Morning Roundup: Fetus Testifying on Ohio Heartbeat Bill

Pregnant woman in Ohio will get a vaginal ultrasound in front of House committee so her fetus can "testify," Arizona wants to further regulate medical abortion and discourage charitable donations to organizations that mention abortion, and Obama proclaims the start of Women's History Month.

Pregnant woman in Ohio will get a vaginal ultrasound in front of House committee so her fetus can “testify,” Arizona wants to further regulate medical abortion and discourage charitable donations to organizations that mention abortion, and Obama proclaims the start of Women’s History Month.

  • I swear this isn’t a headline from the Onion: “Fetus to ‘testify’ for anti-abortion bill.” Yes, folks, an anti-choice group in Ohio is putting a 9-week old fetus on the witness list. (How it will take the oath?) The fetus will be “testifying” in favor of the proposed legislation that would ban abortion after a heartbeat is detected. The woman in which the fetus currently resides will be given an ultrasound to show the fetus’s heartbeat. The article says “a pregnant woman will be brought before the committee and an ultrasound image of her uterus will be projected onto a screen. “ Now, just to be clear, a 9-week ultrasound is done by putting a condom on a probe, and inserting it 3-5 inches inside of a woman’s vagina in order to view the contents of her uterus. So, she will be having this done in front of a committee of state elected officials. Not awkward at all.
  • The Arizona House took a swipe at women’s reproductive freedom yesterday by passing two pieces of legislation related to abortion. First, they approved a proposal for physician oversight of medical abortion that would require the same procedures as surgical abortion, including a new requirement of an ultrasound and heartbeat detection, although the woman is not required to view or listen to either. Secondly, the House voted for a change in a charitable donation law that allowed a dollar-for-dollar credit for donations to organizations that “spend half of their funds on the poor, chronically ill or physically disabled.” Now, those same donations are only deductible if the organization says it “does not provide, pay for, promote, provide coverage of or provide referrals for abortions and does not financially support any other entity that provides, pays for, promotes, provides coverage of or provides referrals for abortions.”
  • Today marks the beginning of Women’s History Month! Read the President Obama’s Proclamation; notice the complete absence of any mention of reproductive rights.

Feb 28