Abortion

NPLA “Spousal Consent for Abortion” Questionnaire Shows Up In North Dakota

The group wouldn't say what other states it was targetting, but they aren't just in Kansas anymore.

When RH RealityCheck asked The National Pro-Life Alliance if they had been surveying legislative candidates in states other than Kansas on support for anti-choice policies ranging from spousal consent to outlawing “home abortion kits,” the group told us “no one was available to comment.” But now Huffington Post has learned that the same candidate questionnaire has popped up in the state of North Dakota, too, and it also seeks support for additional abortion restrictions including permission from the woman’s spouse.

Candidates in North Dakota received a questionnaire from the National Pro-Life Alliance in recent weeks asking them, among other things, if they want to ban the abortion pill, RU-486, which the group deems a “home abortion kit”; to require ultrasounds before an abortion; or to mandate parental and spousal consent for abortions. The questionnaire appears identical to the one sent by the group in Kansas, with the name of the state switched to North Dakota. The North Dakota questionnaire was accompanied by a one-page fact sheet explaining each of the 11 questions.

The explanation for requiring spousal consent? “One of the biggest distortions under the veil of the ‘pro-choice’ argument is that one parent, the father, is given no ‘choice’ regarding the death of his unborn son or daughter under the law.”

Spousal consent was proposed and failed in Pennsylvania, a restriction that was shot down in the infamous Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which is also responsible for the “undue burden” standard that has in fact led to many undue burdens on women seeking abortion care.

That hasn’t stopped politicians from suggesting it despite that fact. Ohio has had repeated efforts in the past to push for spousal consent, all of which failed to gain traction. The state hasn’t seen it reintroduced since 2009, but in light of all the other abortion restriction legislation proposed since 2010 still remains wary.

They have a right to be. A recent surge of anti-choice campaigning focusing on “fatherhood” makes it clear that the movement is ready to get men as involved as possible in encouraging or even coercing their partners into continuing unwanted pregnancies. “Fatherhood begins in the womb,” declares the anti-abortion Radiance Foundation.

The abortion industry has created a culture of abandonment. Responsibility has become someone else’s concern, and death the solution to this serious character flaw. Men have been empowered by Roe v. Wade to abandon their primary responsibility–protecting. They’ve either chosen to run away from their role or have been forced out by a brand of liberal feminism that spews gender animus in an effort to elevate women.

Even states like Alaska, encouraged by growing animosity to abortion rights, have had lawmakers float the idea of spousal consent as a way to feel more “comfortable” with allowing women to terminate their pregnancies. Republican legislator Alan Dick said just last March, “If I thought that the man’s signature was required… required, in order for a woman to have an abortion, I’d have a little more peace about it…”.

Spousal consent was rejected via Casey, but as Jessica Mason Pieklo notes, at least one current Supreme Court justice believes that spousal consent was not an undue burden and the case was wrongly decided. National Pro-Life Alliance may be looking for a way to give Justice Sam Alito his second chance.