Friday, March 31, 2017

Where do right wingers get all those anti-choice laws? There is literally a book

Salon (March 26, 2017): Where do right wingers get all those anti-choice laws? There is literally a book, by Amanda Marcotte:

Each year, Americans United for Life (AUL), incorporated in 1971 to fight the movement to legalize abortion, publishes an annual handbook entitled "Defending Life."  The handbook  provides model legislation for state lawmakers eager to introduce anti-choice bills.  This year, AUL faced a new challenge in figuring out how to respond to the Supreme Court's decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. The Texas law that the Court struck down in Whole Woman's Health originated in AUL's handbook and was part of AUL's strategy of promoting anti-choice legislation in the guise of protecting women's health.   

In its 2017 handbook, AUL appears to be focusing on laws that promote  "fetal life interest" or "fetal dignity interest." These initiatives include:

bills requiring women who have abortions or miscarriages to pay for funeral services for the fetus or embryo, bills banning abortion in the case of fetal defects and bills that would make it legal for a woman to sue an abortion doctor for “wrongful death” if she decides, after the fact, that she regrets getting an abortion.

According to Marcotte:

 The authors of the 2017 edition of “Defending Life” try to strike a confident tone, but it’s clear from the model legislation itself that anti-choice activists don’t really know what to do in the aftermath of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Reading the handbook, one gets the sense that if anti-choice activists can’t stop women from getting abortions, they will just try to make the experience as punishing as possible, with waiting periods, fetus funerals and lots of scary, false information.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/reproductive_rights/2017/03/where-do-right-wingers-get-all-those-anti-choice-laws-there-is-literally-a-book.html

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