Felonious Assault
It's January, that time of year when the Florida legislature gets down to serious business, and Florida certainly needs the help. Of course the Republicans who control the legislature as always are on the pulse of what's really important for the people of Florida. Never fear, they'll get to all that just as soon as they've taken care of more pressing matters:
Putting even tighter controls on Florida unteri than they did last session.
Because 18 abortion bills introduced in 2011 wasn't nearly enough for these folks. Sure, that was a record breaker, but with the current crop of abortion obsessed Republicans not only in Florida, but nationwide, surely they all have Guinness World Records on speed dial. Heck, they even have a Presidential candidate who wants to cut out the middle man and get rid of birth control altogether, but that's another blog post entirely.
This year, the winner of the "You can judge a man by the size of the....audacity of his abortion bill" award goes to Florida Rep. Charles Van Zant (R-eaching For The Brass-Keystone Heights) who wants to make it a felony to perform an abortion except when a physician meets very specific circumstances.
Van Zant's bill states that “the Legislature acknowledges that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that first among these is their right to life.”
The bill does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, either. It only provides an exception for a woman who is facing a threat to her life if she carries out a pregnancy. According to the bill, “woman’s life is a superior consideration to the concern for the life of the fetus and the woman’s health is a superior consideration to the concern for the health of the fetus when such life or health concerns are in conflict.”
According to the bill:
A termination of pregnancy may not be performed unless:
(a) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent the death of the patient;
(b) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary because to continue the pregnancy would unreasonably reduce the likelihood of successful treatment of a life-threatening disease of the patient; or
(c) A physician certifies in writing that a medical emergency existed and another physician was not available for consultation prior to the time necessary to perform the termination of pregnancy. The physician’s written certification must clearly describe the medical emergency.
Women all over the state can take comfort that Van Zant is also on the Health And Human Services Access Subcommittee, and who better to oversee one's health care and make important decisions when it comes to policing your reproductive rights......than an architect. Am I right ladies?
As any loyal Republican will tell you, it's a BIG GOVERNMENT INTRUSION to allow people access to good, affordable health care, but putting one's doctor, and one's uterus for that matter, behind bars if a woman dares to make decisions about her own reproductive health?
Not so much.
