death camps. Please believe me when I say that I am truly looking forward to what craziness you say next *sitting and waiting patiently*

4:51PM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

Actuallty Pat P., the real nonsense is an idiot that can't tell the difference between a chicken or an egg or an acorn and an oak tree, that is the "nonsense."

11:37AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

n other words:

-If it is so "heinous" to kill a fetus under anesthesia, why is not heinous to kill millions of living humans including civilians by war?

-Why is it not heinous to imprison/torture/kill billions of animals for our food and entertainment?

Remember, both living humans and animals have fully developed nervous systems, they feel pain to the fullest capacity, AND they get no anesthesia the way YOU kill them or condone their death.

11:36AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

Ha ha ha! Pat, back to the "human life" argument are we? OK then answer this first, the point you've been avoiding forever.

Why does an unborn human life supersede all else, including the fate of that unborn human once it's born, AND the welfare of other living beings who are already born?

In other words, please explain
- Why "Life is sacred" i.e. why a crappy miserable life full of abuse is preferable to no life,
-Why this sanctity of life applies only to humans. i.e. why there's a monumental double standard in your morality.

11:23AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013


Another point I wanted to address.

Are you seriously trying to posit that somehow there is a difference between a "fetus" and a human being?

Let's consider the word play you're using.

You're claiming that a fetus is not a baby. And your point is what? That somehow it's not human? But Suba it's still 100% human. It's simply a human at day 28 or perhaps day 56.

It is correct to say an adolescent is not a baby. Yet is a baby any less human? No. It's merely a human at day 400 instead of day 5840.

It is correct to say an 20 year old is not elderly. But is the 20 year old any less human? No. It's merely a human at day 7300 instead of day 29,200.

So the argument that "it's a fetus - not a baby - so we're justified in killing it" is absolute nonsense.

11:11AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013


I'll give you one last shot since we're on a different article. You can clear up your position easily enough.

Here's the question.

If Dr. Gosnell is found guilty of holding a live baby in his hands or on the table and cutting their necks with scissors and killing them should such an act be "legal" by any physician so long as he administers enough anesthesia.

Because these are your words not mine. Perhaps you were misunderstood.

Again, should it be legal for ANY physician to birth a live baby and kill it outside the womb so long as he administers enough anesthesia.

Go ahead. Clear up your position for all to see.

11:09AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

I just laughed my ass off when I saw the commenter who exhorts others to try facts refer to a women's health-care clinic as a "carnal house."

11:00AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

Pat, Come on, read what someone said before screaming about it.

As you quoted, this is what I said:"Anyone performing late term abortion should take great care to administer the proper dosage of anesthesia, enough to fully anesthetize the fetus but NOT harm the mother. They should also monitor the patient with extra care."

Note, the word was "FETUS", not Baby.

Unlike you I don't have a sick obsession with Dr. Gosnell, and don't spend all my time following his actions. So I don't know if he actually killed living babies. If he did, YOU are the one reveling in that fact, not me.

I am not going to go read all of his gory deeds just to satisfy your sick desires. He probably did a LOT of illegal & horrible things. Not administering proper anesthesia is just one of them, and one I find particular fault with.

10:28AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

Cyan said "Dennis, try facts. I notice you just spew the liberal/progressive party line. I have facts from PP and my experience and research. You have nothing. You are a useful tool, or useless, depending on the tool."

Cyan we have seen your "facts" before, warmed over right wing talking points, misrepresentations, half-truths, and lies from the inside the right wing bubble. Don't make us laugh, you have ZERO credibility and Pat P. has even less.

10:25AM PDT on Apr 15, 2013

Cyan said "By your "logic", why don't you (Men) keep your penises out of women's vaginas and your sperm out of women's utereus"

Cyan, I assure you, my penis has NEVER been in the vagina of a women unless expressly invited.

I wish the same could be said of you and your ilk who want to force your anti-woman/anti-abortion views into the vaginas, uterues, and wombs of women WHO DO NOT WANT YOU THERE!

Did you get that Cyan, did it penetrate into your little right wing brain, you know the whole part about being wanted there? Do you get it now?

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