I'm a North Dakota girl to my core. I get cravings for fleischkuekle and kneophla soup just about as often as I catch myself saying, "Uf da!" and "Gesundheit!" I'm five years out of Beulah High School but can still chant every word to the school song (ra-ra-ra). When I travel and people ask if I'm Canadian, which happens more than I'd like to think dontchaknow, I am quick to respond that I am a proud North Dakota citizen.
But today I'm not so certain.
Yesterday hundreds of North Dakotans gathered around the state in support of women's rights but today Governor Jack Dalrymple signed HB 1305, HB 1456 and SB 2305. He provided the following statements:
Yesterday hundreds of North Dakotans gathered around the state in support of women's rights but today Governor Jack Dalrymple signed HB 1305, HB 1456 and SB 2305. He provided the following statements:
"North Dakota House and Senate presiding officers:
I have signed HB 1305 which would ban abortions performed solely for the purpose of gender selection and genetic abnormalities.
I have signed HB 1456 which would ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade. Because the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed state restrictions on the performing of abortions and because the Supreme Court has never considered this precise restriction in HB 1456, the constitutionality of this measure is an open question. The Legislative Assembly before it adjourns should appropriate dollars for a litigation fund available to the Attorney General.
I have signed SB 2305 which requires admitting and staff privileges at a nearby hospital for any physician who performs abortions in North Dakota. The added requirement that the hospital privileges must include allowing abortions to take place in their facility greatly increases the chances that this measure will face a court challenge. Nevertheless, it is a legitimate and new question for the courts regarding a precise restriction on doctors who perform abortions."
Governor Dalrymple, a man who swore to uphold the Constitution when he took office, seems to admit in his own statement that weeelllllll, this may not exactly be constitutional but let's give it a go anyway. It appears that Gov. Dalrymple and the majority of the ND legislators are forgetting, or disregarding, the fact that this issue was already settled on January 22, 1973 in the Roe v. Wade ruling. The passage of these bills serves as a declaration that North Dakota is willing to spend our tax dollars in costly litigation fees - arguing a case that has already been decided and will inevitably be deemed unconstitutional - instead of funding the programs we so desperately need. If implemented, these laws would not only outlaw almost all abortions but could also put an end to many forms of birth control, as well as in-vitro fertilization, a process that helped bring one of my favorite little boys into the world.
The lawmakers in support of these bills are quick to call themselves pro-life but my question is this: are they pro-ALL life... or just the unborn? Does the word life not apply to those children already born? They deny funding for early education programs, school milk, and the overall betterment of children around the state but continue to call themselves pro-life. Does the word life not apply to the innocent children killed in the Sandy Hook shootings? They are quick to use the Constitution to defend their 2nd amendment right to own a gun but throw that same logic in the trash when it comes to a women's right to choose, deemed a fundamental right under the Constitution. Does the word life not apply for gay, lesbian, and transgendered North Dakotans? Our state is so far from providing equal rights under law that we have become the laughing stock of the country.
But they claim to be doing all of this in the name of being pro-life.. traditional.. moral.. conservative.. and countless other "badges of honor." What I ask of them is to start incorporating ALL human life into your pro-life stance. I urge that they stop seeing the past and all of the "traditional ways" as what this country ought to be because, in all honesty, it is like hoping to go back to the way we NEVER were. That yesteryear that they hold so dear, that Leave It to Beaver lifestyle, it was strung together with sexism, racism, and homophobia and we need to move past that not strive for it all over again. While being moral is something we can all hope for, I want them to try to understand that morality and religiosity are not one in the same. I reserve the right to believe in a beautiful, amazing God just as much as I respect my coworker's right to believe in no God at all. America is the land of the free and home of the brave because we are free enough to believe what we want and brave enough to say, "My neighbor doesn't have to agree with that."
And that tricky conservative word - are they really? I don't complain about having to pay taxes because I like to believe that my government will spend my hard earned money for the betterment of my state and my country. But when bills are passed for the simple purpose of setting a precedent or in an attempt to "discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade" (boundaries that have already been set), then yes I get angry. Yes I get loud. Yes I will fight back with the kind of protests you've never heard from this good ol' Lutheran girl. Only weeks ago these lawmakers ruled that we didn't have the funds to pay for school milk but are claiming that we now conveniently have the money to pay for legal proceedings in a matter that has already been decided. In the words of my brilliant, smart ass mother - are you FRICKIN kiddin me?
Gov. Dalrymple and All Those Who Supported These Bills:
PLEASE respect the fact that I am a strong, competent woman. I can make decisions about my reproductive health without you voting on it. Stop wasting my tax money on a decision that was made 40 years ago. I hate abortion as much as you do because, guess what, NOBODY likes abortion. The way you make rates go down is by funding comprehensive sex education and making birth control MORE accessible not less.
All My Love,
Lauren
I don't understand. What exactly are you upset about? That he signed these bills that make it more difficult for women to have an abortion? or that there is not enough funding for school milk, etc? Because I see the passing of these bills against abortion as a huge victory! That doesn't mean I don't want funding for education and children etc. These 3 bills you've listed above look completely ethical and appropriate to me... And whatever "constitutional" means seems to be left to interpretation.
ReplyDeleteHow is making an effort to save the lives of unborn children something to get angry about? I guess I do not understand what you are mad about...???
Why are you focusing on all the negative things that he isn't supporting YET (more funding for early education programs, etc), instead of seeing that if these 3 bills pass, it is actually a good thing?? It seems that people are focusing on the wrong thing :(
If you are mad about the things he's not supporting, fine. But why are you mad about the abortion bans that he IS supporting?
And I don't understand you. I think the writer made it perfectly clear. There is a law in the this country and he violates this law by signing into state law something that is clearly unconstitutional, and, if saving babies, at whatever zygote stage is your thing, look at the evidence. This act will not save one baby. It just will mean that more girls and women will die along with the attempted aborted fetus. There is no support for families and children in this state.
DeleteI am personally against abortion - my unique set of spiritual, religious, and socioeconomic factors put me in a position where I could have never seen abortion as the right choice for me. It would be easy for me to say, as a Christian, that is is clear that life begins at conception and that everybody should feel the same way but I can't say that. Not everybody is a Christian and the beauty of America is that nobody has to be. We are free to choose our beliefs and some people choose not to believe at all - or choose science as their belief system. There are people who disagree wholeheartedly, who believe that a fetus is not a life until carried to a point of viability.
ReplyDeleteThough I may not agree, I do not see it as the government's right to make those decisions for women. I do not agree with abortion. What is making me mad is that there is little to no focus on decreasing abortion rates in any other way besides attempting to pass legislation on a matter that has already been decided, wasting money that could be spent in effective programs and education on sex and reproductive health. The difference between my personal point of view and our representatives is that I view comprehensive sex education and easily accessible birth control as the most effective ways to decrease abortion rates. My grandmother, conservative on every issue but this one, remembers the days when abortion was illegal. Not only were abortions still happening but women were dying in the process because they were unsafe and unsanitary.
These issues are far more complicated than pro-life versus pro-choice. If these bills were to be implemented, there would be so many more implications. If a woman is pregnant and finds out she has cancer, and decides to have an abortion to start chemotherapy, she or her physician could face criminal charges. If a woman comes to a health care facility with abdominal pain, is found to have an ectopic pregnancy that is about to rupture, the embryo or fetus is found to have a heartbeat, then who determines if it is life threatening or an emergency? Is it an emergency enough to perform an abortion? These are questions that we would have to ask under the new bills.
If the courts had not already ruled on these issues I would have an easier time making sense of them. I just wish that the ND legislature and our governor would work for a more comprehensive solution for unplanned pregnancy but instead these bills will be tossed out by the courts and we will be left back at square one, with little to no progress.
Gotcha...
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing! Keep on writing!
ReplyDeleteI frankly am proud of North Dakota's governor and our legislature for the unprecedented decision to preserve life. I think it is interesting how left wing libertarians can get behind the "save the whales" or put forth all sorts of lobbying efforts to make sure people who drown kittens get charged with a felony, but when it comes to disposing of human babies suddenly it is a woman's choice. There was an instance a few years back of a pregnant woman who was caught sniffing paint. They put her in jail and charged her with harming her unborn baby. There was outrage by many that a woman would so thoughtlessly impose a possible birth defect on her unborn child. Yet if she would have just made an appointment for an abortion there would have been no press release, no outrage. Amazing I think of how "mixed" up people can be on such a black and white issue. I myself know what it is like to loose a child. At nineteen weeks I miscarried a baby boy. It is beyond me how anyone could elect to go through that kind of hell. That little boy was a part of me. With every abortion that is performed, women all over this great country loose a part of themselves they can never get back. Don't kid your self a woman's choice can be something that haunts them forever, it is not without consequences. So before you make your petition and stand for a womans right to choose you must ask yourself-is this a baby or a choice? Aren't you glad your mother was unselfish enough to choose life?
ReplyDelete