The H.R. 1797 Anti-Abortion Bill Is a Nightmare That May Come True
H.R. 1797 is a bill that is in favor of banning abortion care after 20 weeks, with no exceptions for women pregnant from rape or incest. People are referring to it as an “anti-abortion bill”. And on June 12, 2013, it was passed by the committee 20-12, and is now on its way House of Representatives where it can be voted on.
I’m going to stop right here to freely admit that I never write about politics, unless you count the list I made of the hottest vice presidents in United States history. This is admittedly a new area for me, which is why I thought it would be good for me to explore. Maybe you’re like me. Let’s all learn something and start talking.
Representative Trent Franks of Arizona is the one who introduced the bill, so obviously he’s a fan. Again, this bill bans all abortion care after 20 weeks, with no exceptions for the woman’s health, and no exceptions for rape or incest survivors. Franks said,
He did not provide any statistics to back up this claim.
Let’s say the numbers for pregnancies from rape are very low. Should that matter? If only five women out of thousands became pregnant from rape (RAINN estimates it to be more like 3,204 pregnancies out of 64,080) but if it were only five, would they just not matter because they’re the minority? Is he saying it’s somehow better if more women became pregnant from rape?
He then went back to clarify his comments using the classic “taken out of context” maneuver. He also blamed the Democrats, saying,
You know what I find most discouraging about this statement? The use of “they”. This is the problem, really. And I’m not saying that “they” don’t do it too. Democrats and Republicans are both capable of only hearing what they want to (in any scenario), because they’re — we’re — human. And because we are human, we get upset over things that are important to us. And sometimes, when we get upset, we get angry and we don’t listen, and then we section ourselves off from the people who don’t agree with us, and we find ones who do, and then we all yell at each other.
Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue responded with,
Let’s look at the statements from National Right To Life. Here’s what their Legislative Director, Douglas Johnson, had to say about the bill:
Here’s what Johnson is referring to. The Partial-Birth Abortion ban states,
If you want to know where I stand, I think that anyone who wants an abortion should have an abortion and anyone who does not want an abortion should definitely not have an abortion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0aNxzF7MAk
Simpsons got it.
Because of my thoughts on abortion, I am not in favor of this bill. It isn’t because I am a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, a communist, a socialist, or whatever those people were in The Hunger Games. It’s because I’m me. I came into this world and formed opinions. Sometimes they change. Sometimes I’m interested in changing them. Sometimes I’m not. But I will never be interested in changing them because someone is yelling at me, or calling me an idiot.
So when you hear people talking about this around you, or see the debates spark on Facebook, think about having a conversation or a discussion instead of an argument. I’m pretty sure we’ll get a lot more out of that than calling each other some creative form of “douche”.
Main image by Grey Villet for LIFE. Additional images via Shutterstock, Allie Is Wired
