Way to go, Ohio.

[ambitious_wench]

Let's imagine for a moment. Imagine being married to a man who is abusive. I'll let you define abusive any way you want. Let's say that you've finally managed to find the courage and the means to escape, away from the abuse that has taken its toll on you over years. You're in a safe place, job hunting, staying with friends, perhaps in Columbus, Ohio.

You're in the process of filing for divorce. Of course, with all this stress, it's not unusual to miss your period.

And then you miss another one.

You remember the last time you "submitted" to your husband, how it had been the final straw that made you gather your clothes, what little money you had squirreled away, perhaps even taking the kids.

You remember that he refused to use a condom.

You remember that your prescription for oral contraceptives had not been refilled because the pharmacist refused to dispense it on ethical grounds, and you just couldn't get to the pharmacist in the next town over because your husband demanded that you have dinner ready by the time he got home.

The worst has happened. You're pregnant with a child you can't afford, conceived in an abusive situation bordering on marital rape. But you have no way to prove it's rape because after all, you submitted.

You go to a clinic to have the pregnancy terminated.

And then the worst happens yet: The law demands that you take this piece of paper to be signed by the father of the embryo for permission to proceed with the abortion.


Me? I'd ask a stranger on the street to sign it. Or buy a college boy a beer to sign it.

Comments

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Revolting, truly. Activist legislators playing games with religion, wasting time and money. Not like there aren't any real problems out there worth solving.

[scascot.livejournal.com]

This is an extension of the "fetal rights" argument, wherein the sperm donor father of the fetus is to be given as much say as the mother on termination of pregnancy, on the grounds that it's his child, too.

After all, if you're a woman, it's not your uterus. Don'cha know.

<sigh>

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

I'd say it's not so much linked to "fetal rights" as it is to a growing "Men's Rights" movement.

Ask Mike what he thinks of the MRAs.

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

Oh, one more technicality; It's not a fetus until 10 weeks after conception. Most abortions are performed before it becomes a fetus.

here are the stages:
zygote-when the ovum accepts the spermatazoa. (yes, that is slanted, but no worse than "the sperm penetrates the ovum".)
16 cell morula-once the zygote has divided into 16 cells.
blastocyst-has an inner set of cells that will become a fetus, an outer set of cells that protect & nurish the inner cells, and has begun implanting in the endometrium.
embryo-when the "primative streak" that will become the central nervous system appears.
fetus-after 10 weeks.

The above information taken from one of the most balanced websites I've ever seen:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_fetu.htm

Please understand that I condensed horribly. Go read the article.

[thrives.livejournal.com]

That's disgusting.